Congratulations to Jeanie Malone for recently being awarded one of the three Nancy McKinstry Trainee Excellence Awards for 2025.

The Nancy McKinstry Endowment Fund for Ovarian Cancer Research, held at BC Cancer Foundation, is cultivating the next generation of ovarian cancer experts. Celebrating cutting-edge research, this award recognizes rising scholars at the Masters, Doctoral, and Postdoctoral level who are poised to accelerate new treatments and improve care for British Columbians facing ovarian cancer.

Dr. Jeanie Malone is redefining what’s possible in early cancer detection by developing state-of-the-art optical imaging devices. In a first-of-its-kind study, Dr. Malone is pioneering a minimally invasive method to visualise the inside of fallopian tubes and identify Serous Tubal Intraepithelial Carcinoma lesions – the earliest signs of the most common and aggressive form of ovarian cancer. Her research could pave the way for screening method for this type of cancer.

You can read the full funding announcement here.

Dr. Jeanie Malone in the MacAulay lab has been selected as a BC Cancer Rising Star (post-doctoral award).

The Rising Stars awards are a tribute to Dr. Connie Eaves, whose remarkable career and contributions to science continue to inspire our community. Dr. Eaves was the recipient of the Gairdner Wrightman Award, elected into the Royal Society in the UK, and appointed the Order of Canada. Her legacy of excellence and dedication to advancing cancer research lives on
through these awards. The Rising Stars awards recognize the next generation of promising researchers within our trainee community who are dedicated to shaping the future of cancer research.

The most common ovarian cancer subtype first forms in the fallopian tubes. Dr. Malone is studying whether a catheter that collects both imaging and a fluid sample from the fallopian tubes can detect early-stage ovarian cancers. She previously showed that imaging can detect early cancers in surgically resected fallopian tubes; now she is testing feasibility and safety of this device in advanced-stage cancer patients immediately before their surgery. There are no effective screening tools for ovarian cancers: if successful, this approach may enable earlier diagnosis and more care pathways for patients.