Celebrating the Career of Dr. Gregory Cairncross

Today, we celebrate the remarkable career of Dr. Gregory Cairncross, MD, a world‑renowned clinician‑scientist whose influential work in neuro‑oncology has reshaped how brain cancer is understood and treated around the globe.

Cairncross joined the University of Calgary in 2002, bringing with him a distinguished academic and clinical trajectory. After earning his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario, he completed advanced training in Internal Medicine and Neurology at leading centres across North America. His early career at Western University was marked by visionary leadership: he founded a brain tumour research program, and later served as both Head of the Department of Oncology and Director of the Cancer Centre, establishing a legacy of innovation long before his arrival in Calgary.

At the University of Calgary, Cairncross continued to shape the future of cancer research and care. He served as director of the Charbonneau Cancer Institute and head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, roles in which he championed interdisciplinary collaboration, strengthened research capacity, and mentored countless clinicians and scientists.

His scientific contributions have had profound global impact. In 1988, Cairncross was the first to demonstrate that oligodendrogliomas, a form of brain cancer, respond to chemotherapy, an insight that overturned long‑held assumptions and opened new therapeutic possibilities. A decade later, he co‑discovered a molecular marker that predicts chemosensitivity and longer survival, a discovery now used worldwide to guide patient care. Clinical trials informed by his work have doubled survival times for patients with this disease, a testament to the transformative nature of his research.

Cairncross’s leadership and scientific excellence have been recognized with numerous honours, including election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the ASTech Award for Outstanding Leadership in Alberta Science, the Victor Levin and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Society for Neuro‑Oncology, among other distinctions.

Beyond his groundbreaking discoveries, Cairncross has been a generous mentor and a unifying force in the scientific community. His commitment to nurturing the next generation of clinicians and researchers has inspired a culture of collaboration and curiosity, advancing care for patients facing some of the most challenging diagnoses in medicine.

He also played a meaningful role in the early history of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI). In 2003, Cairncross and Dr. Chen Fong met with Harley Hotchkiss to discuss the vision for an institute dedicated to brain and mental health. That pivotal conversation helped lay the foundation for the creation of the HBI, launched by Harley Hotchkiss and Dr. Sam Weiss in 2004.

As Cairncross steps into a well‑earned retirement, the University community reflects with gratitude on a career defined by scientific courage, compassionate leadership, and an unwavering commitment to improving the lives of patients with brain cancer.

Please join all of us at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) and the HBI in thanking Cairncross for his decades of service, and in wishing him every happiness in the next chapter of his journey.