Daegan Sit, MD FRCPC

Clinical Instructor

Division: Radiation Oncology

Active Staff: BC Cancer – Vancouver

Health Authority: Provincial Health Services Authority

Work/Clinical Office Address:
600 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 4E6
Canada

Phone: 604.877.6000 Fax: 604.877.0505

Clinical Subspecialty

  • Head and Neck Cancer
  • Thyroid Cancer
  • Breast Cancer

Research Interests

  • Head and neck oncology — treatment patterns and outcomes in locally advanced disease, including well-differentiated thyroid cancer and oropharyngeal carcinoma
  • Breast cancer — regional nodal irradiation and de-escalation in lower-risk node-positive disease
  • Palliative radiotherapy — clinical and molecular predictors of symptom response, with particular interest in patient-reported outcomes
  • Applied artificial intelligence and clinical informatics in radiation oncology — development of radiomics signatures, large-language-model applications, and clinician-facing computational tools that improve the efficiency, precision, and safety of oncologic care
  • AI safety and reporting integrity in clinical oncology — methodological rigour, reproducibility, and transparency in the evaluation of AI and large language model systems used in cancer care, including work aligned to the CHART 2025 reporting guideline for chatbot-assessment studies

Dr. Daegan Sit is a Clinical Instructor in the UBC Department of Surgery and a Radiation Oncologist at BC Cancer – Vancouver Centre. His clinical practice is focused on head and neck and breast cancers, and his academic work spans clinical, translational, and population-based research with an emphasis on identifying predictors of treatment response and refining the role of radiotherapy in evolving multidisciplinary care.

He completed his Bachelor of Science in Immunology (First Class Honours) at McGill University, his Doctor of Medicine at McMaster University, and his residency in Radiation Oncology at the University of British Columbia and BC Cancer, where he served as Co-Chief Resident from 2021 to 2022. He subsequently completed a clinical fellowship in Head and Neck Radiation Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine with Drs. Quynh-Thu Le and Michael Gensheimer, supported by a Detweiler Travelling Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, an award given annually to 25 residents nationally for academic and clinical achievement.

Dr. Sit is actively involved in teaching across the medical learning continuum. He is the primary lecturer for the core oral oncology course delivered to UBC Dentistry students, the primary educator for the thyroid cancer lecture delivered through the UBC General Practitioner in Oncology Education Program, an assessor for Medical Student Objective Structured Clinical Examinations, and an examiner on mock oral board exams for radiation oncology residents. He participates in the clinical training of medical students and residents in head and neck and breast radiation oncology, and supervises residents and students on research projects, several of whom have gone on to co-author peer-reviewed publications. In 2025, he supervised Dr. Vanessa Di Lalla (McGill University) on a provincial database analysis of patterns of failure in oropharyngeal cancer following definitive radiotherapy, which was selected for the Best of the Fellows Oral Presentation Session at the Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology Annual Scientific Meeting.

He is the founder of the Precision RT Rounds at BC Cancer – Vancouver Centre, an interdisciplinary academic forum he established to bring radiation oncologists and medical physicists together around the clinical integration of advanced radiotherapy technologies, including Radixact, MR-Linac, and ETHOS, and emerging computational methods such as automated contouring and large-language-model applications in radiation oncology workflows. The rounds adopt a case-based format that pairs a clinical scenario with a focused technical analysis of the underlying physics, dosimetry, or algorithms, followed by a critical discussion of outcomes and limitations. The initiative is intended to build a sustained culture of cross-disciplinary scholarship and implementation of new technologies at BC Cancer.

In 2026, Dr. Sit developed EQD2calculator.com (https://eqd2calculator.com/), a web-based clinical tool that enables radiation oncologists to compute equivalent dose in 2 Gy fractions (EQD2) across a range of fractionation schedules. The calculator supports retreatment planning involving multiple prior courses of radiotherapy by accounting for tissue recovery between treatments.

Dr. Sit’s current research is focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence application and AI safety in clinical oncology. This work examines how large language models are being evaluated and deployed across the cancer care pathway, with particular attention to the reproducibility, transparency, and methodological rigour of the underlying studies. He is leading several active projects that audit the current evidence base against contemporary AI reporting standards and that develop frameworks to support the safer, more accountable integration of AI tools into oncology practice.

