Women’s College Hospital Toronto, Canada
Surgical Oncologist Medical Director of the Henrietta Banting Breast Centre Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery at University of Toronto
Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation
Understanding the impact of social marginalization and variability in care on outcomes in patients with invasive lobular carcinoma
Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) originates in the lobules- glands in the breast that produce milk. The incidence of ILC is on the rise, but it is treated the same way as invasive ductal carcinoma, despite differences in cancer biology, detection, and response to treatment. Research on this subtype is limited because each treatment center only sees a small number of patients with ILC. For his Conquer Cancer Award supported by BCRF, Dr. Lim is exploring the causes of variable outcomes in patients with ILC across clinical centers in Ontario, Canada. He will do this by examining data from a large Ontario healthcare database including information from 28,000 patients with ILC diagnosed between 1990 to 2020.
Dr. Lim will explore measures of social marginalization, which may drive racial disparities in breast cancer survival. Additionally, he will identify variations in care received across treatment centers in Ontario. For example, he will seek to identify trends in patients who receive a breast MRI or genetics referral, undergo different types of surgery and use different treatment options such as radiation and chemotherapy. His studies may reveal the impact of where a patient lives, where treatment is received, and who is providing the care on patient outcomes and survival.
David Lim, MD is a breast surgical oncologist at Women’s College Hospital, Medical Director of the Henrietta Banting Breast Centre and surgeon-scientist based at Women’s College Research Institute. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery at the University of Toronto. He has an appointment at the University of Toronto Institute of Medical Science as an Associate Member and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation as an Assistant Professor. He is also Research Director of the University of Toronto Breast Surgical Oncology Fellowship Program.
2024
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