Lesley Fallowfield
International Guest Speaker
Lesley Fallowfield
International Guest Speaker
Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield is Professor of Psycho-oncology at Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex where she is Director of the Sussex Health Outcomes Research & Education in Cancer (SHORE-C) group.
Dame Lesley originally trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital, London but then did a BSc in Experimental Psychology at Sussex. Research for her doctorate examining the perceptual correlates of optic nerve damage in demyelinating diseases was completed at the Universities of Sussex and Cambridge.
In 1991 she became the full-time Director of a Psychosocial Oncology Group and in 1997 was awarded the first European Chair in Psycho-oncology from University College, London. Her research interests are wide and include the measurement of quality of life in clinical trials of cancer therapy and the training of communication skills for health care professionals in cancer.
She has published over 500 papers, many book chapters, 3 textbooks and numerous evidence-based educational materials for the teaching of communication skills. She lectures and runs training workshops throughout the world in psychosocial oncology, quality of life assessment and communication skills.
She is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Cancer Physicians UK and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2016.
Javier Cortes
International Guest Speaker
Javier Cortes
International Guest Speaker
Dr Javier Cortes received a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1996. He specialised in Medical Oncology through the Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, and was awarded the title of Doctor in Medical Oncology from the University of Navarra in 2002.
From June 2003 to July 2015, he worked in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, where he was the Coordinator of the Teaching and Training Programme for Residents in Oncology.
In addition, he was the Head of the Breast Cancer Program from July 2006 to August 2015. From September 2015 to October 2018, he was Head of the Breast Cancer and Gynecological tumors at Ramon y Cajal University Hospital in Madrid.
Dr Cortes was the Head of the Breast Cancer Program at IOB Institute of Oncology, Quironsalud group, in both Madrid and Barcelona, from 2011 to September 2020. He has been a Senior Clinical Investigator of the Breast Cancer Research Program at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology from 2011 to February 2022.
Dr Cortes is currently the Head of the International Breast Cancer Centre (IBCC) in Barcelona, and a founding partner of Medica Scientia Innovation Research (MedSIR), a company involved in the clinical development of clinical trials.
In addition to his medical specialties, he has two master's degrees in “Medical Direction and Clinical Management” from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) and “Research methodology in Health Sciences” from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona and a degree in “Statistics in Health Sciences” from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona.
Shom Goel
Conference Guest Speaker
Shom Goel
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Shom Goel is a physician-scientist at the University of Melbourne and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
He completed his doctoral and postdoctoral research in the USA (published in Nature and Cancer Cell)
and returned to Australia in 2019.
In addition to maintaining a clinical practice as an oncologist and trialist, he leads a research laboratory that positions itself at the intersection of cell cycle biology, epigenetics, and immunology in cancer.
His team’s work at the Peter Mac has been published in
Nature Cancer (2021) and Cancer Discovery (2023).
Shom serves as either Global PI or Translational PI
for several randomised clinical trials in breast cancer, all directly stemming from his laboratory findings, and was appointed Chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Education Committee in
2023.
Shom is also a recent awardee of a Snow Fellowship and Era of Hope Scholar Award (US Dept of
Defense).
Belinda Yeo
Conference Guest Speaker
Belinda Yeo
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Belinda Yeo is jointly appointed to the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, as a Medical Oncologist and to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute as a Clinician Scientist with a specific interest in breast cancer.
She trained in Sydney before joining the Breast Unit at The Royal Marsden Hospital, London as a Clinical and Research Fellow. She completed a Master’s Degree at The University of London and The Institute of Cancer Research in novel genomic and non-molecular breast cancer risk assays.
She is co-lead of the VCCC Research and Education of the Breast Tumour Stream, she is a clinical trial investigator and continues her translational research investigating improving personalisation and minimising toxicities for patients with breast cancer.
Lisa Beatty
Conference Guest Speaker
Lisa Beatty
Conference Guest Speaker
Associate Professor Lisa Beatty is an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at Flinders University, and a visiting Consulting Clinical Psychologist in Medical Oncology at Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. She has over 18 years of research and clinical expertise in the field of psycho-oncology (the scientific exploration of the psychological impact of cancer diagnosis and treatment).
Within this field, A/Prof Beatty specialises in digital psycho-oncology interventions, a strategy that aims to deliver evidence-based psychological treatments to those who may not be able to access them due to their health status, distance, or stigma. Lisa has led or supervised the development of multiple evidence-based digital psycho-oncology programs, including Finding My Way, Finding My Way-Advanced, and Healthy Living after Cancer-Online. Finding My Way is now a freely available online resource for the Australian cancer community and has been trialled by researchers in UK and USA.
A/Prof Beatty is the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Member for Breast Cancer Trials.
