MOHCCN Working Groups Bringing thought leaders together to shape Network policies

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Working Groups

Introducing the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network Working Groups

The Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network (MOHCCN) is uniting patients, researchers, oncologists and administrators from leading cancer centres and hospitals across Canada to collaborate on projects that will accelerate precision medicine for the benefit of cancer patients.

These collaborations are fostered through the work of the MOHCCN Working Groups. These groups have been operating ever since funding for the Network was announced by the Federal Government in March 2019, when it was determined that the Network should operate according to agreed standards and guidelines recommended by experts from across the country.

Meet our Working Groups

Currently, the MOHCCN is supported by 11 Working Groups, who come together on a regular basis to draft the guidelines, standards, and policies that govern the Network.

While each of these working groups tackles a different area of cancer research and is made up of a wide array of expertise, these groups operate in unison, maximizing the potential for impact of the Network while helping to create the Team Canada of Cancer Research.

Biospecimens Working Group

Mandate:To provide recommendations on the acquisition, processing, storage, derivatives, quality management, release, and data around biospecimens. Ensuring a fit for purpose collection to meet the needs of the MOHCCN and with the Technology working group to ensure alignment.

Chair(s):

Anne-Marie Mes-Masson and Trevor Pugh

Composition:

Liliane Meunier, Christine Caron, Madeleine Arseneault, Suzanne Vercauteren, Sidney Croul, Jennifer Chan, Sachin Katyal, Andy Mungall, Ben X. Wang, Ilinca Lungu, Emily Van de Laar, Carrie Hirst, Jonathan Bush, Thomas Sontag, Véronique Barres, Stephanie Crapoulet, Viktor Deineko and Danielle Simonot

Canadian Spectrum Working Group

Mandate:

Develop inclusion strategies for underserved and underrepresented populations. Network activities, including datasets, should reflect the full Canadian Spectrum. This includes developing standardized definitions of underserved and underrepresented populations as well as strategies for respectfully and meaningfully including and engaging with these populations.
Oversee the development, approval and implementation of socio-demographic data fields in a MOHCCN model, including the creation of Network guidelines for collecting these variables.
Provide support to other WGs, including recommendations for strategies to increase diversity and inclusion in WG membership and activities.

Chair(s):

Jean-Marc Bourque, Nadine Caron and Robin Urquhart

Composition:

Yvonne Bombard, Lise Gauvin, Luisa Izzi, Nathalie Levasseur, Marco Marra, Gina Ogilvie, Danielle Rodin, Stacey Santi and Silvana Spadafora

Clinical Data Model Guideline Subgroup

Mandate:

To create a comprehensive data curation guideline for the MOHCCN Clinical Data Model.

*Please note that this is a subgroup of the Clinical Data Standards Subcommittee.

Chair(s):

Emily Van de Laar

Composition:

Parsa Bagherzadeh, Christine Caron, Sidney Croul, Juan Duran, Amber Johns, Aileigh Kay, Josiane Lafleur, Vanessa Pinatto Gaspar, Carolyn-Ann Robinson, Marion Shadbolt, Lincoln Stein and Linda Xiang

Clinical Data Standards Sub-Committee

Mandate:Provide recommendations on developing the MOHCCN clinical and omics data models and ontologies.

Chair(s):

Lincoln Stein

Data Access Committee

Mandate:The Network Data Access Committee (DAC) reviews and approves data access requests/Studies to ensure timely access to Network data (data made available for sharing across the Network) and compliance with Network policies and agreements.

Chair(s):

Holly Longstaff

Composition:

Touati Benoukraf, Inanc Birol, Benjamin Haibe-Kains, Darlene Homonko, Lesley Rapaport and Erica Tsang

Data Policy and Standards Committee

Mandate:Provide recommendations on core aspects of data sharing, data access & use, and data privacy principles for the development of policies.

