Ontario Biobanks works with 5 Patient Partners from across the province to help shape our work by bringing real patient perspectives into everything we do. Patient Partners are involved in decision-making through the Governing Council, making ideas come to life through working groups, and participate in our annual workshops.
Patient Partners are a part of OICR’s Patient Partnership program.
Dawn Barker
Dawn Barker is a triple-negative breast survivor, patient advocate, community engagement specialist and Founder of NUY50. Dawn became a patient partner with OICR in 2024 and joined Ontario Biobanks in 2025 to meaningfully contribute her voice and lived experience to help re-shape and support the needs of cancer patients and their cultural differences – which makes each person unique. Drawing from her experience and work with researchers across Ontario, she supports Ontario Biobanks in strengthening patient-centred, ethical, and community-informed research.
Lucia Ioannoni
Lucia (Lucy) Ioannoni, RN., BScN., MScN., IBCLC, is a Registered Nurse with over 30 years of experience and currently works as a Public Health Nurse in Niagara. She joined OICR as a patient partner in 2025 and participated in the Patient Partners in Cancer Research Program (PIP) in Calgary. Lucy is also a patient partner with the PANORAMA PRO (Marathon of Hope) research study and collaborates with McMaster University, guest lecturing in Dr. Hong Han’s genetics course to share her lived experience with a BRCA2 mutation. She continues to be an active advocate, using her personal story to support research and advance understanding of hereditary cancer.
Katie Lark
Katie Lark joined Ontario Biobanks in 2025 as a Patient Partner in Research. With over 10 years of experience in relationship-driven leadership and project coordination, she is dedicated to advancing patient-centered research through her roles on the governing council and various research steering committees.
Vinesha Ramasamy
Vinesha Ramasamy (she/her) is a patient partner, advocate and speaker with a special interest in health equity. Her mission is deeply shaped by surviving multiple rare cancers and living with chronic illness and disability. Born in Sri Lanka and arriving in Canada as an Eelam Tamil refugee, she carried early experiences of trauma and inequity into a healthcare system that often reflected those same challenges, yet she excelled academically, graduating with High Distinction from the University of Toronto. After a successful corporate career was sidelined by health challenges, she shifted her focus to patient advocacy, peer mentorship and bringing a social justice lens to nonprofits, healthcare, policy and research, frequently sharing her lived experiences and co‑authoring oncology and health equity publications. As a Board member of AYA CAN, she champions equitable, trauma‑informed cancer care and improved quality of life for underserved young adults, driven by her vision of a world rooted in compassion, justice, and collective flourishing.