Virginia Baird
Conference Guest Speaker
Virginia Baird
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Virginia Baird is an Australian-based health professional. Virginia is trained as a GP (General Practitioner).
Heath Badger
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Heath Badger
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Mr Heath Badger is Breast Cancer Trials' Chief Operating Officer for the Research Department, having more than 20 years of experience in the design, coordination, and conduct of international multicentre collaborative group breast oncology trials.
Heath is a member of BCT’s Scientific Advisory Committee and represents BCT on the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance SIGNet Executive Officers Network.
Gillian Lamoury
Conference Guest Speaker
Gillian Lamoury
Conference Guest Speaker
A/Prof Gillian Lamoury is a Senior Staff Specialist and radiation Oncologist at Royal North Shore Hospital, and a VMO at GenesisCare, the Mater Hospital, Frenchs Forest, and North Shore Health Hub with a subspecialty interest in the treatment of breast cancer.
Gillian is the recent past Chair of the Breast Cancer Advisory Group (Cancer Australia 2018 -2020) and in 2014 was the inaugural Chair of the Breast Interest Group - Faculty of Radiation Oncology (BIG-FRO). She is also a member of the Strategic Advisory Group for Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA).
Gillian is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, and is keenly involved in education, teaching, and research. She is the Principal Investigator on several international, national, and investigator-led trials at Royal North Shore Hospital and the Mater Hospital.
She is passionate about patient-centered and evidence-based care, including the delivery of high-quality treatments through advanced radiation therapy techniques for breast cancer.
Her philanthropic interests and passion for equitable access to high-quality cancer treatments led her to accept a Board position at the GenesisCare Foundation in 2020.
Sandy Simon
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Sandy Simon
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Sandy Simon is a resident medical officer at the Prince of Wales Hospital (POWH) who is passionate about gender equality.
She is a UNSW graduate, with an exceptional academic record as well as active involvement in leadership through being president of the UNSW Rural Allied Health and Medical Society.
Her advocacy and leadership have extended into her medical career, being secretary of the POWH Resident Medical Officers’ Association.
In this capacity, she is organising the inaugural Prince of Wales Hospital Women in Medicine Night. Outside of medicine, Sandy enjoys being outdoors, hiking,g and spending time with family and friends.
Lesley Stafford
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Lesley Stafford
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Associate Professor Lesley Stafford is a clinical psychologist who works predominantly with women diagnosed with breast cancer and women considered at high risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.
She is a Principal Fellow in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne.
Lesley's research interests focus on understanding, and intervening in, the psychosocial factors contributing to the burden of disease associated with breast and gynecological cancer.
She has a strong interest in translating research into clinical practice.
Sanjeev Kumar
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Sanjeev Kumar
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Sanjeev is a Medical Oncologist and Clinician Scientist who grew up in country NSW, before completing undergraduate medical studies at the University of New South Wales in 2006. He trained as a Medical Oncologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and in the United Kingdom.
Sanjeev moved to Cambridge (UK) in 2015 to undertake a fellowship in the Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cancer Drug Development Unit. He was then awarded a University of Cambridge scholarship in 2016 to complete a cancer molecular biology PhD at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, with a focus on Oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. Simultaneously, he ran a UK-wide clinical trial for patients with ER-positive breast cancer.
Sanjeev has returned to Australia to continue his clinical and academic focus on breast cancer with positions at Lifehouse, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. He has a keen interest in the education of trainees, public engagement and clinical trials.
Reshma Jagsi
International Guest Speaker
Reshma Jagsi
International Guest Speaker
Professor Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., is the Lawrence W. Davis Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and a Senior Faculty Fellow in the Center for Ethics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
A graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Oxford, where she earned her DPhil in Social Policy as a Marshall Scholar, she is the author of over 450 publications regarding both breast cancer and bioethics. She is the PI of multiple grants from the US National Institutes of Health, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and other philanthropic foundations. Both a clinical trialist and health services researcher, she is known for research to strengthen autonomy in breast cancer patients and to individualize breast cancer care.
Inspired by the patients she encounters as a radiation oncologist who treats patients with breast cancer, she leads multicenter randomized trials of forgoing radiotherapy in lower-risk patients, intensifying it in patients with more aggressive disease, and enhancing patient-centered communication. She also investigates women’s under-representation in senior positions in academic medicine and the mechanisms that must be targeted to promote equity.
Active in organized medicine, she serves on the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the US NIH Advisory Committee for Research on Women’s Health, the Steering Committee of the Early Breast Cancer Trialists Collaborative Group and the Lancet’s Breast Cancer Commission.
She has received many honors, including the AAMC Group on Women in Science and Medicine’s Leadership Award, LEAD Oncology’s Woman of the Year Award, ASTRO’s inaugural Mentorship Award, AMSA’s Women Leaders in Medicine Award, AWiS’s Meridian Award, AMA’s Inspiration Award, AMWA’s Woman in Science Award, and AAWR’s Marie Curie Award.