Education

  • Stanford University School of Medicine: Clinical Fellowship in Head and Neck Radiation Oncology, 2023
  • University of British Columbia / BC Cancer: FRCPC in Radiation Oncology, 2023
  • McMaster University: Doctor of Medicine, 2018
  • McGill University: Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours), Interdepartmental Honours Immunology, 2015

Selected Honours and Awards

  • Detweiler Travelling Fellowship, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, 2023
  • J. H. Ennis Award in Medicine for Breast Cancer Treatment, UBC Department of Surgery, 2022
  • Peter Poon Manuscript Award for Best Resident Manuscript, UBC Department of Radiation Oncology, 2022 (Treatment of locally advanced well-differentiated thyroid cancer in young patients)
  • Peter Poon Manuscript Award for Best Resident Manuscript, UBC Department of Radiation Oncology, 2021 (Anticipating the results of the TAILOR RT randomized trial of regional nodal radiotherapy)
  • Highest Scoring Abstract in Patient Experience and Supportive Care, BC Cancer Summit, 2021
  • Best Resident Research Presentation, BC Cancer Radiation Oncology Research Day, 2020

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Lee CM, Wadsworth BJ, Urban R, Clark MA, Shi R, Sit D, Hamilton SN, et al. Antihypertensive drugs and survival outcomes in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2025;117(7):1410–1420.
  • Jin R, Sit D. Hypofractionated Radiotherapy (25 Gy/5) for Rare Superior Vena Cava Invasion by Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: A Case Report. Cureus. 2026;18(4).
  • Sit D, Bale M, LaPointe V, Olson R, Hsu F. Effect of EGFR and ALK mutation status on clinical response to palliative radiation for lung bone metastases. JTO Clinical and Research Reports. 2022;3(8):100371.
  • Sit D, Lalani N, Chan E, Tran E, Speers C, Gondara L, Chia S, Gelmon K, Lohrisch C, Nichol A. Association between regional nodal irradiation and breast cancer recurrence-free interval for patients with low-risk, node-positive breast cancer. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. 2022;112(4):861–869.
  • Sit D, Chen K, Zhao B, Speers C, Nichol A, Olson R, Hsu F. Breast cancer subtype predicts clinical response to palliative radiation for bone metastases. Clinical Oncology. 2022;34(4):267–273.
  • Sit D, Koh W, Shokoohi A, Raycraft T, Vu M, Hamm J, Tran E, Berthelet E, Wu J, Olson R, Hamilton S. External Beam Radiotherapy in pT4 Well-Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: A Population-Based Study of 405 Patients. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. 2021;111(2):468–478.
  • Hsu F*, Sit D*, Pastuch A, Dingler A. Lung cancer epidermal growth factor receptor mutations and radiotherapy response: a multicentre clinical study. Clinical and Translational Radiation Oncology. 2021;30:15–18. (*Equal contributions)
  • Sit D, Raissi T, Giuliani M, Lee P, Shaverdian N, Walker-Dilks C, Swaminath A. Use of the Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio and the Platelet to Lymphocyte Ratio for Prognostication of Patients with Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: A Systematic Review. Journal of Radiation Oncology. 2019.
  • Han M, Zeraatkar D, Guyatt G, […] Sit D, […] Johnston B. Reduction of Red and Processed Meat Intake and Cancer Mortality and Incidence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2019;171(10):711–720.

Selected Conference Proceedings

  • Sit D, Cui S, Gensheimer M, Beadle B, Le QT, Li R. Radiomics-Based Prediction of Recurrence-Free Survival in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients Undergoing Chemoradiotherapy: Development and Validation of a Model. Radiotherapy and Oncology. 2024;198:S14–S15.
  • Hartstein S, Sit D, Chau N, Dang A, Goddard K, Tran E, Chan M, et al. Treatment, Outcomes and Late Effects in Adolescent and Young Adult Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in a Provincial Population. Radiotherapy and Oncology. 2025;210:S28–S29.
  • Siriani-Ayoub N, Wu J, Wei K, Hamilton S, Berthelet E, Sit D, Chan M, et al. Outcomes of Primary Surgery Versus Chemoradiation Therapy Alone for cN3 Oropharyngeal Carcinoma: A Retrospective Review. Radiotherapy and Oncology. 2024;198:S52–S53.

Mentored Trainee Research

  • Di Lalla V, Hamilton S, Lloyd S, Patrick H, Northway C, Joseph T, et al. Patterns of Failure in Oropharyngeal Cancer Following Definitive Radiotherapy: A Comprehensive Analysis Using a Provincial Database. Radiotherapy and Oncology. 2025;210:S13–S14. (Supervised fellow project, selected for the Best of the Fellows Oral Presentation Session, Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology Annual Scientific Meeting, 2025.)

Selected Textbook Chapter

  • Sit D, Wu J, Hamilton S. Recombinant TSH and Adjuvant Radioactive Iodine Therapy. In: Wiseman S, ed. 50 Landmark Papers Every Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgeon Should Know. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group; 2023:132–137.