It’s virtually impossible for Dr. Gerald Batist to name just one thing when asked what has made him most proud in the 20 years since the Segal Cancer Centre opened its doors at the Jewish General Hospital.

Batist, who has been the centre’s director the entire time, keeps listing examples of notable discoveries, breakthroughs and accomplishments that have revolutionized cancer care not only in Montreal, but in Quebec, Canada and around the world.

“We take care of our patients in every aspect: spiritual, psychosocial and of course physical and medical. But at the same time, each opportunity is an opportunity for new knowledge, and we’re generating new knowledge that will help patients the world over,” Batist said. “We’ve helped develop drugs and new treatments and treatment approaches that help our patients, but have been disseminated globally and helped other patients. That’s what I’m most proud of.”

The Segal Cancer Centre began with a $10-million Canada Foundation for Innovation grant, a $20-million donation from philanthropist Alvin Segal and a novel plan: consolidate the different oncology departments spread throughout the Jewish General with laboratories conducting cutting-edge research under one roof.

Five floors were added to Pavilion E and the first patients were welcomed in early 2006. Over the past two decades, thousands of the 184 Quebecers per day who receive a grim diagnosis of cancer have received life-saving care — or at the very least, compassion and hope — thanks to this stalwart Montreal institution. And many more have benefited, too.

“We have doctors who know the questions that are necessary because they take care of patients and also know how to address them in the research lab, and conversely know how to bring things from the research lab into the clinic for clinical testing and clinical research and then back to the lab for refinement,” Batist said.

As the Segal Cancer........

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