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Physician Leadership
At the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, our physicians are led by Dr. Shazia Mahmood, Vice-President of Medical Services.
Our expert team of physician leaders are located in our Regina and Saskatoon clinics. They each work and lead in their respective specialties, including medical directors, academics, gynecology oncology, malignant and general hematology, disease-site groups, clinical associates, medical oncology and radiation oncology.
Dr. Shahid Ahmed, MD, PhD, FRCPC, is a medical oncologist and Medical Director of Academics at the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, and Professor of Oncology at the University of Saskatchewan.
Dr. Ahmed graduated from Dow Medical University of Health Sciences, Karachi, in 1996, and completed his training in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, in 2003. He earned his PhD in Community and Population Health Science from the University of Saskatchewan in 2016. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
He joined the Saskatoon Cancer Center in 2003. He has extensive experience leading clinical trials, population-based cohort studies, and health services research. He is engaged in several collaborative interdisciplinary research projects, clinical trials, and quality improvement initiatives in breast and gastrointestinal cancer.
Dr. Ahmed has supervised more than 30 undergraduate and graduate students, presented his work at several international conferences, and is the lead or co-author of more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is the editor-in-chief of Current Oncology and holds several research grants. Additionally, he is involved in various local and national committees related to patient care, medical education, research, and has served as a continuing professional development educator.
Dr. Aslam's bio is coming soon.
Dr. Haji Chalchal is a Medical Oncologist and Hematologist at Allan Blair Cancer Center, Regina. His medical degree is from Dow Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan. He completed his Internal Medicine Residency at Woodhull Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, his Medical Oncology/Hematology Fellowship at State University of New York at Brooklyn, USA and his transplant fellowship at University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
Dr. Chalchal’s areas of interest includes Breast, G.I., and CNS malignancies. In Hematology, he specializes in Acute Leukemia’s and high-grade lymphomas.
Dr. Chalchal has collaborated on follow up guidelines and creating provincial Disease site group structures. He has been a part of implementing changes in different areas of oncology, disease site specific clinics and multidisciplinary triage rounds. Dr. Chalchal has been involved in the development of practice processes, committees, creating work standards and training pathways for other health care providers. He has a keen interest in clinical research and is published in peer review journals.
Dr. Chalchal also volunteers for The Citizens foundation, Canada to build and run schools for underprivileged children of Pakistan.
Dr. Vijayananda Kundapur is a clinician and an avid researcher. He is currently working to improve the outcome of brain tumor treatment. He has invented a novel technique to generate micro-beams on linear accelerators in clinical use. Dr. Kundapur has pioneered this micro-beam radiation treatment for treating brain tumors. Development of mini beam started as a bench work in 2009. Now the mini beam has shown very impressive results in treating dog de-novo brain tumors over 3 successive grants, paving way for human brain tumor treatment. He is also a member of NIH lead working group for “Grid, mini beam and Flash Radiation treatment”.
Dr. Kundapur has developed inclined belly board for reducing small bowel toxicity with radiation treatment. He has contributed actively in the field of hippocampal sparing radiation treatment to mitigate radiation related side effects on memory while patients go through whole brain radiation treatment. He is also instrumental in establishing SBRT LUNG and SRS program in Saskatchewan.
Dr. Amer Sami graduated from the Punjab University in Pakistan in 1989. He worked as an emergency medicine physician before moving to the United States to complete a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Medical Oncology and Hematology at Michigan State University in Lansing, MI. He joined the Saskatoon Cancer Center in 2000 as a medical oncologist. He was the director of Medical Oncology from 2002-2007 and is currently the Medical Director for the center. He is also a member of the Drugs and Therapeutics Committee.
He served as breast cancer team lead for several years, passing the baton in 2019. He has an interest in medical technology and has participated in several pilot programs such as telemedicine for the Cancer Agency. He was a member of the team that led to the implementation of the Agency's EMR system. His areas of clinical interest are breast, lung, genitourinary and CNS cancers. He has been an active participant in clinical trials in Saskatoon taking part in landmark studies such as the HERA and ATAC trials. He enjoys teaching residents and other clinical staff during their rotations in oncology. His free time is spent with his family, reading, and supporting Manchester United.