Hope is an important word in cancer research and care. It can mean different things to different people. For Dr. Emily Drake, Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Health Studies Program at ������Ƶ Allison, hope is a commitment to young people — for a future that sees better equity in care and education.

Since joining ������Ƶ Allison in 2025 (she first did a teaching stint here in 2023 and was determined to return), Drake has been building the Drake Lab, the first cancer research lab at the University, focused on children, and adolescents and young adults (AYAs) living with cancer — a group whose needs often fall between systems designed for either much younger patients or much older ones.

Her work reaches far beyond Sackville through global recognition for her efforts in AYA oncology and adjunct appointments with McGill University (Ingram School of Nursing) and Dalhousie University (Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine), and an affiliate scientist position with IWK Health (Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology), but its centre of gravity remains firmly in the AYA cancer community.

“The overarching goal of this program of research is to create community-driven work that helps young people living with cancer achieve better well-being and meaning in their daily lives.”

That focus was shaped long before Drake arrived at ������Ƶ Allison. Between graduate degrees, she worked closely with young people (specifically those aged 18 to 39) living with advanced cancer, helping to co-create Canada’s first retreat designed specifically for them. Many are navigating parenthood, interrupted education, or early careers — all while facing a reality that few around them can understand.

What struck her most was not only the absence of tailored care, but the silence surrounding it. Programming focused on survivorship, even when survivorship wasn’t guaranteed. Palliative care was rarely introduced. Conversations were postponed — or avoided altogether.

Those experiences changed the direction of her research and advocacy efforts.

Today, Drake’s work spans the full cancer care continuum, from prevention to end-of-life care, always grounded in partnership with people who have lived experience of cancer. Research, for her, is not something done at a distance. It is something built collaboratively, from the very beginning.

Hope, she says, lives in access — to information, to understanding, to age-appropriate care that meets people where they are.

“Hope for me is that families impacted by cancer receive the information they need when they need it — and that we’re generating knowledge that truly matters to the community.”

������Ƶ Allison’s decision to invest in this work reflects a broader commitment: to equity in health research, to interdisciplinary thinking, and to preparing students to engage thoughtfully with complex human challenges. It also signals an intention to build cancer research capacity for young people in the Maritimes — an area where funding and attention have historically lagged.

For Drake, teaching is inseparable from that mission. In the classroom, she sees what the future of health research could look like.

“When I interact with our students and see how caring and thoughtful they are, it gives me hope for the future of health research — research that reflects equity, inclusion, and diversity, and what communities actually need.”

That hope sustains her through work that is important and challenging. She draws strength from students’ curiosity, from collaborations with colleagues, and from the courage of young people living with cancer themselves — many of whom are advocates, educators, and change-makers.

In Drake’s work, hope is rooted in community-driven work. It is deliberate, practiced, and shared. It is built through listening. Through care. Through refusing to look away from hard truths — and choosing, instead, to respond with compassion and purpose.

At ������Ƶ Allison, that work is only beginning.