Spotlight on Dr Julie Stakiw
Dr Julie Stakiw at the Myeloma Canada Scientific Roundtable in 2018
Dr Julie Stakiw is a hemato-oncologist based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In her clinic, she treats around 50 myeloma patients from Northern Saskatchewan and Saskatoon.

Her father was her inspiration to become a doctor. Growing up, she had the opportunity to witness firsthand her father’s skills as a doctor. “I always enjoyed spending time with him, seeing what he was doing and why he was so busy; it got me interested in the field of medicine,” said Dr Stakiw. 
Dr Stakiw pursued her undergraduate and postgraduate studies at the University of Saskatchewan, followed by a hematology fellowship at Queen’s University and a lymphoma and transplant fellowship at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.
Her responsibilities include clinical and administrative work. Some weeks, she covers the ward for all haematology patients. Dr Stakiw says the most rewarding part of her job is her first meeting with patients because “they have questions and it's rewarding to be able to provide them with answers.” 
Dr Stakiw is currently involved in new clinical trials and is the primary investigator for the MCRN 009 or Meewasin Trial, a Myeloma Canada Research Network’s (MCRN) clinical trial. This trial is named after the Meewasin River Valley on the Saskatchewan River which runs through her hometown of Saskatoon. She chose the name because of her ties to Saskatoon and thinks this part of the city, “makes Saskatoon beautiful.” As the primary investigator, her role is to manage all aspects of the trial, including but not limited to: dealing with Health Canada regulations, budgeting and working with a research group made up of myeloma experts from across the country.  
Dr Stakiw developed the trial protocol that uses a monoclonal antibody called daratumumab (Darzalex) to determine if its infusion rate can be increased. She explained that during protocol development, no one in Canada had access to the treatment unless they were part of the clinical trial, or had private insurance. Today, the drug is funded in some provinces in combination with other treatments. “The question is not about the efficacy of the drug, but rather how we can administer it to make it easier for the patients and reduce the duration of treatment,” says Stakiw. The Meewasin Trial is a Phase II trial that will be recruiting, in six centres across the country, 40 patients who have received two prior lines of therapy. 
Dr Julie Stakiw
Besides being an oncologist and clinical researcher, Dr Stakiw is a mother of three children, aged three, six and nine. Her life outside of work revolves around them and their family activities. Regardless of how busy her life is, she still makes time for answering her patients’ phone calls and her children are very understanding, as they know, how important her work is. Dr Stakiw has noticed that her eldest daughter is exhibiting the same kind of interest in her work as she used to show in her father’s.
Thank you to Kimberley Moriarity for conducting the interview, and thanks to Dr Julie Stakiw who accepted
to share her background and projetcs with us.
To find clinical trials in your area or for more information, visit our website and search in the Personal Clinical Trial Finder .