# John E. Dick

Source: https://onco.cc/people/john-dick/  
OnCo record `john-dick` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Discovered cancer stem cells, showing leukaemia is driven by a rare population of self-renewing cells.

## Summary

John E. Dick is a Senior Scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology. He is known for discovering cancer stem cells, identifying leukaemic stem cells in acute myeloid leukaemia between 1994 and 1997 and later pre-leukaemic haematopoietic stem cells, which defined the hierarchical model of cancer. His selected papers show that human AML is organised as a hierarchy originating from a primitive haematopoietic cell, and identify pre-leukaemic haematopoietic stem cells in acute leukaemia. A Gairdner and Keio Prize laureate, he continues to study leukaemia stem cells, haematopoiesis and pre-leukaemic clones.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Role: Senior Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre; Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology
- Specialisms: Leukaemia stem cells; Haematopoiesis; Pre-leukaemic clones

## Sources

- Dick lab: https://www.uhnresearch.ca/researcher/john-e-dick
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Dick%20JE%5BAuthor%5D

## Connected records

- cancers: [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/)
- institutions: [Princess Margaret Cancer Centre](https://onco.cc/institutions/princess-margaret/)
- pathways: [Theories of cancer: how the ideas connect](https://onco.cc/pathways/theories-of-cancer/)
- terms: [Cancer stem cell theory and phenotypic plasticity](https://onco.cc/terms/cancer-stem-cell-theory/)

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