Her contributions have also been recognized with her election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians, and she is a fellow of the AAAS, ASCO, ASTRO, AAWR, and the Hastings Center.
Adam Brufsky
International Guest Speaker
Adam Brufsky
International Guest Speaker
Dr Brufsky is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research.
He has published numerous abstracts and research articles in leading journals, including the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Lancet.
Dr Brufsky is principal investigator on a number of research grants funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the U.S. Army Breast Cancer Research Program.
He is currently the principal investigator of the Pittsburgh Breast Cancer Consortium, a U.S. Department of Defense-funded program to increase community access to innovative clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, as well as a number of other breast cancer studies.
Dr Brufsky's training responsibilities include teaching attending physicians for the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and School of Nursing.
Additionally, he serves as director of the integrated life sciences selective courses, neoplastic diseases course at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Dr Brufsky received his medical degree and doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and a fellowship in medical oncology and bone marrow transplantation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh, Dr Brufsky served as an associate physician and instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Sunil Lakhani
Conference Guest Speaker
Sunil Lakhani
Conference Guest Speaker
Professor Sunil Lakhani is a clinical diagnostic and molecular pathologist. He is a Senior Staff Specialist, at Pathology Queensland and a Group Leader, at Molecular Breast Pathology, University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, Brisbane, Australia.
Research interests include lobular carcinoma, triple negative and metaplastic breast cancer, and therapeutic development of brain metastases.
He was the Editor of the WHO 4th and 5th Ed Tumours of the Breast (2012, 2019). He is the recipient of the Distinguished Pathologist Medal, Australasian Division of IAP, and the Distinguished Fellow Award from the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. In 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
He is the current Chair, of the Board of Directors, Breast Cancer Trials (BCT)
Bruce Mann
Conference Guest Speaker
Bruce Mann
Conference Guest Speaker
Bruce Mann is Professor of Surgery at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Breast Service at the Royal Melbourne and Royal Women’s Hospitals.
He is also Director of Research at Breast Cancer Trials – Australia and New Zealand’s cooperative breast cancer clinical trials organisation.
His interests relate to systems for optimal breast cancer care and research to improve early diagnosis and tailor the extent of breast cancer treatment to the individual patient.
Thomas Marwick
Conference Guest Speaker
Thomas Marwick
Conference Guest Speaker
Professor Tom Marwick completed training in medicine and cardiology in Australia, before undertaking an Imaging Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic, a PhD at the University of Louvain, Belgium and a Masters in Public Health at Harvard.
Tom has divided his career mostly between the USA (former Head of Cardiovascular Imaging at Cleveland Clinic) and Australia (formerly Professor of Medicine and Head of Cardiovascular Imaging Research Centre, University of Queensland and Director of the Menzies Institute for Medical Research in Hobart. After 8 years, Tom stepped down from leading the Baker Institute in 2024, to focus on his research and public hospital practice.
He was one of the initiators of stress echocardiography, and has made contributions to the prognostic evidence underlying cardiovascular imaging. Over the last 20 years, he has been one of the main proponents of direct measurement of myocardial deformation (strain), and his current interests in that topic relate to shear-wave imaging using high-frequency ultrasound. This fits his ongoing research interests in the detection of early cardiovascular disease and cost-effective application of cardiac imaging techniques for treatment selection and monitoring. Access to cardiac imaging is a cornerstone of current cardiology, and Tom is also working on AI methods to acquire and interpret images remotely, including the development of robotics
He has published over 1000 papers, reviews, chapters and editorials, and is an Associate Editor at JACC and Deputy Editor at JACC-Cardiovascular Imaging. Dr Marwick has been the recipient of more than fifty significant research grants and several awards, including the Simon Dack Award from the American College of Cardiology, 2009 and the RT Hall Prize (2006) and Kempson Maddox Lecture (2011) of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. In 2024, the American College of Cardiology awarded Tom the Distinguished Mentor Award in recognition of his contribution has been in clinical research training. Tom has supervised almost 50 RHD students, and has over 40 completions (35 of these PhD).
Stephen Luen
Conference Guest Speaker
Stephen Luen
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Stephen Luen is an early-career Medical Oncologist and translational researcher at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre specialising in breast cancer, sarcoma, early drug development, and precision oncology.
In 2021, he completed a PhD supervised by Professor Sherene Loi investigating genomic and immune biomarkers in early-stage breast cancers and continues to work closely with the laboratory.
His current research interests include the study of genomic and immune biomarkers in high-risk and treatment-refractory breast cancers, the development of novel clinical trial approaches for high-risk breast cancers, and the early phase development of new therapeutic compounds.
