Monthly Update: August 2026

Hello everyone, welcome to our monthly newsletter, August, 2026 edition.

Before we discuss our lab activities, can I please draw your attention to the horrible devastation caused by flash floods in Nepal and ask you to kindly donate to the Government of Nepal Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund? Link here-Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund – Government of Nepal

Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity.

We didn’t have any peer-reviewed publications in August, but do remember to read our July 31st JAMA paper on cancer drug approvals in the U.S, if you haven’t read it yet!

Exciting Announcement

BG Lab is thrilled to announce that we will be hosting Dr. Kleida Mati from American Hospital in Tirana, Albania as a recipient of the 2026 ESMO Leadership and Career Development Award. Kleida is a Medical Oncologist, and is pursuing a Master’s in Molecular Oncology alongside a PhD focused on predicting treatment response in breast cancer using AI.

Read our news post to learn more about Kleida!

Trainee and Mentee News

Claire Diana-Gonsalves has formally started medical school! She is the one who interviewed BG for the first episode of our Grounded in Groundshot podcast. She actually returns for the latest episode as well. We wish her all the success and are eager to welcome her back as an oncologist in the future!

Nicole Vorko presented a poster on CDA reimbursement decisions between 2011 to 2025 at the Queen’s Sinclair Cancer Research Institute Retreat on August 12th!

Javier-David presented on critical appraisal and the cost of convenience for Queen’s SCRI Cancer Care and Epidemiology Bi-Weekly Seminar.

Media

August has been quite a busy month for us in terms of media presence.

  1. Last month, he published a Medscape piece on grieving after the loss of a patient. BG followed that up with another commentary on Medscape this month, The Phone Call That Taught Me How to Grieve. In this commentary, he recounts one of his recent phone calls with the spouse of a patient who he had cared for. He shares some very personal moments and stresses the normalization of grief for physicians as well. This commentary has resonated with many healthcare providers thus far. If you read this, we would encourage you to read the comments as well.
  1. Our JAMA article continues to be covered by news and media. Medscape released an article titled, Concerning’ Trends in Cancer Drug Approvals.  It was also covered by Healio, RAPS, and Medpage Today. Read the paper here as well as our news blurb.
  1. BG interviewed with CTV News live to discuss use of the melanoma vaccine to provide treatment after cancer.
  1. BG also interviewed with Vassy Kapelos on the Vassy Kapelos Show to discuss the new mRNA technology vaccine for melanoma. His conversation begins at the 23 minute mark!
  1. BG Lab released a new podcast episode of the Grounded in Groundshot podcast – meet BG Lab. In this fun episode, BG is joined by other members of the BG Lab at Queen’s University (Claire Diana, Dr. Javier-David Benitez-Fuentes, Brian Shkabari, Nicole Vorko) leading to some very interesting conversations including what makes the BG Lab experience so unique, our newest publication in JAMA on the FDA approval landscape for adult solid tumors, what our students have learned most from working in BG lab, visiting Kingston as a BG Lab fellow, mentorship and the origins of BG Lab. Watch now on YouTube, or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Talks, Presentations, and Meetings

  1. BG delivered three presentations at the SWOG-INCan research methods workshop on August 12-13 in Mexico City. His keynote lecture was on How to read a clinical trial. His other two talks were on quality of life/patient reported outcomes and de-escalation clinical trials.
  1. BG delivered a keynote lecture at the 5th Ottawa Research Conference on August 16. He also received a Token of Love recognition by the Canada-Nepal Forum for Research.

Upcoming Events

  1. BG is presenting at the Department of Medicine and Department of Oncology combined rounds this Thursday on Sep 3, 7:45 AM EST. The title of his talk is “How to Read and How to Write”. You can join by zoom if interested.
  1. BG is doing the PA Shah Oration lecture on value-based cancer care at the 2026 Foundation for Head and Neck Oncology (FHNO) Conference in Kashmir.
  1. Both BG and Laure-Anne are also delivering 3 lectures at the 4th Annual BMC Cancer Conclave in Chattisgarh, India.  

From the Archives

In 2017, towards the end of his fellowship, BG published a single-author provocative article in ecancer called Low-value practices in oncology contributing to financial toxicity. This was the beginning of his “Avoiding Wisely” philosophy, i.e. creating a list of low-hanging interventions that health systems can avoid and deprioritize without affecting outcomes. BG Lab continues to work on this front, and we will keep you posted when we have more news on this. Another paper, also from 2017, that BG is proud of is this commentary on the role of RCT versus real-world evidence in the era of precision oncology. Real-World Evidence and Randomized Studies in the Precision Oncology Era: The Right Balance | JCO Precision Oncology BG thinks this Table comparing RWE vs RCT remains quite relevant and should be a must-read for all oncology trainees.

Do you like what we do? You can support us!

The type of work that we do is often not funded by traditional funding channels. If you like our work and want to support us with a donation to our lab, please reach out directly to BG at gyawali.bishal@queensu.ca.

If you want to make a one-time contribution or regular contributions, please click here.

Please subscribe to our newsletter, X account, Youtube channel, and spread the word.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for next month’s update!

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