Dr. Gerald Krystal, PhD
VANCOUVER, BC – Dr. Gerald Krystal, a distinguished cancer researcher in the Terry Fox Laboratory at BC Cancer, has been named the 2025 winner of the prestigious Dr. Rogers Prize for Advancing Health, Medicine & Healing. The $300,000 award recognizes Dr. Krystal’s exceptional contributions to healthcare through his groundbreaking research into the effects of diet on cancer prevention.
Dr. Krystal’s revolutionary work has demonstrated that low carbohydrate diets enriched with resistant starch or soluble fiber, soy protein, and fish oil can reduce the incidence of many cancers, including lung and breast cancers.
“Dr. Gerald Krystal exemplifies the vision, leadership, and transformative impact that the Dr. Rogers Prize seeks to honour,” said Alena Levitz, Executive Director of the Hecht Foundation, overseeing the Dr. Rogers Prize. “His work shines a spotlight on the power of prevention – uniting science with practical pathways for diet, metabolism, immune function and inflammation, to reshape how we understand and fight cancer. In celebrating his achievements, The Dr. Rogers Prize not only acknowledges his extraordinary contributions, but affirms our commitment to advancing health, medicine, and healing for the benefit of all.”
Dr. Krystal’s work has helped broaden the understanding beyond purely genetic or molecular pathways of cancer, to include how everyday factors can influence cancer risk and outcomes including having substantial effects on tumour initiation, growth, and metastasis. By tying prevention research with increased public awareness, his work has contributed not only to scientific knowledge but to a paradigm shift in thinking about prevention.
Over the past 13 years, Dr. Krystal has worked collaboratively with experts across multiple disciplines including: immunology, hematology, hypoxia, ketogenic diets, exercise, clinical treatment of lung cancer, breast cancer, cell biology, pathology, endocrinology, microbiome research, lymphoma research, aging, epidemiology, virology, arthritis research, Chinese medicines, and liposome research. Every collaboration has resulted in publications, demonstrating the broad impact of his interdisciplinary approach.
Over his distinguished career, Dr. Krystal has also conducted early clinical trials in efforts to reduce chronic inflammation markers in heavy smokers. His screening assays can identify smokers at high risk for developing lung cancer, representing a major advancement in personalized cancer prevention. Dr. Krystal and his team at BC Cancer are well known for their investigations into how chronic inflammation (even when not clinically obvious) contributes to cancer risk.
