In the Media: Dr. Gillian Hanley Explains the Benefits of Opportunistic Salpingectomy

A photo of Dr. Gillian Hanley. She has brown curly hair and is wearing a white shirt. She is smiling.

Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest types of gynecologic cancer, in part because it often goes undetected in its early stages. Though the average lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer is about 1.4 percent, it is the fifth leading cause of cancer death for women in Canada.

Research currently led by WHRI scientific advisory board member Dr. Gillian Hanley is helping to change that. Thanks to Dr. Hanley and her team’s research, the province of BC is expanding access to opportunistic salpingectomy — a simple yet potentially life saving procedure that can reduce the risk of developing ovarian cancer by 80 percent.

The Women’s Health Research Institute would like to acknowledge that we are uninvited guests on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lo, and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-waututh) Nations.

As a provincial research institute committed to improving the health outcomes of women, including those across the 2SLGBTQIA+ spectrum, we recognize our responsibility in the collective effort towards establishing culturally safe health care systems and services that address health inequities among Indigenous peoples, especially Indigenous women, girls, and Two-spirit peoples.

We encourage all people involved in research to read both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action and the In Plain Sight Report, and reflect on ways we can incorporate the recommendations into our work. As we gather in spaces together, we encourage you to reflect on your positionality on these lands and your personal commitments to reconciliation.

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