Hagit Peretz Soroka, PhD

Dr. Hagit Peretz Soroka is CanSaRCC Program and Scientific Manager at The Princess Margaret Cancer Center. Since beginning her B.Sc., Hagit has been inspired by the words of the 1937 Nobel Prize-winning scientist, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi: “Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen, and thinking what nobody has thought.” Throughout her career, Hagit has striven to bridge the boundaries of chemistry, biology, physics and materials science. Over the years, she built rapport with leading scientists, physicians, investors, donors, and patent attorneys, as well as due diligence and technology transfer departments. After completing a master’s degree in Neuronal Tissue-Engineering.she worked on the development of autologous stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. She received her Ph.D. at Tel Aviv University focusing on the development of novel multidisciplinary nano-biochemical tools for cancer diagnosis and therapy, specifically concentrating on the metabolic activity of the immune system. During this period, Hagit led advanced analysis using data mining tools and machine learning for kit development and commercial enhancement. As well, she wrote several patents and was head of R&D of a spin-off company that was established based on her Ph.D research. Before Hagit joined CanSaRCC she completed a postdoctoral fellowship and was an NSERC associate scientist in the Faculty of Science at the University of Manitoba. Her research explored a new biophysical hypothesis for cell motility that is further related to immune-cancer cell interactions using microfluidic devices. Hagit brings multi-disciplinary experience and expertise in assisting Dr. Abha Gupta to create and lead CanSaRCC in all aspects of its mission.