Robert Olson

Dr. Robert Olson is a clinician scientist. He completed his medical school at the University of Calgary, his radiation oncology residency at UBC, and his MSc in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health.

He was the first physician hired to the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North in Prince George, and opened the first Radiation Oncology Fellowship in Northern BC. During his short independent research career, Olson has received over $4 million in research support, published over 50 manuscripts, and supervised over 30 research trainees. He is the department head of Radiation Oncology at the BCCA Centre for the North, and the provincial division head of Radiation Oncology at UBC.

He is the provincial lead of several cancer clinical trials and a combined clinical and research project that uses patient report outcomes (PROs) to guide clinical care, quality improvement, and population-based research, which has already accrued over 40,000 patients. He is now leading national expansion of Patient Reported Outcome use in clinical care and research in collaboration with the Canadian Partnership for Quality Radiotherapy, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, and funding from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.