Chair(s):

Steven Jones and Lincoln Stein

Composition:

Guillaume Bourque, Jeffrey Bruce, Jennifer Chan, Karen Cranston, Sidney Croul, Daniel Gaston, Stephanie Grover, Benjamin Haibe-Kains, Tim Hanna, Martin Hirst, Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, Hardeep Nahal-Bose, Jessica Nelson, Enrique Sanz, Lillian Siu, Dominique Trudel, Tran Truong, Ian Watson and Ma'n Zawati

Data Sharing Subgroup

Mandate:To develop and run projects to test and demonstrate data sharing in the MOHCCN. In addition, to suggest policies and guidelines on data sharing, access and use.

Chair(s):

Adrian Thorogood and Karen Cranston

Composition:

Jeffrey Bruce, David Bujold, Christine Caron, Eric Chuah, Daniel Gaston, Paul Gordon, Nicolas Luc, Valez Lumi, Veronique Ouellet, Carolyn-Ann Robinson, Enrique Sanz and Lillian Siu

Health Technology Assessment Working Group

Mandate:Standardization of HTA data elements and support HTA data collection through data linkage protocols.

Chair(s):

Yvonne Bombard and Dean Regier

Composition:

Avi Denburg, Morgan Ehman, Doreen Ezeife, Tim Hanna, Emanuel Krebs, Samantha Pollard, Erin Strumpf, Robin Urquhart and Deirdre Weymann

Hematology Biospecimens Subgroup

Mandate:To provide recommendations on the sample preparation of liquid cancers biospecimens for MOHCCN, including acquisition, processing, storage, derivatives, quality management, release, and data. To ensure a fit for purpose collection to meet the needs of the MOHCCN, working alongside the Biospecimens Working Group and Technology Working Group to ensure alignment. To provide recommendations to ensure MOHCCN clinical and omics data models and ontologies are suitable for liquid cancers. This work will be performed alongside the Clinical Data Standards Sub-committee to ensure alignment.

Chair(s):

Nathalie Johnson, Mark Minden and Paola Neri

Composition:

Andrea Arruda, Versha Banerji, Aly Karsan, Sachin Katyal, Dennis Kim, Robert Kridel, Etienne Mahe, Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, Trevor Pugh, David Sanford, David Scott, David Spaner, Christian Steidl, Lincoln Stein, Natasha Szuber, Cedric Tremblay and Suzanne Trudel

Immune Profiling Subgroup

Mandate:Provide recommendations on immune profiling techniques.

Chair(s):

Ian Watson and Hanne Ostergaard

Composition:

Tricia Cottrell, Logan Walsh, Hartland Jackson, Ernesta Paola, Angela Chan, Pamela Ohashi, Ben X. Wang, Rob Holt, Brad Nelson, Ryan Brinkman, Réjean Lapointe, John Stagg, Simon Turcotte, Jean-Sebastien Delisle, Jeanette Boudreau, Ming-Sound Tsao and Trevor Pugh

IP and Commercialization Working Group

Mandate:

Develop MOHCCN policies as it relates to the following:

Definition of the various relevant categories of generated intellectual property under the consortium (“Foreground IP”)
Ownership of each category Foreground IP
Revenue sharing (as distinct from ownership) as it relates to:
- Foreground IP arising from Academic (non-commercial/no commercial funding) Secondary Studies using MOH/Member Resources
- Foreground IP arising from Commercially Funded (Sponsored Research) Secondary Studies using MOH/Member Resources
- Foreground IP arising from Commercial Entity Directed Studies using MOH/Member Resources
Revenue sharing (as distinct from ownership) as it relates to each of the above – where the Secondary Study is MOH Funded.
Developing a Framework for “Rules” as it relates to third-party Sponsored Research and/or third-party Funded Research as it relates to Access to the MOH Resources to ensure reasonable/fair access and terms.