Christine Chaffer
Conference Guest Speaker
Christine Chaffer
Conference Guest Speaker
Associate Professor Christine Chaffer has long-standing expertise in breast cancer research focusing on epigenetic programs that control cancer cell states and tumor progression.
Her work led to the discovery that non-aggressive breast cancer cells can spontaneously convert into highly aggressive, metastatic, and therapy-resistant cell states. A new therapeutic strategy arising from this finding is being tested in the clinic as the first state-gating therapy to block the dynamic processes that lead to the emergence of chemotherapy resistance.
To better understand the breadth of plasticity programs at play in cancer, A/Prof Chaffer and machine learning expert Prof Krishnaswamy (Yale), have developed new methods to discover cell state trajectories leading to the emergence of therapy-resistant cell states.
They have also developed tools to define intratumoral heterogeneity in single-cell and spatial transcriptomic data and devised underlying causal gene regulatory networks that drive cancer progression.
Associate Professor Chaffer’s current research is focused on identifying and uncovering new therapeutic strategies to treat aggressive cancers by focusing on epigenetic programs that control cell state plasticity (transcriptomics, RNA translation, protein).
Sarah Zardawi
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Sarah Zardawi
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Dr Sarah Zardawi is an early-career Medical Oncologist who has also trained in Palliative Medicine. She has a private practice in Maitland, NSW, as well as working as a Clinical Fellow at Breast Cancer Trials.
She completed her advanced training between Calvary Mater Newcastle, Tamworth and Wyong Hospitals, including working as a medial oncology clinical trials fellow in phase Ib-IV clinical trials at Calvary Mater.
Sarah is dedicated to providing compassionate, patient-centered care for patients and their families at all stages of their cancer treatment.
Michelle Li
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Michelle Li
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Dr Michelle Li is an early-career clinician researcher with a demonstrated strong interest in breast cancer.
Her research was presented as an abstract at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in
2023, which was a real-world retrospective study characterising the incidence of HER2-low in
metastatic breast cancer patients at a metropolitan cancer center in Melbourne, Australia.
Following this, she was accepted into a competitive Clinical Trials and Translational Research
Fellowship at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and has spent this year working under the
mentorship of Professor Sherene Loi.
She is currently the sub-investigator on all clinical trials in the breast trials portfolio, which includes both early and late-phase studies across all breast
cancer subtypes and stages of disease. Many of these trials are sponsored by Breast Cancer Trials, including
OPTIMA, OLIO, CAPTURE, and TUGETHER.
Her involvement has included the active recruitment of
trial participants, documentation of trial reviews, interpretation of trial protocols and
appropriate management of trial-related adverse events.
Sunit Sarkar
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Sunit Sarkar
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Dr Sunit Sarkar is a passionate medical oncologist at Icon Cancer Hobart. In 2010 he completed his Bachelor of Medicine, and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at Monash University and spent the early years of his medical training at Box Hill Hospital.
Dr Sarkar subsequently completed his specialist medical oncology training at the Royal Hobart Hospital, Box Hill Hospital, and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, gaining extensive experience in managing a broad range of cancers.
Dr Sarkar is a strong advocate for clinical research and clinical trials in both his private practice and role as medical oncology consultant at Calvary St. John’s Hospital and Royal Hobart Hospital.
He is a fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and recently completed a breast cancer fellowship at Nepean Hospital.
His clinical experience covers a broad range of solid tumor malignancies with a special interest in breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, lung cancer, melanoma, neuro-oncology ,and skin cancer.
Carlie Mavin
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Carlie Mavin
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Mrs Carlie Mavin is a Clinical Trials Program Manager at Breast Cancer Trials (BCT).
Carlie has a degree in Business/Social Science and worked in marketing in the mining industry before her aunt’s breast cancer diagnosis prompted a career change in 2008.
Carlie subsequently worked at BCT until 2010, before moving to London and working as a CRA in the pharmaceutical industry.
Carlie returned to BCT in 2014 to re-focus her career on breast cancer research, and has continued to develop her experience in all aspects of multicentre, collaborative clinical trials research.
Shelley Potter
International Guest Speaker
Shelley Potter
International Guest Speaker
Shelley Potter is Professor of Surgical Oncology at Bristol Medical School and Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at North Bristol NHS Trust.
She attended Bristol Medical School and completed Basic Surgical Training in Bristol before completing a PhD exploring the feasibility of clinical trials in breast reconstruction. She completed her Higher Surgical Training as an Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Severn Deanery before being awarded a highly prestigious National Training Interface Group Oncoplastic Breast Surgery Fellowship in Liverpool. She returned to Bristol as an NIHR Clinician Scientist and Consultant Senior Lecturer in August 2017 and became a Professor in August 2023.
Her research focuses on improving outcomes for women undergoing breast cancer surgery through the design and delivery of high-quality, patient-centred collaborative research.
