BC Cancer - Vancouver

My route to oncology was through coincidence and fortunate choices. As an undergraduate I was always interested in the sciences (the fact that my father is a retired research scientist and while growing up we spent weekends at the lab probably had something to do with that!)

I attended the University of Toronto and completed a Bachelors and Masters degree in Biochemistry. In the latter...

Since arriving at the BC Cancer Agency Vancouver Centre in 1999, my roles and responsibilities have gradually evolved in interesting and sometimes unexpected ways. My early years at the Agency predictably included lots of teaching with medical students, residents, and fellows visiting from all corners of the globe.

I also had the opportunity to supervise and mentor many of them in...

Thank you for visiting my blog! I am delighted to have this opportunity to share some of my background and thoughts with you.

Although I was born in Taipei, Taiwan, which sounds very exciting, my parents and I moved to Vancouver, B.C. before my first birthday. I spent most of my youth in Burnaby, B.C. and graduated from Burnaby South Senior Secondary - the original campus - which dates...

First and foremost, I’m a medical oncologist which means I treat cancer patients. I work primarily with breast cancer patients and therapies can include hormonal therapy or chemotherapy.  

I see patients in the clinic three to four days a week, while the rest of my time is devoted to administrative work, my duties as Chair of the Provincial Breast Tumour Group and research activities....

Hello everyone, my name is Stephen Chia, and I am a medical oncologist at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver.

I was born in Toronto. My parents moved to Vancouver when I was five years old and I grew up on the east side of the city. I attended the University of British Columbia for my undergraduate degree, grad school and post-graduate training.

When I was studying internal...

Thank you for reading my posts thus far. I thought I would close with some thoughts on looking forward.

It is a particularly exciting time for cancer research and there are many reasons for patients to be optimistic that real progress is being made in our understanding of cancer. A major goal of the BC Cancer Agency is to translate research findings into clinical application.

The...

Thanks for having me back. I’m happy to share an update with you about what’s been happening here at the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for Lymphoid Cancer (CLC). But first, I’ll back up a few steps, and introduce myself for those who may be new to the CLC.

By 1981 I had finished my training in Internal Medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and Medical Oncology at...