By Harriet Feilotter
Don’t take too long to notice that summer has arrived- it won’t last forever! I hope that all of our OMPRN members are able to take some time to get out into the great outdoors and enjoy whatever form of summer fun tickles you. Here at OMPRN, we are still busy as we guide our transition from a standalone network to an integrated part of the OICR infrastructure. We continue to develop and improve our educational resources, thanks to the incredible work of Leigh-Ann van Strijp- check out the Learning tab on our website for a look at those growing resources, which include interviews with health care professionals, webinars, a plain-language “enhanced glossary” of molecular pathology terms, microlessons and many other tools for learning. Leigh-Ann is now turning her formidable skills to developing these types of resources more broadly within OICR, working with the OICR Communications team to “OMPRN-ize” some of their education and outreach approaches. I am so proud that OMPRN has paved the way with such an impressive display of educational tools!
While these resources continue to grow, Kyster Nanan has shouldered the immense task of updating our flagship OMPRN e-learning modules, which we first launched back in 2022 and which have seen heavy use by pathology and molecular training programs across the country. He also continues to manage our remaining research projects as our newest batch of CPTRG awardees receive their funding.
These activities underpin the solid informational foundation that OMPRN has built over the past decade. Building on that foundation, we are now seeing the emergence of new entities that owe their existence to OMPRN, and that mark our integration into broader OICR, provincial and national activities. For instance, OMPRN spawned the Implementation Laboratory (IL), a virtual laboratory designed to help clinical molecular pathology labs assess different assays that could be used to measure clinically relevant biomarkers. The connection between IL activities and OMPRN will now morph into the continued development of an IL entity within the Implementation Science and Practice (ISP) arm of OICR, and IL will continue to work with clinical labs, pharma, funders and policy makers to help Canadian clinical molecular pathology labs with choosing appropriate assays for provincially funded molecular pathology biomarkers.
Adjacent to the IL is the development of the Canadian Oncology Biomarker Network (COBN), a connected group of molecular pathology clinical lab leaders who share many of the same needs and concerns that OMPRN has been addressing over its history. COBN had their first in-person meeting at OICR in September 2025 and is planning a second in person meeting at OICR in October 2026. This second annual event will focus on helping molecular pathology labs across the country communicate, share resources and knowledge, share specimens and validation opportunities and develop strategic partnerships that will help everyone develop better molecular genetics services for Canadian cancer patients.
These entities, which grew from OMPRN members and priorities, are now part of the larger ecosystem at OICR and form part of the foundation for the ISP program. And to help make our transition into ISP even more seamless and painless, I am very excited that Kyster has agreed to become the Senior Program Manager for the ISP, effective at the beginning of July 2026. Welcome (again!) Kyster- this exciting new role will allow Kyster to continue to build on and nurture the OMPRN brand, while also expanding the ISP program to move into new areas, such as the new Cancer Solutions Hub (CSH), a formal OICR-Ontario Health think tank designed to help Ontario Health identify and operationalize their clinical priorities in the molecular pathology space. Can anyone think of a more fitting way for OMPRN to grow up, or a more fitting person to help us get there?
So, although this is the last official OMPRN newsletter, it’s certainly not goodbye. We are proud of what was built over the past decade, and extremely excited about the future!
As I close, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been part of the OMPRN family for all these years. Thank you to all of the members, those who came to meetings, workshops, talks and webinars; those who participated in any and all of these events; those who gave freely of their time to provide educational sessions, materials, expertise and knowledge. Those who helped develop our educational modules and tools. To our patient partners, Terry Hawrysh and Karen Haas- a very special thank you for everything you have done for OMPRN over all these years- your legacy lives in our educational materials, but your input and guidance has steered a course for us. To our Steering Committee members, thank you for years of thoughtful deliberations, ideas and discussion. To Leigh-Ann- you were a wonderful find at a time when OMPRN needed you! And finally to Kyster, you’ve done more for this program than most people will ever understand. Thank you all- it’s been an honour working with you!
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