Donors continue to fuel cutting-edge research and drive new discoveries through world-class clinical trials.
Clinical trials are where tomorrow’s cancer care begins — offering patients access to promising treatments today while helping shape the future standard of care.
Alberta is a national leader in clinical trials, and the Alberta Cancer Foundation supports every cancer-focused trial in the province. In 2025, donor generosity helped invest more than $35 million into cancer care and research across Alberta, strengthening clinical trials, accelerating the early adoption of promising therapies and expanding access to new treatment options for patients.
With 72 new trials opening last year and 221 active trials across the province, access to life-saving clinical trials continues to grow across Alberta.
This progress is helping researchers and clinicians move faster, pursue bold ideas and bring promising new therapies to patients sooner.
As Dr. Randeep Sangha, oncologist and director of the Clinical Trials Unit at the Cross, says, “We are humble enough to know we have to do better for our patients, and we are bold enough to believe that we are the ones who will do better through our trials program.”
Expanding access to early-phase clinical trials
Thanks to the generosity of philanthropists Stan and Marge Owerko, the Owerko Family Centre for Clinical Trials at the Arthur Child is expanding access to early-phase clinical trials in Calgary.
The centre includes inpatient beds for Phase 1 trial participants, specialized staff focused exclusively on early trials and the capacity to support even more groundbreaking research in the years ahead.
For the Owerkos, supporting clinical trials is rooted in a shared hope for families facing cancer.
“Cancer is a frightening disease, and a diagnosis at any age is a crushing blow to the whole family,” they share. “Our hope is that the discoveries made at the Arthur Child will benefit patients not only here in Alberta, but around the world.”
Because of donor support, those discoveries are already opening the door to new treatments and new hope for patients across Alberta.
