Chair in Prostate Cancer Research

Congratulations to Dr. Adam Kinnaird for being appointed as the Frank and Carla Sojonky Chair in Prostate Cancer Research. Endowed to the Alberta Cancer Foundation by the late Frank Sojonky and a team of volunteers known as the Bird Dogs, the Sojonky Chair supports research that will help us better understand, diagnose, and treat prostate cancer.

Dr. Kinnaird a member of the Alberta Prostate Cancer Research Initiative (APCaRI) and Cancer Research Institute of Northern Alberta (CRINA).

He completed a fellowship in Imaging, Targeted Biopsy, and Focal Therapy for Prostate Cancer at UCLA with Dr. Leonard Marks. His lab studies translational prostate cancer research with a focus on new drugs, technologies, and devices. 

Dr. Kinnaird completed his MD and Urology residency at the University of Alberta, during which he was enrolled in the Clinician Investigator Program. He completed his PhD with Dr. Evangelos Michelakis as a Vanier Scholar and was awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal in research in 2018. He has published in high-impact journals such as Nature Reviews Cancer, Cell, and European Urology and has been awarded funding from local, regional, and national grant competitions since starting as an assistant professor in November 2020.

As the newly appointed chair, Dr. Kinnaird will conduct world-class translational and clinical research that will have immediate impact for Albertans and Canadians with prostate cancer. He will also collaborate with the University of Alberta’s and Edmonton’s many partners in cancer care and research, such as CRINA and the Cross Cancer Institute. This appointment will allow Dr. Kinnaird to build upon the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry’s signficant expertise in prostate cancer research and leverage national, international, and multidisciplinary collaborations. 

The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry thanks the Bird Dogs, Alberta Cancer Foundation and their donors for making the Sojonky Chair possible. As well, we would like to thank the University Hospital Foundation for their valued partnership in this appointment and their generous support of prostate cancer research at the University.  

We would also like to recognize the contributions of the outgoing Sojonky Chair Dr. John Lewis. Dr. Lewis’s work in prostate cancer has laid a strong foundation of institutional excellence in the field. As the Sojonky Chair, he worked to find a better way to detect, treat and prevent prostate cancer from spreading. We look forward to future collaborations between Drs. Kinnaird and Lewis to keep the momentum in prostate cancer research moving forward at the University of Alberta.

The Faculty would also like to recognize and thank the Search and Selection Committee for their input and contributions to the selection of the Sojonky Chair.