Dr. Patti Groome was the founding director of the ICES Queen's Health Services Research Facility. Groome obtained her PhD in epidemiology from McGill University in 1995. Her research involves the delivery of health services to persons with cancer most recently with a focus on the problem of late diagnosis of symptomatic disease. Dr. Groome has conducted Ontario-wide studies of practice patterns in laryngeal cancer, prostate cancer and oral cavity cancer. Questions relate to early diagnosis, the impact of practice variations on control of disease and the role of comorbid illnesses on treatment and outcome. She also has an interest in the continuous improvement of cancer staging and was a member of the International Union Against Cancer's TNM staging committee, which oversaw changes to the 6th and 7th editions of the TNM classification system. Dr. Groome’s research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust and the OICR/CCO Health Services Research Program.