As a trainee and Chair of the Mammary Fold Academic and Research Collaborative (MFAC), she led several large-scale national collaborative breast surgery projects including iBRA, iBRA-2 and TeaM. These studies collectively recruited over 5,000 patients from over 80 centres across the UK and helped to establish an evidence base to support the practice of oncoplastic and reconstructive surgery. She is currently Chief Investigator for the Best-BRA, Brighter, ANTHEM and Pre-BRA studies.
More recently, she had developed an interest in breast cancer treatment de-escalation studies and is Chief Investigator for the NIHR HTA funded TADPOLE study which aims to compare targeted axillary dissection and axillary node clearance in patients with node positive breast cancer having primary surgery. She also co-led the recent BIG-NCTN PRECEDENT project which aimed to improve reporting of locoregional therapy in neoadjuvant systemic therapy trials by developing a core outcome set.
Her national roles include Royal College of Surgeons of England Surgical Specialty Lead in Breast Surgery and Secretary to the British Breast Group.
Michael Jones
Conference Guest Speaker
Michael Jones
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Michael Jones joined PRP Diagnostic Imaging in 1986. He is a graduate of Sydney University and Sydney Hospital Medical School.
Michael commenced radiology training in the UK, working for two years at The General Infirmary and St James Hospital Leeds.
On his return to Sydney, he became a staff specialist at Westmead Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital before joining PRP Diagnostic Imaging.
Michael has particular interests in gastrointestinal, respiratory and breast radiology.
Specialties – Oncology, Cardiac, Sports Imaging.
Tanya Symons
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Tanya Symons
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Dr Tanya Symons is a highly experienced clinical trial trainer and consultant, working across the UK and Australia. She has provided Good Clinical Practice and ethics training to over 80,000 people worldwide.
In the UK, Tanya led the redevelopment of the NIHR Clinical Trials Toolkit and continues to manage its content.
In Australia, she has worked with governments and government-funded organisations and uses her trial experience to ensure that Australia aligns with international best practices.
She has authored or co-authored several national guidelines, including the TGA Australian Clinical Trial Handbook and the NHMRC Safety Reporting and Serious Breach Guidelines, as well as the ACTA/CTIQ Consumer Involvement and Engagement Toolkit.
Gelareh Farshid
Conference Guest Speaker
Gelareh Farshid
Conference Guest Speaker
Professor Gelareh Farshid is an international expert in breast pathology and soft tissue pathology with substantial experience in population-based screening for breast cancer.
She is a Senior Consultant Pathologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and a Clinical Professor at the Schools of Medicine and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide.
She represents Australia on the Board of the International Academy of Pathology and works closely with the United States Canadian Academy of Pathology as the lead reviewer for the abstract review committee for Breast and as the Moderator for the USCAP Breast Evening Specialty Conference for 2024-2027. In 2020 Gelareh was honored by admission into the International Skeletal Society.
Among other roles, Gelareh is a member of the International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting for resected lymph nodes in breast cancer and series chair for the RCPA’s multidisciplinary expert group working on the Structured Reporting of Breast Cancer. She is a member of the RCPA Advisory Committee for Anatomical Pathology and a member of the RCPA Digital Pathology Expert group. Gelareh is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the ANZ BCT and of the ANZ Sarcoma Association. She serves on the Board of Directors of PathWest.
Gelareh combines full-time clinical responsibilities with applied clinical research
Julia Matheson
Conference Guest Speaker
Julia Matheson
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Julia Matheson is the current BreastSurgANZ Surgical Fellow at Monash Health. She completed General Surgery training through the Royal Melbourne Hospital where she developed an interest in the use of contrast-enhanced mammography in surveillance.
In 2023 she was a Breast Cancer Trials Fellow, working on the Breast MRI Evaluation Study. She has a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Amelia McCartney
Conference Guest Speaker
Amelia McCartney
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Amelia McCartney is a medical oncologist who obtained her medical degree from the University of Sydney in 2004.
Prior to her medical studies, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University. She completed her specialist training in Victoria in centres including Epworth Freemasons, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, University Hospital Geelong and Royal Melbourne Hospital.
She completed a four‐year fellowship in translational and clinical breast cancer research under the supervision and mentorship of Dr Angelo Di Leo in Prato, Italy.
Dr McCartney’s particular areas of research interest are the discovery and trialling of biomarkers related to prognosis and early response to treatment, mechanisms of treatment resistance, and strategies of safely de‐escalating breast cancer therapies.
Research relating to her fellowship have been presented at international meetings including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting.
She is a serving member of several international collaborative trial committees under the auspices of the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) and the Breast International Group (BIG).
Prue Francis
Conference Guest Speaker
Prue Francis
Conference Guest Speaker
Professor Prue Francis is Clinical Co-Lead Breast of Medical Oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and a Consultant Medical Oncologist at St Vincents Hospital in Melbourne.
