Ian Tannock

Biosketch

Dr. Tannock is Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Medical Biophysics at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and University of Toronto. He obtained his PhD from the Institute of Cancer Research, London University, England and his MD at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. His clinical expertise is in GU and breast cancer. His research investigated methods related to cancer clinical trials, and he chaired trials for men with metastatic prostate cancer that led to licencing of drugs that are used worldwide for this disease. Dr. Tannock is an editor of the Basic Science of Oncology textbook, now in its 6^th edition (2021), that is used by trainees in all branches of oncology.

Dr. Tannock was a member of the Board of Directors of ASCO from 2001-2004. He chaired (2018-2020) the ASCO working group that organizes International Clinical Trials Workshops and has taught extensively in low and middle-income countries.  He received the alumnus award from M.D. Anderson Hospital, Houston, USA (1989), the Warwick Prize from the National Cancer Institute of Canada (2003), the ESMO award (2012) and the ASCO Allen Lichter award for leadership and innovation (2019). He chaired the EORTC scientific audit committee between 2009 and 2016 and was then a member of the EORTC Board. He holds honorary degrees (DSc) from London University, UK (2009) and the Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay (2020). Dr. Tannock was appointed to the Order of Canada in December 2013.

Since retiring from active practice and lab-based research in 2014, Dr Tannock teaches both locally and internationally, and authors papers relating to clinical trial  methodology. He mentors young oncologists in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) including India, Nepal and Vietnam. He chairs the Board of the Optimal Cancer Care Alliance, which is a volunteer organization that aims to facilitate dose finding trials of anticancer agents, which are often approved at higher that maximally active doses, and thereby to reduce cost and improve global access to effective cancer treatment.

Recent Publications

• Kartolo A, Tannock IF, Vera Badillo FE. Management of Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer: Is Docetaxel Needed? J Clin Oncol. 2022 Jun 20:
• Tannock IF, Pond GR, Booth CM. Biased Evaluation in Cancer Drug Trials-How Use of Progression-Free Survival as the Primary End Point Can Mislead. JAMA Oncol. 2022;8:679-680.
• Patel A, Goldstein DA, Tannock IF. Improving access to immunotherapy in low- and middle-income countries. Ann Oncol. 2022;33:360-361.
• Desnoyers A, Amir E, Tannock IF. Adjuvant Zoledronate Therapy for Women with Breast Cancer-Effective Treatment or Fool's Gold? JAMA Oncol. 2021;7:1121-1123.
• Chan KK, Tannock IF. Should Basket Trials Be Pathways to Drug Registration for Biomarker-Defined Subgroups of Advanced Cancers? J Clin Oncol. 2021;39:2426-2429.
• Fundytus A, Booth CM, Tannock IF. How low can you go? PD-L1 expression as a biomarker in trials of cancer immunotherapy. Ann Oncol. 2021;32:833-836.
• Elimova E, Moignard S, Li X, Yu M, Xu W, Seruga B, Tannock IF. Updating Reports of Phase 3 Clinical Trials for Cancer. JAMA Oncol. 2021;7:593-596.
• Tannock IF, Ratain MJ, Goldstein DA, Lichter AS, Rosner GL, Saltz LB. Near-Equivalence: Generating Evidence to Support Alternative Cost-Effective Treatments. J Clin Oncol. 2021;39:950-955.
• Tannock IF. Have investigators forgotten how to write? Ann Oncol. 2021;32:437-438.
• Del Paggio JC, Tannock IF. Cautionary tails. Ann Oncol. 2021;32:20-22.
• Benjamin D, Mandel DR, Barnes T, Krzyzanowska M, Leighl N, Tannock I, Kimmelman J. Can Oncologists Predict the Efficacy of Treatments in Randomized Trials? Oncologist. 2021;26:56-62.
• Joshua AM, Tannock IF. Oncology in 2050 - A Retrospective? Oncologist. 2020;25:e1127-e1130.
• Templeton AJ, Amir E, Tannock IF. Informative censoring - a neglected cause of bias in oncology trials. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2020;17:327-328.
• Templeton AJ, Booth CM, Tannock IF. Informing Patients About Expected Outcomes: The Efficacy-Effectiveness Gap. J Clin Oncol. 2020;38:1651-1654.
• Patel A, Tannock IF, et al. Low-Dose Abiraterone in Metastatic Prostate Cancer: Is It Practice Changing? Facts and Facets. JCO Glob Oncol. 2020;6:382-386.
• Tannock IF, Templeton AJ Flawed trials for cancer. Ann Oncol. 2020;31:331-333.
• Joshua AM, Tannock IF. Companion Diagnostics to Identify Biomarkers of Response to Anticancer Drugs Targeting the Proteome. Cancer Cell. 2019;36:464-465.
• Del Paggio JC, Tannock IF. The fragility of phase 3 trials supporting FDA-approved anticancer medicines: a retrospective analysis. Lancet Oncol. 2019;20:1065-9.
• Tannock IF. Improving Treatment for Advanced Prostate Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2019;381:176-7.
• Vera-Badillo FE, Tannock IF, Booth CM. Immunotherapy for Urothelial Cancer: Where Are the Randomized Trials?J Clin Oncol 2019;37:2587-2591.
• Tannock IF. Disclosure-in the blink of an eye. Ann Oncol 2019;30:169-170.
• Saad ED, Tannock IF. Avoiding the hazards of misinterpreting treatment effects. Ann Oncol 2019;30:16-8.
• Kimmelman J, Tannock I. The paradox of precision medicine. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2018;15:341-2.
• Tannock IF, Joshua AM. Purchasing Silence. Ann Oncol 2018;29:1339-40.
• Hahn E, Ariely D, Tannock I, Fyles A, Corn BW. Slogans and donor pages of cancer centres: do they convey discordant messages? Lancet Oncol 2018;19:447-8.
• Tannock IF. Abiraterone in Metastatic Prostate Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2017;377;1695
• Del Paggio JC, … Tannock IF, Booth CM. Do Contemporary Randomized Controlled Trials Meet ESMO Thresholds for Meaningful Clinical Benefit? Ann Oncol 2017:28;157-62.
• Tan Q …. Tannock IF. Up-regulation of autophagy is a mechanism of resistance to chemotherapy and can be inhibited by pantoprazole to increase drug sensitivity. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2017;79:959-69.
• Tannock IF. Can modelling of PSA dynamics accelerate drug development for prostate cancer? Lancet Oncol. 2017;18:16-18.