Hon Leong

Dr. Leong’s mandate is to bring lab-grown ideas to the clinic, with a particular focus on the genitourinary system (kidney, bladder, prostate, testes, urethra, penis). The constant goal is to take concepts developed in the lab and translate them into clinical practice. The group emphasizes multidisciplinary training and collaboration to help trainees become confident and highly skilled scientists.

Dr. Leong is focused on developing “liquid biopsies” that rely on the enumeration of circulating cancer cell fragments, also known as extracellular vesicles, in the blood. Whether they are used to improve early detection for early-stage migration in pancreatic cancer, to avoid overtreatment in breast and prostate cancers, or to improve follow-up and monitoring post-treatment for kidney and colorectal cancers, the goal is to provide a noninvasive companion blood test used in combination with imaging to transform clinical outcomes.

His group also does research on “patient avatars” (patient-derived xenografts) for precision medicine purposes. Their patient-derived xenograft platform aims to improve clinical outcomes for advanced cancer patients. This platform can be used to test chemotherapies, targeted therapies and immunotherapies.

If you are a patient with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, you may be eligible to be involved in the following clinical study: “Hyper-Personalized Medicine Using Patient Derived Xenografts (PDXovo) for Renal Cell Carcinoma Patients” (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04602702). This study is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Georg Bjarnason, a medical oncologist at Sunnybrook focused on kidney cancer and other GU malignancies.

If you are a patient with metastatic breast cancer, you may be eligible to be involved in this clinical study: “Integrated Patient Avatars for Guiding Systemic Therapy Treatments in Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients” (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04608357). This study is being conducted in collaboration with Dr. Katerzyna Jerzak, a medical oncologist at Sunnybrook focused on breast and gynecologic cancers.

Education

• B.Sc., 1999, Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada
• M.Sc., 2003, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Honorary Fellow, 2007, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital, UK
• Ph.D.., 2008, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Post-Doc, 2012, London Health Sciences Centre, Canada

Appointments & Affiliations

• Senior Scientist, Biological Sciences, Odette Cancer Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
• Associate Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto