Dr. Julie Bennett is a pediatric neuro-oncologist with a focus in adolescent and young adult (AYA) neuro-oncology. She has a cross appointment between SickKids in the Department of Hematology/Oncology and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in the Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology. She is a Project Investigator at the Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning and an Affiliate Scientist within the Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto.   

Clinically, Dr. Bennett’s focus is on the care of AYAs with brain tumors and aftercare of survivors of pediatric brain tumours. At SickKids, she works as a neuro-oncologist and leads the neuro-oncology aftercare clinic. At Princess Margaret, she leads the AYA CNS clinic, seeing adults with pediatric-type tumors.  Within this role, she has been able to implement novel treatment strategies and improve access to targeted therapies for AYA patients.

Her research interests mirror her clinical responsibilities.  Dr. Bennett is interested in translational research to improve access to diagnostic testing and clinical trials for AYA neuro-oncology patients.  She also works to better understand the molecular drivers of glioma and how this predicts clinical outcomes. She is also leading several projects to standardize radiologic screening for brain tumor survivors and improve early detection of long-term complications.

Dr. Bennett is the co-lead of the Canadian AYA Neuro-Oncology Network (CANON), a national collaborative effort to improve care and outcomes for AYAs with brain tumors. This network is collecting prospective data and patient-derived samples to better understand this orphan population.  This data will be used to develop and implement clinical trials at a national level for these patients.

Dr. Bennett is also a member of the Pediatric Low Grade Glioma taskforce, an international group dedicated to advancing outcomes for patients with low grade glioma.  This group has led multiple international collaborations aimed at developing a deeper understanding of tumour behaviour at a molecular level and response to targeted agents.

Dr. Bennett has been awarded several awards including the Andrew Parsa Young Investigator Award (Society for Neuro-Oncology annual meeting 2023) and the Archie Bleyer Young Investigator in Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology (Children’s Oncology Group, 2017).