Love what you do and it doesn’t feel like work

My name is Intan Schrader and I am co-medical director of the Hereditary Cancer Program with Sophie Sun. I am a medical geneticist, specializing in cancer genetics.

It was during medical school that I took a serious interest in cancer genetics. After receiving my medical degree from the University of Melbourne, I completed my residency in Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia. During that time, I chose to extend my training to pursue my interest in studying hereditary cancer. I was fortunate to be accepted into the lab of Dr. David Huntsman, where I investigated the association between germline mutations in a gene called CDH1 and lobular breast cancer.

My PhD work evolved to use new sequencing technologies to identify the basis of genetic disorders. I was later awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health and Research training award to pursue my interests in using these technologies to determine novel cancer susceptibility genes as a research fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in New York.

I have had wonderful role models throughout my career including my father, who taught me that if you love what you do it does not feel like work, and Dr. David Huntsman and Dr. Kenneth Offit, who have helped me navigate the different stages of my career studying the molecular detection of known and novel cancer susceptibility genes.

Intan