From Nepal to Nippon to the North: My journey of cancer policy and global oncology research.
In my talk, I will share lessons I’ve learned from my own personal journey spanning Nepal, Japan, Boston, and Canada with the hope that the audience might get some inspirations from both my successes and failures. My lab focuses on the intersections of global oncology and cancer policy, studying issues such as value of cancer drugs, quality of evidence, improving clinical trial designs, financial and time burden of cancer treatments, and equitable access to cancer drugs globally. I will discuss examples of these studies. I coined the term “cancer groundshot” which advocates for the need to invest in implementation of strategies already proven to work for cancer care as much as investment in discovery of new molecules. I will share the story of this “cancer groundshot” philosophy to offer an example of how an international movement can be created through academic efforts. My lab has done many projects in Nepal- I will specially focus on these projects to give an example of how we can give back to our home country while building an academic career in Canada. Overall, through stories from my own journey, I will share the lessons I have learned in this journey from being an intern doctor in Nepal to a professor of oncology in Canada, while conducting
meaningful research that benefits patients back home as well as in Canada.
Bio:
Bishal Gyawali, MD, PhD, FASCO, the PI of the BG Lab, is a medical oncologist and an associate professor in medical oncology and public health sciences and scientist in the Division of Cancer Care and Epidemiology, in Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. He did his cancer policy fellowship at Harvard Medical School. His clinical expertise is across multiple adult solid tumors, with special focus on Gastrointestinal malignancies. He is in the editorial and advisory board for multiple medicine and oncology journals and has authored or co-authored more than 220 peer – reviewed articles in high-impact journals, of which in the past 5 years, more than 50% have been led by trainees. Dr. Gyawali’s areas of academic interests include cancer policy, evidence – based oncology, financial toxicities of cancer treatment, clinical trial methods, supportive care, cancer care disparities, and global oncology. He introduced the term “cancer groundshot” and chaired a session on the same at ASCO 2022. His interviews and studies have been reported in several influential media such as CNN, NPR, Washington Post, STAT News etc. He is a member of the ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale and ESMO Public Policy committees. He was a member of ASCO-Health Equity and Outcomes Committee 2021-2024, and is now a member of ASCO International Affairs Committee 2024-2027. He is a graduate of ASCO Leadership Development Program, Class of 2023-2024. He is the only Canadian representative at the World Health Organization Essential Medicine List Expert Panel. He has been awarded with several international and national awards such as Fellow of ASCO (FASCO) 2025, 40 under 40 in cancer care 2025, Canadian Cancer Society Excellence in Research Award 2024, Oncodaily Award for challenging status quo 2025, ASCO Global Oncology Young Investigator Award 2021. His research program is supported by salary award from Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. He is also the host of “Grounded in Groundshot” podcast.
