Dr. Wassim Kassouf
(MD, CM, FRCSC)

After medical school and residency at McGill University, Dr Wassim Kassouf completed a urologic oncology fellowship at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He then arrived on faculty in August 2006 at the McGill University Health Center, Montreal, Canada. He is a Professor in the Division of Urology and Vice-Chair of the Department of Surgery at McGill University. Dr. Kassouf’s clinical practice focuses on bladder, prostate, and renal cancer. His clinical and translational research focuses on the biology and therapy of bladder cancer. He has led several national guidelines for optimizing quality of care in urologic cancer management and has published over 300 peer-review manuscripts and book chapters. He is the founder of the national Canadian Bladder Cancer Network, a co-founder of Bladder Cancer Canada (BCC), co-chair of the National Cancer Institute of Canada’s disease-oriented group in bladder cancer, and an executive member of the NIH Genitourinary steering committee Bladder Cancer Task Force. He has served as program director over the last 6 years and currently is a member of the Royal College Urology Examination board committee. Dr Kassouf is a graduate of the AUA Leadership Program and received several awards including the American Urological Association Young Urologist of the Year, AUA Research Scholar Award, Canadian Urological Association Scholarship Award, FRSQ Clinician Scientist Research Scholar Award, and the Everett C. Reid Teaching Excellence Award. Upon his return to Canada, Dr Kassouf quickly realized that bladder cancer has not been fairly addressed in Canada and the rest of the world. One area he felt needed more attention was the development of patient support groups. On a global note, the actual prevalence of bladder cancer is ten times its incidence creating a major economic burden on health care systems. As measured on the basis of cumulative per patient cost from diagnosis until death, bladder cancer is the most expensive to treat. The lack of public awareness and patient advocacy, disproportionate research funding and decreasing research activity has limited progress in bladder cancer management. We (the medical community as well as patients) need to be more proactive with this disease. Through supporting Bladder Cancer Canada, we can help BCC fulfill its mission which include (1) help bladder cancer patients and their support team in the day-to-day issues with the disease, (2) raise awareness of bladder cancer among the general public and medical community, and (3) advocate for allocation of government and private funds directed to the diagnosis, treatment and medical research to eliminate bladder cancer.