Cancer Clinical Research Unit (CCRU)

The Princess Margaret's CCRU offers a comprehensive and unique program providing oversight for all clinical research across Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

The CCRU is one of North America's largest cancer research units. This unit supports principal investigators and their teams to ensure clinical trials open quickly and run efficiently and safely.

This core group is a central, operational resource with access to experts, tools, data and metrics,

training and operational support to deliver clinical research excellence.

“Without that wide variety of expertise that all the staff have, we would not be able to do the complicated trials that exist today.”

– Pamela Degendorfer, Program Director, CCRU

“We have entered into a new era of cancer treatment, one that is exciting and increasingly complex. These new trials are essential to generate knowledge to improve treatments for our future patients and reach new heights in cancer care.”

– Dr. Penelope Bradbury, Associate Medical Director, CCRU

The Bras Drug Development Program (DDP)

The DDP is Canada's largest and premier early-phase drug development program and one of the top 10 worldwide. Under the directorship of Drs. Amit Oza and Lillian Siu, the program is comprised of a multi-disciplinary team devoted to researching and developing new agents and therapies to eradicate cancer. On average, the DDP has more than 160 active trials open at any one time and possesses a robust infrastructure with specialized expertise in multi-centre clinical trials. It sponsors numerous investigator-initiated trials.

– Maggie Bras – The Bras Family Foundation President

How the CCRU supports our Clinical Trials Program

Clinical Trial Support Unit

Provides expert study management services, including intergroup and investigator-initiated studies.

Correlative Studies Program

Provides services and expertise to facilitate all aspects of sample collection for clinical trials.

Metrics & Process Improvement

Reports on clinical research performance metrics and oversees the conduct of various clinical research processes.

Quality Assurance

Conducts quality assurance reviews to ensure consistent excellence in clinical research conduct and compliance with regulatory guidelines.

Education & Training

Comprehensive education program for clinical research professionals, which is extended to clinical research sites across Canada. Offers patient education about clinical research.

Clinical Trial Nursing

More than 70 clinical research nurse coordinators provide patient-centred care, including assessing side effects, advocating for the ethical care of patients and ongoing education.