Prof. John Stagg

Prof. John Stagg, PhD, is a member of Kainova Therapeutics’ Scientific Advisory Board. He is a recognized expert in immunology, with scientific work focused on mechanisms that shape immune responses in cancer.

Prof. Stagg is Director of the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute and Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University. His research has explored immune-related pathways in cancer, including mechanisms associated with tumor progression, metastatic behavior, and responses to immunotherapy. His work included major discovery on PAR2 GPCR as well as CD73, an enzyme playing a key role in Adenosine-mediated immunoresistance via A2a/A2b GPCRs.

His expertise also extends to the characterization of signaling pathways and cellular responses that influence therapeutic sensitivity. These scientific areas relate to GPCR-mediated mechanisms explored at Kainova Therapeutics.

He has received distinctions such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), New Investigator award and the Jean-Guy Sabourin Research Chair in Pharmacology from Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal. As a co-founding director of the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network of the Terry Fox Research Institute, Prof. Stagg contributed to its establishment.

He was co-founder and Scientific Advisor at Surface Oncology. Prof. Stagg also lends his expertise to Coherus Oncology and Ability Biotherapeutics as a member of their respective scientific advisoy boards. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of BioCanRx, Canada’s immunotherapy network, and of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. Prof. Stagg holds a Ph.D. from McGill University.