House of the Rising Sun, New Orleans, 2001

My name is Joel and I’m from the Queen Charlotte Islands, a very secluded set of islands off the northwest coast of British Columbia. After graduating high school, I quickly escaped this seclusion by fashioning a small boat and paddling my way to Edmonton, Alberta where I completed my PhD in Immunology in 2013. Shortly afterward I joined Rod’s lab and I’m currently focusing my efforts on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying initiation and progression of two seemingly unrelated cancers – which actually aren’t that unrelated – retinoblastoma and small cell lung cancer.