Laura Dawson is a radiation oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and a Professor the Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto.  She completed her medical school and radiation oncology residency at the University of Toronto and a fellowship in high precision radiation therapy at the University of Michigan, where she stayed on as a faculty member until 2003, at which time she returned to Canada and developed a liver cancer radiation therapy program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.  She is an internationally recognized leader in hepatobiliary cancers, hepatic (and other) oligo-metastases and in the use of advanced radiation technologies, including stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and image guided radiation therapy (IGRT).

Her research has focused on the safe implementation of advanced radiation therapy technologies in the treatment of liver cancer, and in normal tissue toxicity avoidance.  She has led numerous phase I/II clinical trials of liver SBRT, and is presently the PI of RTOG1112, an international randomized trial of SBRT for locally advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, and HE.1, a CCTG randomized trial of low dose whole liver radiation therapy to treat painful primary and metastatic liver cancers.  She has published over 180 scientific papers.  She has received numerous awards for her teaching and research, and her research has been funded by the NIH, CIHR, NCIC and the Canadian Cancer Society.  She has served on the board of directors of ASTRO, where she was the chair of the education council, and she is a passionate teacher, having supervised hundreds of residents, fellows, observers and graduate students, many who have developed their own liver cancer SBRT programs under her mentorship.

When not working, she enjoys playing hockey and watching her three sons play hockey, golf and other sports.

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