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Yaron Butterfield

Cancer genomics researcher. Brain cancer survivor since 2004. Painter and speaker. His memoir, Catching the Light, is coming soon.

Book Yaron to speak Get notified about the memoir
Yaron giving a talk, notes in hand
One of Yaron's paintings: a brain walking on stilts beside an elephant, a father and a child
Cover of Catching the Light: A cancer researcher's journey through brain cancer, by Yaron Sidney Butterfield

Catching the Light

A cancer researcher's journey through brain cancer. My memoir, coming soon.

I studied cancer for a living. Then I had to survive it.

In April 2003, I stayed in the lab past 4 am to help assemble the SARS coronavirus genome. Ten months later, on February 23, 2004, I collapsed with a seizure, and the diagnosis was glioblastoma.

Catching the Light is my account of what came next, as someone who understood the science of my own cancer. I hope it gives people facing this diagnosis, and the people beside them, some hope.

Hear when the memoir is available.

Yaron speaking at a lectern at the CNO 2025 Canadian neuro-oncology meeting

A cancer researcher. A brain cancer survivor. A speaker.

Yaron speaks about his experience as both a long-term brain cancer survivor and a cancer genomics researcher, with wisdom and humour, and he is always open to questions. Keynotes, workshops and fundraising events, in person or online.

  • CNO 2025Canadian neuro-oncology meeting
  • UBC Faculty of MedicineLecture to the oncology class, fall 2022
  • Kenya, onlineLecture to a brain cancer group, 2020
Ask about a date

My story, so far.

Outside the lab I hike, bike, practise yoga and meditation, and paint in acrylics: portraits, landscapes and surreal scenes. I am also a father to an amazing daughter, who brings more joy to my life than I could have imagined.

Yaron standing in front of a large painted mural of blue swirls and flowers
  1. 2000

    I start as a bioinformatics researcher at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver.

  2. 2003

    I play a key role in assembling the SARS coronavirus genome, and I am alone in the lab at 4 am when the full sequence appears.

  3. 2004

    I collapse with a seizure on February 23 and am diagnosed with glioblastoma. The tumour is too deep for surgery, so treatment is radiation and chemotherapy.

  4. 2005

    I run a full marathon in Iceland. Late that year, the cancer comes back.

  5. 2006

    I take the original chemotherapy again, and it works. I have been clear of the cancer since September 2006.

  6. 2009

    With another glioblastoma survivor, I form the Brainiacs and ride the first Ride to Conquer Cancer, about 280 km over two days.

  7. 2016

    I graduate from SFU's Writer's Studio with a certificate in creative writing.

  8. Today

    I am on leave from BC Cancer's Genome Sciences Centre, studying how AI can help cancer research, and finishing the memoir.

Why I paint.

I have enjoyed doing art ever since I was a kid. It has been an outlet to get out thoughts that cannot otherwise be expressed either through text or speech. Sometimes, there are no words to convey what's in our complicated brains.

Doing art has been extremely healing for me. Both in terms of being calm and in the moment, a type of meditation, and a way to surprise myself, bringing thoughts from my unconscious to paper and canvas.

Yaron's surreal painting of a brain walking on stilts beside an elephant, a father and a child
Yaron's painting of Jerusalem's Western Wall with a menorah and an open hand
Yaron's painting of an angel above a brain scan, with the word Hope
Yaron at an art show table with his framed paintings
At an art show, 2023

Twenty years in cancer genomics.

At BC Cancer's Genome Sciences Centre, Yaron went from sequencing SARS in 2003 to analyzing DNA from cancer patients, writing and using the software that makes sense of it, and leading bioinformatics teams of up to ten people. Along the way he co-authored more than 50 scientific papers, 5 of them on brain cancer.

Beyond the lab, he started the first art therapy program for brain cancer patients at BC Cancer, co-chaired its Patient and Family Advisory Committee, and coordinated Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada's Spring Sprint for seven years.

Yaron in a lab coat beside a DNA sequencer
He speaks with humour and wisdom, and his contributions to his collaborators are brave and always positive.
Robert Hawke, author and speaker
Yaron Butterfield is a beloved member of our brain tumour community. His courage, resilience, creativity and positive attitude inspire brain tumour patients, their families and health care professionals to live our lives as well as possible, despite the challenges we all must face.
Rosemary Cashman, Nurse Practitioner, BC Cancer

Book a talk, or say hello.

For speaking requests, a date and a rough idea of the audience helps.

Yaron smiling in an Art Matters t-shirt