She is a breast cancer clinician-researcher who received her medical degree from the University of Melbourne and completed Medical Oncology training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, before returning to Australia in 1994.
Prue is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Breast Cancer Trials (BCT).
She chairs the International Steering Committee for the SOFT and TEXT premenopausal trials.
Prue is a member of the St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Consensus Panel, the Advanced Breast Cancer (ABC) International Consensus Panel, and the Steering Committee for the Oxford Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG).
Stephen Chia
Conference Guest Speaker
Stephen Chia
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Stephen Chia is a Full Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology, Head of the Division of Medical Oncology, UBC, and a staff medical oncologist with the BC Cancer, Vancouver Cancer Centre.
He has a full-time clinical practice focusing on breast cancer and new drug development. He is the Chair of the BC Cancer Breast Tumour Group and Head of the Department of Clinical Research. He is also the Co-Chair of the Breast Disease Site for the Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG).
Dr Chia is recognized both nationally and internationally for his research work on breast cancer. His focus is on clinical trials and translational research.
He has published over 180 peer-reviewed papers. His publications appear in international peer-reviewed journals including high-impact journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet, Cell, JAMA Oncology, and Nature and Nature Medicine.
Dr Chia has been a Subject Editor for the British Journal of Cancer and The Oncologist and is the current section author for UpToDate™ in the Prognostic/ Predictive Markers Section. He holds numerous peer-reviewed grants.
Adam Ofri
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Adam Ofri
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Dr Adam Ofri is a specialist in Breast Oncology and a General Surgeon at Mater Hospital, North Sydney.
Dr Adam Ofri undertook his surgical training at the coveted Northern Network in Sydney and was awarded his fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) in 2020.
He was awarded his Full Member status to BreastSurgANZ in 2023, after completing two years of post-fellowship training.
His first year was at St Vincent’s Private Hospital (NSW) and his second year was at the high-volume public tertiary hospital - Sir Charles Gairdner (WA). He has been exposed to large volumes of benign and malignant disease and is well-trained in oncoplastic surgery.
Adam has a strong academic drive. He completed his Masters of Surgery in 2013, is a Senior Clinical Lecturer for the University of Sydney, and a Clinical Research Fellow at the Academic Institute of Surgery at Royal Prince Alfred. He is the 2023 Breast Cancer Trials’ Clinical Research Fellow and has been awarded the John Collins Fellow Medal & Travel Grant. He has been involved in multiple international presentations and publications.
Adam has a passion for de-escalating breast cancer management, thereby reducing unnecessary patient morbidity. He is the Primary Investigator for both the ANZ TAD Registry, as well as the DCISionRT RCT, both focusing on reducing the extent of treatment patients receive.
He also has a strong interest in Preventative Care - with a focus on Tailored Breast Screening as well as Breast Cancer Risk Assessment.
Sanjay Warrier
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Sanjay Warrier
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Dr Sanjay Warrier is dedicated to the professional development of current and future surgeons. He is an Associate Professor of the University of Sydney with the Royal Prince Alfred Academic Institute, a lead researcher with the Institute, and has goals of developing a culture of academia within the Breast Department.
In 2013, Sanjay’s work on Hedgehog signaling, in collaboration with the Garvan Institute, won the Patron’s Prize at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for best scientific research.
He is also the current Chairman of Post-Fellowship Training for BreastSurgANZ, a role that involves training future breast surgeons in both Australia and New Zealand.
A significant milestone for Sanjay was being co-founder of the first Postgraduate Degree specific to breast surgery, the Master of Advanced Surgery (Breast Surgery) at the University of Sydney.
Sanjay is a committed researcher in breast cancer surgery and medicine and has presented at many national and international conferences. These include being asked to present at the San Antonio Breast Symposium, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the Cancer Institute in Bangkok (Thailand), as well as other guest presentations in Berlin (Germany), Singapore, Queenstown (New Zealand), Auckland (New Zealand) and across Australia.
In 2023, Sanjay was invited to join the Smith & Nephew’s Global SCC (Surgical Site Complication) Prevention Council Advisory Board which convened in London, England.
Associate Professor Sanjay Warrier is the immediate Past President of BreastSurgANZ, co-Chair of Post Fellowship Training, long-standing member of both the BreastSurgANZ Membership and Oncoplastic Committees, and sits on advisory committees with the NSW Ministry of Health and the Cancer Institute. He also sits on the Sydney Breast Cancer Foundation committee and the Research Faculty at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse.
Sanjay is passionate about utilising novel techniques and innovative technologies to offer his patients the best options available. He was the first surgeon in Australia to utilise SPY technology for breast reconstruction surgery, and was the first surgeon in the Southern Hemisphere to perform robotic breast surgery. He was also an early adopter of volume replacement techniques for breast conserving surgery, and the first to utilise 3D printing for breast assessment and surgery planning.
