By Terry Hawrysh, Maureen Smith and Dawn Richards
This blog is a celebration of Emily McIntosh, who was a Clinical Trials Ontario (CTO) College of Lived Experience Member, and who died on February 11, 2026.
Emily was a go-getter. She first approached CTO in 2019, asking if she could attend the annual clinical trials conference to learn more. From there she applied for and became a member of the CTO College of Lived Experience. At the time Emily was just finishing her PhD studies.
As a College member Emily brought her many perspectives to our conversations and interactions, usually with a smile and keen sense of humour. While she lived with a brain tumour, she also brought a younger perspective to the group, too. Her time on the College included her managing her health while doing her graduate studies, moving on to establish her career, becoming more involved in the patient community in a number of different ways, and more recently gushing about her dog, Monty.
We also got to see and celebrate the work Emily did with other organizations, given her passion about patient-oriented research and patient engagement in research. Some of those organizations included Brain Cancer Canada and the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research. Emily also built connections with global colleagues in the brain cancer community. And she was so determined to help others living with brain cancer and in bringing equity to all of the work she did. She was a natural storyteller who could so eloquently communicate to a wide audience on the challenges and sometimes humorous aspects of living with and managing a deadly terminal disease.
Part of Emily’s legacy is the work she has left us as a community in the research world (and we know she left more beyond our community). While she made invaluable contributions to CTO, including its Learn More about clinical trials webpages, and its research on perceptions of decentralized and hybrid clinical trials in Canada, she also has a treasure trove of valuable information, insights and thoughts in her LinkedIn posts.
It’s difficult to put into words how to pay tribute to a person who touched so many people’s lives, especially in using her skills to help patients and their families navigate the world of brain cancer while faced with her own nine-year illness.
We are so grateful for knowing Emily, working with her, and learning from her. Thank you for all you did during your time with us, Emily.