At this year’s UHN Mission Excellence Awards, Inventor of the Year Award recipients Dr. Pamela Ohashi and Team H.A.L.O. were recognized for advancing cancer research and delivering a scalable patient safety solution now used across Canada.

Dr. Pamela Ohashi was recognized as Inventor of the Year for research still underway—the discovery of a gamma delta T‑cell receptor that opens a new line of inquiry in cancer immunotherapy and continues to be evaluated for its clinical potential.

Team H.A.L.O. was honoured for an innovation already implemented in clinical care: H.A.L.O., a virtual continous patient observation system helping support safer care for some of the most vulnerable patients.

Over a decade ago, a quiet revolution in brain tumour care began at UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Its former Head of Radiation Physics, Dr. David Jaffray (now at MD Anderson Cancer Center), together with his then PhD student Dr. Gregory Bootsma and associate scientist Dr. Mark Ruschin (now at Sunnybrook),started asking a simple yet bold question: could stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS)– a non-invasive, highly precise form of brain radiation – be made more comfortable for patients?

The question seemed obvious as they watched patient after patient move through the long preparation process for their cancer radiation treatment. SRS is a form of treatment that uses highly precise coordinates to locate and treat a specific target in the brain with radiation. Careful positioning of the head is essential to ensure the safe and accurate delivery of the radiosurgical beams.

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