Dr. Kerbel received his PhD in immunology Queen’s University in Kingston in 1972, after which he undertook postdoctoral training in tumor immunology at the Chester Beatty Research Institute in London England. He started his career as an independent researcher focusing on tumor immunology and tumor immunotherapy as an Assistant Professor and career awardee as a Research Scholar of the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC) in the Department of Pathology Queen’s University from 1975. Until 1985, the focus of most of his work was in tumor immunology and therapy of metastatic disease. From 1981 until 1985, he was appointed Director of the Cancer Research labs at Queen’s. In 1985, he moved to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was recruited to develop a cancer research group. During this period he was the recipient of a Terry Fox Career Scientist Award from the NCIC.

The focus of his research at that time changed to studying the biological basis of metastatic disease. In 1991, he moved to the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, where he was recruited to develop a program in cancer research. It is during this period where he began his studies on tumor angiogenesis and antiangiogenic therapy and then metronomic chemotherapy.

Dr. Kerbel's research has been supported over the years by grants from the Canadian Institute for Health Research, the National Cancer Institute of Canada, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Worldwide Cancer Research, and the National Institutes of Health, USA. He also has held or holds multiple sponsored research agreements with biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He has supervised over 40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows since 1975, many of whom have gone on to become successful research scientists in academia and industry.

For his achievements Dr. Kerbel has been awarded the 2004 Canadian Cancer Society Robert Noble Award for Excellence in Cancer Research, the Breast Cancer Research Award from the European Institute of Oncology in 2008, a Man of Distinction Honor by the Israel Cancer Research Fund in 2011, and the Colin Thomson Memorial Medal from Worldwide Cancer Research in 2013. He was a recipient of a tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Tumor Biology, Angiogenesis and Antiangiogenic Therapy from 2001-2015.

Dr. Kerbel’s contributions have also been recognized by the over 850 invitations to give lectures around the world since he began his career, his numerous memberships on scientific peer review journal editorial boards, and memberships on scientific advisory boards in both industry and academia.