Top 40 cancer researcher creates prognostic tool to help patients

It doesn’t take much for Dr. Daniel Heng to silence the room at a party. All he has to do is tell people he’s a medical oncologist.

“People will say to me, ‘Oh that’s so horrible, you must be really sad’,” he says, “but it’s completely the opposite. I love working with, and getting to know, my patients. It’s a true honour to walk with them on their journeys.”

With a special interest in renal cell carcinoma, or kidney cancer, Heng, a clinical associate professor in the Department of Oncology at the university’s Cumming School of Medicine, balances his work life between seeing patients and conducting research.

As one of the top 10 most common cancers, the disease has experienced a renaissance in the past seven years. He says there have been several new treatment options available that not only significantly increase lifespan but improve overall quality of life.

“This is an exciting field that changes very quickly,” he says. “And whenever there’s big change, there’s always research to do around it to find out: how helpful is this change, what impact has this change had on prognosis, how can this change be better in the future?’”

However, that research can be a particularly challenging undertaking. Even as a common cancer, the number of affected individuals is relatively small to conduct meaningful, impactful research. After identifying the need for worldwide collaboration, and motivated to answer patient questions he just didn’t have answers to, Heng created the International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium (IMDC).

Since its inception in 2007, the database has grown to house the information of approximately 4,800 kidney cancer patients across 28 centres worldwide. It’s used by oncologists and researchers to inform clinical trials and studies, and to determine the best treatment option for patients.

Through the database, Heng was also able to develop a prognostic tool, known as the Heng Criteria, which can be used to better help predict future outcomes of those affected by the disease.

The success of the IMDC has motivated Heng to now expand the database to include a tumour repository to coincide with the clinical data, which he hopes will allow for the development of tests to identify biomarkers, thereby leading to new treatment options for patients.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to know that we have the ability to find out the answers to these questions that bug us all the time,” he says. “Because of the database, we now have sufficient numbers to do so in a robust manner.”

At only 36 years old, and with a family he loves dearly, Heng has career achievements that earned him a spot on this year’s Top 40 Under 40 list, published by Avenue magazine. While he still doesn’t know who sent in the nomination, and believes it will be a secret that he’ll never know, he says it feels great to be recognized. “To whoever nominated me, thank you. It’s a huge honour," he says.

Along with Heng, nine other University of Calgary employees were recognized in this year’s Top 40 Under 40. They are:

• Dr. Cheryl Barnabe, assistant professor, departments of medicine and community health sciences, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, O'Brien Institute for Public Health. A rheumatologist and researcher, Barnabe also works to help eliminate health-care gaps between indigenous populations and the rest of the Canadian population.

• Dr. Jonathan Chan, clinical lecturer, Department of Family Medicine. Co-founder of Imagine Health Centres – a patient-centered collaborative approach to preventative health care.

• Dr. Fiona Clement, assistant professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, O’Brien Institute for Public Health. As director of the Health Technology Assessment Unit, she analyzes health technologies and recommends whether they should be publicly funded.

• Aaron Goodarzi, PhD, assistant professor, departments of biochemistry and molecular biology, and oncology, Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute. Leading a team of scientists at the Robson DNA Science Centre, Goodarzi studies how radiation exposure can damage DNA and which cellular process can help repair DNA damage.

• Heather Jamniczky, PhD, assistant professor, Cell Biology and Anatomy. An award-winning instructor involved in studying how students learn, Jamniczky was also part of the team that created Lindsay Virtual Human – a medical school anatomy app available to anyone with a smartphone or tablet. 

• Christine Johns, senior director, academic and international strategies, Office of the Provost. As the senior director of academic and international strategies, she provides leadership and direction on a variety of academic matters to help the University of Calgary achieve its goal of becoming one of the top five research institutions in the country.

• Dr. Lawrence Korngut, associate professor, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Hotchkiss Brain Institute. As director of Calgary’s ALS and Motor Neuron Disease Clinic, he has been involved in several major clinical trials for treatments for neuromuscular diseases and is currently leading a clinical trial investigating a drug to potentially slow or stop progression of ALS.

• Dr. Joe Raiche, clinical lecturer, Department of Psychiatry. Raiche practices in the field of psychiatry for transgender youth and adults in the process of transitioning and assisted in building gender clinics at the Foothills Medical Centre and the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

• Dr. Van Nguyen, clinical lecturer, Department of Family Medicine. An advocate for the city’s vulnerable populations, Nguyen is dedicated to helping homeless and low-income Calgarians as a family physician with the Calgary Urban Project and the Alex.