Stuart McIntosh
International Guest Speaker
Stuart McIntosh
International Guest Speaker
Professor Stuart McIntosh is a Professor of Surgical Oncology at Queen’s University in Belfast, and a Consultant Breast Surgeon at Belfast City Hospital.
He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1993 and completed Basic Surgical Training in the South of Scotland, followed by a period as a Clinical Research Fellow in Glasgow and Cambridge. Higher Surgical Training in the North-East of Scotland was followed by a National Training Interface Group Oncoplastic Surgery Fellowship in Leeds.
Stuart returned to Aberdeen as a Consultant Breast Surgeon in 2005, before moving to Belfast in 2009. His growing research interests resulted in a move to an academic role in Queen’s University Belfast in 2015, and he became Professor in August 2023.
His clinical research interests are largely centered around neoadjuvant therapy and treatment de-escalation in early breast cancer. He is currently the Chief Investigator of the UK NIHR HTA-funded SMALL trial, a phase III multicentre randomised trial comparing standard surgery with vacuum-assisted excision for the treatment of small, good prognosis screen-detected breast cancers. He also has surgical leadership roles in several other ongoing UK systemic therapy de-escalation trials, including OPTIMA and HER2-RADiCAL. He co-led the recent BIG-NCTN PRECEDENT project to develop a core outcome set to improve the reporting of locoregional therapies in clinical trials of neoadjuvant systemic therapy.
His translational research interests lie in the area of the DNA damage immune response in breast cancer, and within Queen’s University is a joint holder of a Cancer Research UK Programme Foundation Award grant for this work.
Nationally, he has held a number of research leadership roles, including as Chair of the UK UK Breast Cancer Clinical Studies Group, which is responsible for overseeing the strategic development of the UK breast cancer clinical trials portfolio. Until recently, he was the Royal College of Surgeons Breast Surgical Specialty Lead, and he is also currently Chair of the British Breast Group. Closer to home, he is the Clinical Director of the Northern Ireland Cancer Trials Network, responsible for overseeing the delivery of cancer clinical research across five regional cancer hospitals to the 1.8 million population of Northern Ireland.
Sarah-Jane Dawson
Conference Guest Speaker
Sarah-Jane Dawson
Conference Guest Speaker
Professor Dawson is a clinician-scientist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Centre for Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne.
She is the co-program head of the Cancer Biology and Therapeutics Program, Group leader of the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory, and Medical Oncologist in the Breast Unit.
Her current research interests are focused on the development of noninvasive blood-based biomarkers ('liquid biopsies') for clinical application, including early detection, risk stratification, and disease monitoring in cancer management.
Ben Smith
Conference Guest Speaker
Ben Smith
Conference Guest Speaker
Associate Professor Ben Smith is a Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellow and Senior Implementation Scientist, at the Daffodil Centre, Cancer Council NSW, and University of Sydney.
Ben leads the Daffodil Centre Triple I (Innovation-Implementation-Impact) stream, which produces evidence supporting the implementation of innovations to positively impact cancer control and care.
Ben has 10+ years of research experience focused on ensuring equitable access to high-quality evidence-based cancer care for all people living with cancer.
He is leading the development and implementation of a culturally sensitive clinical pathway for fear of cancer recurrence.
Nick Zdenkowski
Conference Guest Speaker
Nick Zdenkowski
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Zdenkowski is a Medical Oncologist and Medical Advisor with Breast Cancer Trials.
He is the Chair of the BCT Scientific Advisory Committee and sits on the international PALLAS trial Steering Committee. He works on a broad range of breast cancer research, including shared decision-making, clinical trials, and patient-reported outcomes, particularly around neoadjuvant systemic therapy.
His PhD project resulted in the development of a decision aid for patients considering neoadjuvant systemic therapy for breast cancer. He has published widely, from patient-reported outcomes, and systematic reviews through to clinical trial outcomes. His clinical practice is at Lake Macquarie Private Hospital and Maitland Private Hospital in the Hunter Region in NSW Australia.
Belinda Kiely
Conference Guest Speaker
Belinda Kiely
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Belinda Kiely is a medical oncologist who specialises in breast cancer. She works at Campbelltown and Concord hospitals in Sydney, Australia.
She is an honorary clinical research fellow at the University of Sydney and enjoys supervising PhD students.
Her research interests include breast cancer treatment, survivorship, and prognostication in advanced cancer. Dr Kiely is an active member of Breast Cancer Trials.
She is the Australian study chair of the OPTIMA clinical trial and is the chair of the BCT Supportive Care Subgroup.
Dr Kiely is co-chair of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia Breast Cancer Group and a member of the Breast Cancer Network Australia Strategic Advisory Group.
