Quebec Cancer Foundation's news
Pierre Band, rest in peace. We will follow your example.
- 23 May 2020 -
- News
Dr. Pierre Band, co-founder of the Quebec Cancer Foundation, died suddenly in Saint-Lambert on Sunday, April 26, 2020.
Michel L. Lesage, Chairman of the Board, and Marco Décelles, Director General of the Foundation, together with all the employees and members of the Board of Directors, wish to express their sorrow at the announcement of this sad news and pay tribute to the work of Dr. Pierre Band.
We offer our sincerest condolences to his family and loved ones. All our thoughts are with them as they confront the terrible tragedy that has befallen them.
The Foundation has lost one of its founding fathers, who will forever leave his mark on the history of the Foundation. Dr. Pierre Band was one of those action-oriented people who devote their energy to improving the world they live in.
In 1979, disgusted by the lack of organization in the fight against cancer in Quebec and by the deplorable living conditions of many cancer patients situated outside the major centres, and appalled by the government's failure to react to the situation, five oncologists at Notre-Dame Hospital decided to tackle the problem themselves: these were Dr. Pierre Audet-Lapointe, Dr. Maurice Falardeau, Dr. Michel Gélinas, Dr. Yvan Méthot and Dr. Pierre Band. Thus was born the Quebec Cancer Foundation, an independent organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of patients and responding to pressing needs such as access to psychological support and specialized accommodation closer to care centres.
But Dr. Pierre Band's active professional life did not begin in 1979.
Pierre Band was born in France and came to Montreal at the age of fifteen. In 1962, after an unlikely academic career (he hated school!) he was awarded a doctorate Summa Cum Laude by the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal. He continued his postdoctoral studies at the Institut Gustave-Roussy in Paris, and received his specialist’s diploma in internal medicine in 1968. In 1994, he obtained the title of Medical Oncology Specialist from the Collège des médecins du Québec. He was the first Canadian member to join the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, a medical oncology research group founded in the United States in 1955.
After a one-year internship at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, U.S.A., as Senior Cancer Research Internist, Dr. Band taught in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta, where he was later appointed Head of Oncology. He returned to Quebec in 1976 to assume the roles of Director of Clinical and Epidemiological Research at the Institut du Cancer de Montréal and of Director of Medical Oncology at Notre-Dame Hospital.
Dr. Pierre Band’s career path, both in hospitals and in the academic domain, led him to work in a number of settings, notably as a clinician at Notre-Dame Hospital in Montreal and as a professor (the Universities of Alberta, British Columbia, McGill, Montreal and Washington) and in clinical and epidemiological research (Institut du Cancer de Montréal, British Columbia Cancer Agency and Health Canada).
In addition, Dr. Pierre Band has authored or co-authored a considerable number of publications in the medical field, most of which deal with cancer. His major work remains his book on the history of oncology, published in the United States in 2015, which received enthusiastic reviews (Therapeutic Revolution: The History of Medical Oncology From Early Days to the Creation of the Subspeciality). He was also actively involved in writing the Quebec Cancer Foundation's account of its first forty years (La Fondation québécoise du cancer : du rêve à la réalité). This work, which traced the evolution of the Foundation and chronicled its wonderful history from its very beginnings was particularly close to his heart.
In addition to academic awards, Dr. Band received medals from the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, from the ministère de l’Éducation in 1955 and in medicine in 1962. He was a recipient of the Chief Scientist, Health Canada award, Deputy Minister Excellence in Science award and the Pioneers in Oncology award from the Canadian Association of Medical Oncologists.
His courage and dedication to serving and supporting those affected by cancer are exemplary.
Pierre, we will always remember this phrase from one of your teachers that stayed in mind among all the Latin phrases you had to learn at that time: "The first can do better". This sentence has dictated your future and it will dictate ours. It is with this maxim that you made us grow and that is why we continue to always want more and better for all people affected by cancer.
Michel L. Lesage, Chairman of the Board, and Marco Décelles, Director General of the Foundation, together with all the employees and members of the Board of Directors, wish to express their sorrow at the announcement of this sad news and pay tribute to the work of Dr. Pierre Band.
We offer our sincerest condolences to his family and loved ones. All our thoughts are with them as they confront the terrible tragedy that has befallen them.
The Foundation has lost one of its founding fathers, who will forever leave his mark on the history of the Foundation. Dr. Pierre Band was one of those action-oriented people who devote their energy to improving the world they live in.
In 1979, disgusted by the lack of organization in the fight against cancer in Quebec and by the deplorable living conditions of many cancer patients situated outside the major centres, and appalled by the government's failure to react to the situation, five oncologists at Notre-Dame Hospital decided to tackle the problem themselves: these were Dr. Pierre Audet-Lapointe, Dr. Maurice Falardeau, Dr. Michel Gélinas, Dr. Yvan Méthot and Dr. Pierre Band. Thus was born the Quebec Cancer Foundation, an independent organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of patients and responding to pressing needs such as access to psychological support and specialized accommodation closer to care centres.
But Dr. Pierre Band's active professional life did not begin in 1979.
Pierre Band was born in France and came to Montreal at the age of fifteen. In 1962, after an unlikely academic career (he hated school!) he was awarded a doctorate Summa Cum Laude by the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal. He continued his postdoctoral studies at the Institut Gustave-Roussy in Paris, and received his specialist’s diploma in internal medicine in 1968. In 1994, he obtained the title of Medical Oncology Specialist from the Collège des médecins du Québec. He was the first Canadian member to join the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group, a medical oncology research group founded in the United States in 1955.
After a one-year internship at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, U.S.A., as Senior Cancer Research Internist, Dr. Band taught in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alberta, where he was later appointed Head of Oncology. He returned to Quebec in 1976 to assume the roles of Director of Clinical and Epidemiological Research at the Institut du Cancer de Montréal and of Director of Medical Oncology at Notre-Dame Hospital.
Dr. Pierre Band’s career path, both in hospitals and in the academic domain, led him to work in a number of settings, notably as a clinician at Notre-Dame Hospital in Montreal and as a professor (the Universities of Alberta, British Columbia, McGill, Montreal and Washington) and in clinical and epidemiological research (Institut du Cancer de Montréal, British Columbia Cancer Agency and Health Canada).
In addition, Dr. Pierre Band has authored or co-authored a considerable number of publications in the medical field, most of which deal with cancer. His major work remains his book on the history of oncology, published in the United States in 2015, which received enthusiastic reviews (Therapeutic Revolution: The History of Medical Oncology From Early Days to the Creation of the Subspeciality). He was also actively involved in writing the Quebec Cancer Foundation's account of its first forty years (La Fondation québécoise du cancer : du rêve à la réalité). This work, which traced the evolution of the Foundation and chronicled its wonderful history from its very beginnings was particularly close to his heart.
In addition to academic awards, Dr. Band received medals from the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, from the ministère de l’Éducation in 1955 and in medicine in 1962. He was a recipient of the Chief Scientist, Health Canada award, Deputy Minister Excellence in Science award and the Pioneers in Oncology award from the Canadian Association of Medical Oncologists.
His courage and dedication to serving and supporting those affected by cancer are exemplary.
Pierre, we will always remember this phrase from one of your teachers that stayed in mind among all the Latin phrases you had to learn at that time: "The first can do better". This sentence has dictated your future and it will dictate ours. It is with this maxim that you made us grow and that is why we continue to always want more and better for all people affected by cancer.
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