David Wai Lim

Dr. David Wai Lim

Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
+1
orcid
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

Biography

Mortality from breast cancer has improved significantly in the last 40 years. However, there remains certain subgroups of patients with breast cancer who have worse survival. Dr. Lim’s research program focuses on these subgroups to better understand the reasons for their poorer outcomes. Lobular breast cancer is the second most common subtype of breast cancer, and long-term survival is worse compared with invasive ductal carcinoma. He’s been funded by the Terry Fox Research Institute to study treatment and outcomes in patients with lobular breast cancer, recruiting from multiple hospital centers across Canada. As breast cancer survival improves, research is shifting towards improving quality of life for breast cancer survivors and cautiously de-escalating breast cancer treatment. He studies patient-reported outcomes and the experiences of patients receiving treatment, including ambulatory surgery at Women’s College Hospital. He also studies specific aspects of surgical decision-making including contralateral prophylactic mastectomy, and the impact of neoadjuvant therapy on treatment. As we move towards an equitable health care system, his research team is actively studying the racial, ethnic, gender and social disparities that underlie differences in breast cancer outcomes.

Affiliations

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Surgery

Women's College Hospital

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Surgery

Honors and Awards

honor

2024 Career Development Award

Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation & Breast Cancer Research Foundation

https://www.bcrf.org/researchers/david-lim/

honor

2024 TFRI New Investigator Award

Terry Fox Research Institute

https://www.tfri.ca/our-research/research-project/understanding-supporting-and-improving-outcomes-for-women-with-invasive-lobular-breast-carcinoma-a-pan-canadian-prospective-cohort-study

honor

2022 AACR-SABCS Scholar-in-Training Award

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) & San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

honor

2021 Conquer-Cancer LBCA Young Investigator Award in Invasive Lobular Carcinoma

Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation & Lobular Breast Cancer Alliance

https://connection.asco.org/do/lobular-breast-cancer-alliance-changing-conversation-invasive-lobular-carcinoma

honor

2021 ASBrS Scientific Impact Award

American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1245/s10434-021-10523-y

honor

2021 SSO Harvey Baker Traveling Fellow Award

Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO)

https://surgonc.org/events/sso-annual-meeting/harvey-baker-traveling-fellow-award-recipients/

Experience

Senior Scientist or Principal Investigator

University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

01 Oct 2022 - present

Senior Scientist or Principal Investigator

Women's College Research and Innovation Institute, Toronto, Canada

01 Sep 2022 - present

Post Doctoral Researcher

Women's College Research and Innovation Institute, Toronto, Canada

01 Jul 2019 - 01 Sep 2022

Clinical Fellow

University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

01 Jul 2018 - 01 Jun 2019

General Surgery Resident

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

01 Jul 2009 - 01 Jun 2018

Graduate Student or Post Graduate

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

01 Jul 2012 - 01 Jun 2016

Undergraduate Student

McGill University, Montréal, Canada

01 Sep 2004 - 01 May 2009