The BC blueprint: Reducing ovarian cancer risk across a lifetime

Ovarian cancer is one of the most challenging diagnoses in women’s health. Often called the “silent killer,” it is notoriously difficult to detect early, but researchers like Dr. Gillian Hanley have shifted the focus toward a powerful alternative: prevention. 

Gillian is helping prove the effectiveness of a groundbreaking treatment strategy known as opportunistic salpingectomy. This made-in-BC innovation proactively removes the fallopian tubes – where most serous ovarian cancers begin – in women who are undergoing other gynecological surgeries.  

Recent data from Gillian’s team at the University of British Columbia shows that this procedure can reduce the risk of the most lethal form of ovarian cancer by nearly 80 percent.

Gillian’s research serves as the connective tissue between laboratory science and clinical practice. By integrating prevention into contraception planning, a routine doctor’s visit becomes a moment of lifelong protection. 

She is carrying forward a legacy of groundbreaking work that began with Dr. Dianne Miller and the OVCARE team. It was Dr. Miller who helped uncover that most high-grade ovarian cancers actually begin in the fallopian tubes, not the ovaries.

Gillian’s latest work bridges the gap between Dr. David Huntsman’s genomic research into the biology of the fallopian tubes and Dr. Wendy Norman’s initiatives to bring these options to contraception prescribers. Together, this collaboration is ensuring ovarian cancer is no longer a silent threat, but a preventable one. 

Explore more of Gillian’s work and its impact on British Columbians below.