Founders of the Panov Program from left to right: Adam Panov, Dr. Rochelle Schwartz, Lucian Yaron Panov and Dr. Elan Panov.

In 2011, when a CT scan showed that Yaron Panov’s rare abdominal sarcoma had returned, he was given only months to live.

But thanks to cutting-edge Precision Chemotherapy treatment he received from Baltimore and Israel, Yaron had years added on to his life. Oncologists grafted pieces of Yaron's tumor into mice avatars and then tested different chemotherapy drugs, to see which would work best on Yaron's genetically unique Liposarcoma cancer cells. Yaron, his wife, children and family physician Dr. Sharla Lichtman, became passionate advocates to bring this new chemotherapy treatment to Canada, to benefit more people with rare and difficult to treat cancers.

A fundraising initiative that ended in October 2015 raised $1,000,000 from 650 donors to help Sinai Health System’s Christopher Sharp Cancer Centre join an international study that will prove the value of this highly personalized chemotherapy approach for soft tissue sarcoma patients.  With one of the largest sarcoma patient populations in the country, Mount Sinai Hospital is the only Canadian contributor to this crucial study.

Building on our previous fundraising success, we are excited to announce a new $1,000,000 fundraising initiative to launch the next Research Program —The Panov Research Fund, which will help researchers at the Christopher Sharp Cancer Center predict the onset of sarcoma tumours and prevent cancer before it starts.  

One of our next research studies will focus on Liposarcoma (a type of fatty cancer).  This is a collaborative research study between Canada (Mount Sinai Hospital and Ontario Institute for Cancer Research) and Israel (Rabin Medical/Davidoff Cancer Centre as well as the Weizmann Research Institute).  This study aims at searching for the "initiating cell" which turns a tumor from benign to malignant, and then finding the "genetic switch" to turn off this mechanism from occurring.

Over the past 7 years throughout his own battle with liposarcoma, Yaron always made the time and effort to personally bring hope and strength to cancer patients across Canada. He helped them cope and confront their illness with encouragement, understanding, compassion and dignity. Lucian Yaron Panov leaves a legacy of a true "Superhero." He will be incredibly missed by his family, friends, doctors and all the lives he touched in the past, and will continue to touch in the future.

To date, we have raised more than $1,500,000 towards our $2,000,000 goal and we continue to actively fundraise. With your support, we are confident that we will be able to achieve our $2,000,000 fundraising goal.

For more information view the National Post article "Experimental cancer test grafts tumours into mice to create customized treatment for patients"

Watch the CTV News video with Dr. Rochelle Schwartz and Yaron Panov

Read the Dolce Magazine article on Yaron Panov - Hope in the Smallest Places

Mount Sinai Hospital is renowned for compassionate care, clinical excellence and leading-edge scientific breakthroughs. Without philanthropy, we would be an ordinary hospital. With you, we are extraordinary.

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