The Montreal Dermatology Research Institute (MDRI) is pleased to announce Dr Philippe Lefrançois and Dr Ivan Litvinov as recipients of its 2026 grant program for research on dermatological diseases.
Finding Better Ways to Predict and Treat Aggressive Basal Cell Skin Cancer in Diverse Patients
Dr. Philippe Lefrançois is a dermatologist at the Jewish General Hospital and an Assistant Professor at McGill University in the Departments of Medicine, Surgery, and Pharmacology and Therapeutics. He is also Director of Research in the McGill Division of Dermatology. At the Jewish General Hospital, he is involved in multidisciplinary skin cancer clinics and tumor boards.
He is a Principal Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute, where he established a skin cancer biobank and founded a translational skin cancer genomics laboratory. His research program focuses mainly on high-risk and advanced basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. His team uses patient-derived samples, molecular approaches, and computational tools to better understand why some skin cancers become aggressive, recur, or resist treatment.
Dr. Lefrançois leads Terry Fox Research Institute–Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network initiatives on basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. He is also involved in SkIN Canada, the Réseau Recherche Cancer – Québec, and the Québec Cancer Consortium. In 2023, he was among the first researchers supported by the Montreal Dermatology Research Institute. His work on skin cancers has been recognized by the Canadian Dermatology Association and the American Academy of Dermatology. He holds an MD from Université de Montréal, completed dermatology residency at McGill University, and holds a PhD in genomics from Yale University.
Exploring, Augmenting, and Exploiting the B‑Cell Phenotype in Merkel Cell Carcinoma to Enable Biomarker‑Guided Targeted Therapy
Dr. Litvinov is an Associate Professor in the Division of Dermatology of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of McGill University practicing at St. Mary’s Hospital Centre. He earned his Ph.D. degree in cellular and molecular medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and his medical degree at McGill, completing dermatology residency training at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Prior to joining the faculty at McGill, Dr Litvinov practiced as an Assistant Professor and dermatology clinician-scientist at the University of Ottawa between 2015-2017.
During 2019-2021, Dr Litvinov served as regional director (Quebec) of the Canadian Dermatology Association and during 2021-2023 as the president of the Skin Research Group of Canada. He currently serves as the secretary of the International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas and as the treasurer of the Canadian Dermatology Foundation. He is active in cutaneous research, particularly studying cutaneous lymphomas, keratinocyte carcinomas and melanoma, and his research is supported by various grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).