Dr. Miranda Fidler-Benaoudia
Positions
Adjunct Associate Professor
Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences
Adjunct Associate Professor
Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Oncology
Member
Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute
Child Health & Wellness Researcher
Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute
Member
O'Brien Institute for Public Health
Contact information
Phone number
Office: 403.355.3277
Location
Office: Holy Cross Centre- 508B
Background
Educational Background
BS Health Sciences - Public Health, Boston University, 2011
MSc Social Epidemiology, University College London, 2012
PhD Cancer Epidemiology, University of Birmingham, 2015
Postdoctoral Fellow Cancer Epidemiology, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2018
Biography
Dr. Fidler-Benaoudia is a clinical and descriptive cancer epidemiologist in the Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research at Alberta Health Services, and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses primarily on describing the burden of childhood, adolescent and young adult cancers and evaluating their related late-effects. She is additionally interested in sub-populations, such as indigenous peoples, and continues to undertake research comprehensively describing cancer indicators nationally, regionally, and at global levels.
Dr. Fidler-Benaoudia received her bachelor and master degrees from Boston University and University College London, respectively. She then pursued a PhD within the Centre for Childhood Cancer Survivor Studies at the University of Birmingham where she utilized the British Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, Teenage and Young Adult Cancer Survivor Study, and PanCare Childhood and Adolescent Cancer Survivor Care and Follow-up Studies to assess a wide range of late-effects among cancer survivors diagnosed before age 40. Upon completion of her PhD, Dr. Fidler-Benaoudia joined the Section of Cancer Surveillance at the International Agency for Research on Cancer; here she led research efforts on assessing the burden of cancer according to human development level, and began the first studies quantifying the burden of cancer in adolescents and young adults globally. She was also involved in other projects, such as benchmarking cancer survival in high-income (International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership) and low- and middle-income countries (SURVCAN-3), undertaking descriptive trend analyses for specific cancers and regions, and reviewing social inequalities in cancer for an IARC scientific publication.
Research
Areas of Research
Dr. Fidler-Benaoudia's research focuses primarily on understanding the late-effects of cancer and its treatment among survivors originally diagnosed during childhood and adolescence. In particular, she is interested in comparing the risks of adverse outcomes among these vulnerable survivor populations with the general population in order to document the magnitude of excess and the risk factors for such conditions. This work could then help to identify potential initiatives to prevent or detect such conditions from occurring. Dr. Fidler-Benaoudia is also continues to undertake research comprehensively describing cancer indicators nationally, regionally, and at global levels.
Participation in university strategic initiatives
Projects
The Alberta AYA Cancer Survivor Study is a population-based cohort established in collaboration with the Alberta Cancer Registry. All individuals diagnosed with a first cancer, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, between the ages of 15-39 years in Alberta from 1983 onwards were included. Since it is important to have detailed treatment information to make clinical recommendations, there is also a nested sub-cohort of AYA cancer survivors diagnosed from 2000 onwards for whom detailed treatment information about cumulative doses of radiotherapy and chemotherapy are available. The cohort will be updated at 5-year intervals to add more recently diagnosed AYA cancer survivors.
To assess health outcomes and healthcare utilization, the Alberta AYA Cancer Survivor Study was linked to population-based registries and administrative health databases to obtain information on second cancers, chronic health conditions, offspring, patient-reported outcomes and death, among other outcomes. Data linkages will be updated at 5-year intervals to add additional follow-up time and update the outcomes of interest. Focus groups and 1:1 interviews will also be used to complement findings.
To learn more about the study, visit ayacancerAB.com.
Recognizing that exercise is an important lifestyle factor to improve physical fitness and quality of life after cancer, the Adolescents and Young Adults becoming Physically Active after Cancer Trial, or AYA-PACT, was launched. The overall aim of the study is to see how a mobile health (mHealth) physical activity intervention helps to support a healthy lifestyle for AYA cancer survivors using a two-centered (Calgary and Edmonton) randomized controlled trial of 320 participants. Recruitment of AYA cancer survivors aged 15 to 39 years at diagnosis and within one year of treatment completion began in October 2021 and will be ongoing for two years. Ultimately, this study could provide AYA cancer survivors with a simple and affordable mHealth intervention that benefits their physical and mental health.
To learn more about the trial, please visit the study website at www.ayapact.com.
Awards
- Young Investigator Award, Tom Baker Cancer Centre - Department of Oncology. 2020
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