Dr. Nagarajan Kannan

During his postgraduate research training, Dr.Nagarajan (aka Raj) Kannan observed radiation treatment failures of cancer victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy in India, which inspired him to choose research as a career to make a difference in the lives of those affected by cancer.

Dr. Kannan did his doctoral degree at The Liggins Institute in New Zealand where he gained expertise in areas of breast cancer research and therapeutic resistance. His doctoral work led to discovery of a promising new target to overcome breast cancer resistance to clinically used ER antagonist. While working amidst stem cell researchers in Dr. Connie Eaves' lab at Terry Fox Laboratory, his current research focus is to understand various functions of normal primitive cells in mammary gland and mechanistically understand the cellular origin of human breast cancers.