NSW's most outstanding cancer researchers acknowledged

The NSW Premier’s Awards for Outstanding Cancer Research were held last week as part of an annual gala dinner that celebrates excellence and innovation in cancer research. Hosted by the Cancer Institute NSW, this year’s event marked the 11th anniversary of what has been called the night of nights for cancer research in NSW.

The evening saw the presentation of the coveted Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year award to Professor John Simes, who established the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre (CTC) at University of Sydney in 1988 and now leads a workforce of 150 staff both nationally and internationally. His work is said to have enabled over 80,000 people to access new and emerging treatments.

“In his role at the Clinical Trials Centre alone, Professor Simes has played a leading role in over 130 multicentre trials with over 80,000 patients,” said Cancer Institute NSW CEO Professor David Currow. “These trials have led to major advances in care for patients with cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, as well as significant improvements in neonatal care.”

Professor Minoti Apte OAM, of the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research at UNSW, meanwhile received the prestigious Professor Rob Sutherland AO ‘Make a Difference’ Award. Professor Apte and her team were the first to shed light on the key role of the stroma of pancreatic cancer on cancer progression and are now working towards developing novel treatments for pancreatic cancer using physiologically relevant preclinical models.

The Excellence in Translational Cancer Research Award went to Dr Natalie Taylor and Team, Australian Institute of Health Innovation Behaviour Change Research Stream, for their project aimed at improving referral and genetic testing rates of patients at risk of Lynch syndrome — an inherited bowel cancer condition.

The Big Data, Big Impact Grant — Stage 2 grant was awarded to Associate Professor Daniel Catchpoole and Team, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network, for their project which allows clinicians to interpret biomedical data in meaningful ways and provide more certain, personalised treatment strategies for people with cancer.

‘The Wildfire’ Highly Cited Publication Award was won by Dr James Wilmott for his publication ‘Immunohistochemistry is highly sensitive and specific for the detection of V600E BRAF mutation in melanoma external’, which is being used by pathology departments around the world to triage patients into lifesaving personalised medicines.

The Innovation in Cancer Clinical Trials Award went to the Central Coast Local Health District, which in 2015 had a threefold increase in the recruitment of cancer patients to interventional cancer clinical trials. The district has increased the ratio of new trial participants to cancer incident cases, opened a new trial unit and commenced recruitment to radiation oncology clinical trials.

The Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow award was presented to postdoctoral researcher Dr Zaklina Kovacevic for her research project ‘Targeting the Metastasis Suppressor NDRG1 for the Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer’, which aims to better understand the underlying function of NDRG1 in pancreatic cancer. It looks at how to potentially target this gene with novel therapeutics.

Finally ‘The Rising Star’ PhD Student Award went to Dr Andrew Chen, a final-year PhD student who is investigating the effect of oral nicotinamide (vitamin B3) on non-melanoma skin cancers. The project is a large, multicomponent piece of research which has had a highly successful outcome, with almost immediate translation into clinical practice in Australia and internationally.

“The quality of research being done by all of this year’s winners is of the highest calibre and it is my honour to congratulate them on their outstanding achievements,” said Professor Currow.