Rachel Dear
Conference Guest Speaker
Rachel Dear
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Rachel Dear MBBS (Hons I), PhD, FRACP is a senior staff specialist and medical oncologist at The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent's Hospital Sydney, where she has been dedicated to the care of breast cancer patients for over a decade.
An Associate Professor at UNSW Sydney, Dr Dear’s research focuses on breast cancer dormancy and plasticity, bone health, and the impact of bone fractures on cancer recurrence.
She is deeply committed to advancing patient care and improving quality of life. In partnership with the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, she leads investigator-initiated clinical trials and brings significant expertise as a principal investigator on numerous industry-sponsored studies.
Rachel was awarded her medical degree with first-class honors from the University of New South Wales in 2001 and completed junior medical officer and basic physician’s training at St Vincent’s in 2005.
She then undertook advanced medical oncology training at Westmead Hospital and, in 2008 she became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.
In 2012, Rachel was awarded a PhD which was based around the optimisation of doctor-patient communication.
She has extensive experience as an investigator of a number of national and international breast cancer clinical trials.
Rachel Galimidi
Conference Guest Speaker
Rachel Galimidi
Conference Guest Speaker
Rachel Galimidi, Ph.D. is a distinguished scientist and biotechnology leader with extensive expertise in immunology, virology, and early-stage drug development.
She earned her Ph.D. in Biology and Bioengineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) under the mentorship of renowned researchers Dr David Baltimore and Dr Pamela Bjorkman.
Her doctoral research focused on the development of novel anti-HIV therapeutics and the mechanisms by which HIV evades humoral immunity, culminating in a significant 2015 publication in Cell. Throughout her graduate and postdoctoral training, Dr Galimidi specialised in antibody engineering, structural immunology, and the use of transgenic models to study viral dynamics.
Dr Galimidi transitioned to the biotechnology sector, where she served as a founding scientist at several pioneering startups focused on advancing proteomics and genomics.
At Nautilus Biotechnology, she played a central role in the development of the company’s single-molecule proteomics platform.
Her contributions were instrumental in securing $350 million in funding, leading to the company’s public offering on NASDAQ. Similarly, as a founding scientist at Palamedrix, Dr Galimidi was integral to the development of its DNA nanotechnology platform, ultimately facilitating Palamedrix’s acquisition by SomaLogic for $50 million in 2022.
Her expertise in assay development and instrument workflows was key to advancing the next generation of SomaLogic’s SomaScan® Assay.
During her time at Singular Genomics, Dr Galimidi contributed to the development of cutting-edge next-generation sequencing technologies. Her work was pivotal in driving the company’s growth and securing a successful IPO, raising $258 million in an upsized offering.
Previously, Dr Galimidi held the position of Director of Biologics at the Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicine, part of The Scripps Research Institute. In this role, she oversaw the development of biologics from discovery through clinical trials, with a focus on oncology and metabolic disorders.
Her work encompassed a range of therapeutic modalities, including small molecules, multivalent therapeutics, and multispecific antibodies. Additionally, Dr Galimidi led efforts to integrate advanced delivery technologies, such as lipid nanoparticles (LNP) and mRNA-based platforms, to enhance therapeutic efficacy.
Dr Galimidi has collaborated extensively with leading pharmaceutical companies, including Abbvie, Merck, Pfizer, and SomaLogic, to drive innovation in drug development. Across her career, she has been instrumental in securing over $400 million in funding through high-profile campaigns, and her contributions to the biotech industry have been transformative.
Dr Galimidi remains committed to translating groundbreaking scientific discoveries into impactful clinical therapies.
Kaori Terata
Conference Guest Speaker
Kaori Terata
Conference Guest Speaker
Kaori Terata practices in Akita, Japan. Terata is highly rated in 1 condition, according to our data. Her top areas of expertise are Breast Cancer, Esophageal Cancer, Lymphedema, Breast Cancer in Men, and Mastectomy.
Her clinical research consists of co-authoring 28 peer-reviewed articles. MediFind looks at clinical research from the past 15 years.
Martha Hickey
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Martha Hickey
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Professor Martha Hickey is Australia’s leading research gynecologist with a clinical and research focus on menopause.
In addition to leading Australia’s largest menopause service, her research has driven evidence-based care in menopause internationally including new treatments, models of care, evidence synthesis, and clinical guidelines.
Critically, her research has embedded the patient voice into menopause research. Despite being Australian, Professor Hickey is the “menopause expert” for the 2022 UK NICE guidelines and also leads the Lancet Clinical Series on Menopause.
In her clinical practice, she established the first multidisciplinary service for managing menopause after cancer, now replicated across 7 countries.
Emma Crowley
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Emma Crowley
T&EC Day Guest Speaker
Emma is a member of the Breast Cancer Trials Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP), and was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer in 2012, when she was just 24 years old.