In 1974, Dr. Victor Ling at the University Health Network in Toronto identified cell surface glycoprotein as a fundamental mechanism of resistance to cancer chemotherapy. This finding led to a better understanding of how drugs are moved in and out of cells.

Dr. Ling was born in China, emigrated to Canada as a child, obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia (UBC) , and undertook postdoctoral study on DNA structure with Dr. Fred Sanger in Cambridge, England. He returned to Canada to undertake cancer research at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto before moving to Vancouver in 1995.

Currently, he is the founding President and Scientific Director of the Terry Fox Research Institute —a national not for profit organization dedicated to translational cancer research.