Peter Dirks

Senior Scientist
Developmental, Stem Cell & Cancer Biology

Please contact: Tracey Richards (Dirks' Project Manager): tracey.richards@sickkids.ca

Dr. Peter Dirks graduated from Queen's University Medical School in Kingston, Ontario in 1989. He completed his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pathology in 1997 at the University of Toronto (UofT), and his neurosurgery training at the U of T in 1998 (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Canada, 1998). He then completed his Paediatric Neurosurgery Fellowship training at L'hôpital Necker Enfants Malades in Paris in 1998.

In 1998, he was appointed to Neurosurgical Staff at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and U of T. He was subsequently appointed to the SickKids Research Institute's Developmental, Stem Cell & Cancer Biology Program in 1999 where he established his research laboratory to study brain tumours in the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at SickKids.

In 2019, Dr. Dirks was appointed Head of the Division of Neurosurgery.

Research

The Dirks Lab is focused on the biology of brain tumours of children and adults, with a primary aim to understand the link between stem cell biology, development, and brain tumor growth, and a secondary aim to understand brain tumour heterogeneity and how diverse cell types contribute to tumour maintenance and therapeutic resistance.

In 2004, Dr. Dirks’ laboratory was the first to prospectively identify cancer stem cells in human brain tumours, contributing to a paradigm shift in understanding solid cancer growth, and putting emphasis on consideration of stemness properties both experimentally and conceptually in the study of brain tumours.

His lab is committed to advancing the fundamental understanding of cancer in order to develop new treatment options for patients with these devastating tumours.

Education and experience

• 2019–Present: Chief, Division of Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
• 2019–Present: Harold Hoffman/Shoppers Drug Mart Chair in Paediatric Neurosurgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
• 2012–2019: Garron Family Chair in Childhood Cancer Research, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
• 2010–Present: Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, Graduate Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
• 2010–Present: Senior Scientist, Developmental, Stem Cell & Cancer Biology Program, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
• 2009–Present: Professor, Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
• 2004–Present: Principal Investigator, (part of Networks of Centers of Excellence of Canada), Stem Cell Network Canada
• 1998–Present: Professor, Graduate Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
• 1998–Present: Staff Surgeon, Department of Surgery (Neurosurgery), The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1985–1989: MD, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
• 1997: PhD, Regulation of the Cell Cycle and Cell Phenotype in Malignant Astrocytomas. The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario

Achievements

• 2024: Robery L. Nobel Prize, Canadian Cancer Society Award for Excellence in Cancer Research.
• 2023: Lister Prize, University of Toronto, Department of Surgery. Lifetime award for outstanding and continuing productivity in international stature in research.
• 2017: Fellowship, Royal Society of Canada (FRSC), Canada
• 2011: Alan R Hudson Neurosurgery Faculty Teaching Award, University of Toronto, Canada. For contribution to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.
• 2009: The Farber Award, AANS/CNS, United States.
  Outstanding contributions to neuro-oncology from the Tumor Section of The American Association for Neurological Surgeons/Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
• 2008: Terry Fox Young Investigator Award, National Cancer Institute of Canada/Terry Fox Foundation, Canada.
  Awarded to a promising young investigator doing outstanding basic research.
• 2005: Royal College Medal Award in Surgery, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
• 2005: George Armstrong Peters Prize, University of Toronto
  Outstanding Academic Productivity in Research.
• 2004: Canada’s Top 40 under 40, Canada. Report on Business Magazine, Caldwell Partners.

1. OLIG2 mediates a rare targetable stem cell fate transition in sonic hedgehog medulloblastoma. Desai K, Luis E, Jaramillo J, Vanner RJ, Yu C, Whetstone H, Lee L, Vijay J, Guilhamon P, Fan J, Wanggou S, Li X , Stein G, Kushida M, Selvadurai HJ, Huang X, Simons BD, Dirks PB.  Nature Communications (2025) Feb 4;16(1):1092.
2. Gliomagenesis mimics a brain injury response orchestrated by neural crest-like cells. Hamed AH, Trinh Qm, Hua K, Simons BD, Marioni JC, Stein LD, Dirks PB.  Nature (2025) Feb;638(8050):499-509.
3. A brain precursor atlas reveals the acquisition of developmental-like states in adult cerebral tumours. Hamed AA, Kunz DJ, El-Hamamy I, Trinh QM, Subedar OD, Richards LM, Foltz W, Bullivant G, Ware M, Vladoiu MC, Zhang J, Raj AM, Pugh TJ, Taylor MD, Teichmann SA, Stein LD, Simons BD, Dirks PB. Nature Communications (2022) Jul 19;13(1):4178.
4. Gradient of developmental and injury-response transcriptional states define functional vulnerabilities underpinning glioblastoma heterogeneity. Richards LM, Whitley OKW, MacLeod G, Cavalli FMG, Coutinho FJ, Jaramillo JE, Svergun N, Riverin M, Croucher DC, Kushida M, Yu K, Guilhamon P, Rastegar N, Ahmadi M, Bozek DA, Li N, Luis E, Park NI, Spears J, Cusimano MD, Haibe-Kains B, Lupien M, Luchman HA, Weiss S, Angers S, Dirks PB*, Bader GD*, Pugh TJ*. Nature Cancer (2021) Feb;2(2):157-173.  *co-corresponding
5. Fate mapping of human glioblastoma reveals an invariant stem cell hierarchy. Lan X, Jörg DJ, Cavalli FMG, Richards LM, Nguyen LV, Vanner RJ, Guilhamon P, Lee L, Kushida MM, Pellacani D, Park NI, Coutinho FJ, Whetstone H, Selvadurai HJ, Che C, Luu B, Carles A, Moksa M, Rastegar N, Head R, Dolma S, Prinos P, Cusimano MD, Das S, Bernstein M, Arrowsmith CH, Mungall AJ, Moore RA, Ma Y, Gallo M, Lupien M, Pugh TJ, Taylor MD, Hirst M, Eaves CJ, Simons BD, Dirks PB. Nature (2017) Sep 14;549(7671):227-232.