Chair(s):

Lesley Rapaport

Composition:

Corinne Benquet, Sisi Jia, Liam Kelly, Sarah Jane Lee, John Lewis and Remi Richard

Network Council

Mandate:

The roles of the Network Council are:

a. Decision-making and oversight of Network strategic plans and activities, in collaboration with TFRI Staff.

b. Endorsement of Network guidelines and policies developed by the working groups and prior reviewed by the Steering Committee.

c. Review the adequacy of the systems and controls put in place by the management.

d. Financial oversight

e. Stakeholder accountability and communication

f. Risk management

Chair(s):

André Veillette

Composition:

Philippe Bedard, Francois Benard, Nadine Caron, Spencer Gibson, David Malkin, Marco Marra, Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, Morag Park, Anthony Reiman, Christian Steidl, Jim Woodgett and Bradly Wouters

Patient Working Group

Mandate:The MOHCCN Patient Working Group brings together people with cancer patient experiences to participate in the advancement of MOHCCN mandates and help shape the future of precision cancer care in Canada.

Chair(s):

Nicole Beauchemin and Catalina Lopez-Correa

Composition:

Nathalie Lamarche-Vane

Return of Results Working Group

Mandate:To provide recommendations on a structure to return cancer-related germline results as the primary objective. Moving in the future, to somatic recommendations as the second objective.

Chair(s):

Janessa Laskin and George Zogopoulos

Composition:

Shantanu Banerji, Nicole Beauchemin, Yvonne Bombard, Kirsten Efremov, William Foulkes, Jennifer Graham, Stephanie Grover, Lauren Hughes, Raymond Kim, Holly Longstaff, Kasmintan Schrader, Julie Shiu and John Thoms

Scientific Questions Working Group

Mandate:

Connect and represent scientific communities across the spectrum of the Network
Provide overarching scientific questions and themes as a guide to Network activities
Recommend priorities for funding and future cohort selection

Chair(s):

Christian Steidl and Lillian Siu

Composition:

Daniel Renouf, Trevor Pugh, Scott Bratman, George Zogopoulos, Mark Basik, Ian Watson, Sherri Christian, Anthony Reiman, Rima AI-Awar, Jonathan Bramson, Eileen Rakovitch, Janet Dancey, Samuel Aparicio, Sorana Morrissy, Jim Woodgett, André Veillette, Réjean Lapointe, Laszlo Radvanyi and Jason Berman

Steering Committee

Mandate:

The roles of the Steering Committee are to:

a. Identify issues that require Network level policy development, in collaboration with TFRI Staff and Network Council.

b. Support the creation of pan-Canadian Working Groups (WGs) to prepare policies and processes for review.

c. Review the activities and processes involved in the development of the policies by WGs to ensure their readiness for endorsement by the Network Council. Any contentious issues raised during this review will be addressed by the WG or MOHCCN Staff prior to Council submission.

d. Monitor progress to deliver upon each Designated Centre’s goals, milestones and deliverables.

e. Provide guidance to management to solve problems, in particular scientific issues, and advice on the achievement of milestones and deliverables.

g. Promote Network-wide education and learning from scientific and clinical advances.

Chair(s):

André Veillette

Technology Working Group

Mandate:Provide recommendations to profile the genomes and discussions around how to organize, share, and advance on all these fronts the most high-quality data possible in the most cost-effective way.

Chair(s):

Marco Marra, Trevor Pugh and Ian Watson

Composition:

Thomas Belbin and Sorana Morrissy

Working Groups

Introducing the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network Working Groups

Meet our Working Groups

Biospecimens Working Group

Canadian Spectrum Working Group

Clinical Data Model Guideline Subgroup

Clinical Data Standards Sub-Committee

Data Access Committee

Data Policy and Standards Committee

Data Sharing Subgroup

Health Technology Assessment Working Group

Hematology Biospecimens Subgroup

Immune Profiling Subgroup

IP and Commercialization Working Group

Network Council

Patient Working Group

Return of Results Working Group

Scientific Questions Working Group

Steering Committee

Technology Working Group

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