Laboratory medicine graduate student strips away invisibility cloak of aggressive gynecological cancers
From uncovering the mechanics of muscular dystrophy to supporting Indigenous birthing practices, WCHRI’s latest graduate students are tackling critical health challenges at every stage of life.
For many women diagnosed with rare and aggressive gynecological cancers, treatment options quickly become limited. These advanced endometrial and ovarian tumours are highly adept at evading detection, effectively turning off the very immune cells meant to destroy them.
Researcher Annie Tong from the University of Alberta’s Department of Oncology wants to change that. Awarded a 2026 Women and Children’s Health Research Institute (WCHRI) graduate studentship, Tong’s work will focus on waking up the body’s natural defences to fight back.
Working under the supervision of Dr. Cheng-Han Lee, a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology and the Sawin-Baldwin Chair in Ovarian Cancer, Tong will look at how these aggressive tumours successfully bypass immune recognition. Lee’s team had already discovered that cancer cells hide by turning off a key antigen-presenting protein, creating a sort of invisibility cloak that shields them from immune cells. Now, with funding support from the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation, Tong is testing targeted drugs designed to flip the switch back on.
Researcher Annie Tong (photo: supplied)
“One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from Dr. Lee is the importance of always thinking about clinical relevance,” she says. “It’s not enough for findings to be scientifically interesting; they need to be actionable and meaningful in a patient context.”
This perspective has also been shaped by Tong’s volunteer work with the AWHF, where she has interacted directly with donors and community members. These connections have given her lab work a profound sense of urgency. “Knowing that what we study could eventually contribute to better treatments or improved patient outcomes makes the work feel meaningful,” she says.
This is Tong’s second WCHRI award, following a 2025 summer studentship. She credits the institute’s interdisciplinary community with helping her pursue a future career as an MD-PhD. By bridging laboratory discovery with clinical application, her work may ultimately offer a cure for women facing these deadly diseases.
Studentships are a cornerstone of the institute’s mission to train the next generation of researchers in women’s, children’s and perinatal health. The support from our partners, the University of Alberta, Alberta Health Services, the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation (SCHF) and the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation (AWHF), enables these crucial research endeavours. This year’s awardees across eight U of A faculties are:
Supported by the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation
- Sarah Beeby (supervisor Jacqueline Pei, Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education) – Helping children thrive: strengths and mental health in children exposed to alcohol before birth
- Jun Chu (supervisor Pan Liu, Psychology, Faculty of Arts) – Social media feedback, reward sensitivity, and adolescent depression
- Tyler Cole* (supervisor Kate Storey, School of Public Health) – The road to mino-pimâtisiwin (living the good life): Supporting the educational and health and wellness needs of Indigenous youth in the Indigenous Youth Mentorship Program
- Jamie Leckie (supervisor Toshifumi Yokota, Medical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) – Understanding how muscles try to protect themselves in Duchenne muscular dystrophy
- Karla Manzanet Freyre (supervisor Qiumin Tan, Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) – How an immune-related signaling molecule regulates memory precision as the brain matures
- Daniel Ofosu* (supervisor Maria Castro Codesal, Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) – Working with families to co-create a mobile app that helps parents of children with a tracheostomy find and use the right care
- Emma Williams* (supervisor Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) – Evaluation of a training program for community-based autism assessment: Clinician learning, family experience, and clinical impact
- Lolu Zaccheus (supervisor Hossein Rouhani, Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering) – Giving children with disabilities the freedom to move using their thoughts
Supported by the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation
- Emily Berg* (supervisor Elaine Hyshka, School of Public Health) – Women’s perspectives on forced care: What patients and providers think about Alberta’s mandatory drug treatment law
- Jordyn Cox (supervisor Taniya Nagpal, Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation) – Weight stigma in pregnancy and postpartum: How migration shapes stress and well-being in Canada
- Calvin Kruger (supervisor Edith Pituskin, Faculty of Nursing) – Investigating the connections between long term disease, fat, and muscle in older women
- Sela Scott (supervisor Colleen Norris, Faculty of Nursing) – Awareness and Understanding in Reproductive Aging (AURA): A digital health solution to enhance women’s primary care across Alberta
- Annie Tong (supervisor Cheng-Han Lee, Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) – Understanding and boosting the immune response in aggressive gynecological cancers
- Izzy Weigel-Mohamed* (supervisor Heather Brown, Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education) – Does camouflaging help or hurt? How autistic camouflaging, social networks, and social anxiety shape belonging for women and non-binary students
Jointly supported by the SCHF and AWHF
- Janat Ibrahimi* (supervisor Susan Chatwood, School of Public Health) – Supporting birth closer to home: Learning from Indigenous birthing practices across the Arctic
- Angie Stokes (supervisor Sandra Davidge, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry) – Investigating how very high cholesterol levels in the blood leads to pregnancy complications
* Awardees with an asterisk have been invited to participate in WCHRI’s Patient and Community Engagement Training (PaCET) program.
Read more about WCHRI research grants and training awards for students at all levels.
