Workshop objectives

The one-day program is designed as real-time education for Australian medical oncology trainees focussing on the emerging developments in the sciences that underpin oncology and how they are transforming clinical practice currently. The educational sessions will include presentations from invited Australian oncology experts.

Target Audience

Up to 40 Australian Medical Oncology Trainees are invited to register for the program at no cost (deposit paid on registration is refundable). Registrants will need to be MOGA Trainee Members. Trainee Membership is open and complimentary to Medical Oncology Advanced Trainees - see membership criteria and join HERE.

Participants will be provided with all course materials and day catering including Networking Drinks and Dinner after the Workshop.

Program

The Sciences of Oncology Program is one of MOGA’s most popular and well received trainee educational programs. Monitoring and responding to developments in the sciences underpinning oncology research and clinical practice is an essential requirement for all oncology specialists and, a vital training area for trainees in medical oncology.

ABOUT THE Convenor

A/Prof Diakos is a Medical Oncologist, a member of several cooperative trials’ groups and a senior research fellow in the Bill Walsh Translational Cancer Research Laboratory at the University of Sydney in the Kolling Institute. Her research focuses on identifying prognostic and predictive biomarkers of inflammation in patients with colorectal, ovarian, and other cancers. These markers can be used to help guide decision-making in treatment and predict the likely disease course.

A/Prof Diakos is dedicated to the education and training of the next generation of clinicians. She is a conjoint senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, Co-Director of Training in the Department of Medical Oncology at Royal North Shore Hospital and MOGA Executive Member.

PRESENTERS

A/Prof Kellie Charles

A/Prof Charles is a cancer pharmacologist with 15 years of cancer and immunology drug development, and has participated in national and international clinical trials. She is a current Bellberry Human Research Ethics Committee member specialising the scientific expert review of clinical pharmacology, toxicology and clinical trial design of cancer and immunology new investigational products.

A/Prof Angela Chou

A/Prof Chou is a surgical pathologist at the Royal North Shore Hospital. She has over 14 years of subspecialty experience in gastrointestinal (GIT) pathology, lung pathology, endocrine pathology, and molecular pathology. She is actively involved in teaching at the University of Sydney and translational cancer research at the Kolling Institute. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and completed her Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery and PhD at the University of NSW.

Prof Stephen Clarke

Prof Clarke is a medical oncologist at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney and Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney. After completing his medical oncology training at Royal North Shore Hospital, Stephen undertook a PhD in the Phase I unit of the Institute of Cancer Research/Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital, before returning to Australia in 1994. He has clinical and research interests in thoracic and GI cancers, including mesothelioma.

Dr Emily Colvin

Dr Colvin is a gynaecological cancer researcher based at the Kolling Institute, University of Sydney. Her research aims to characterise the role of non-coding RNAs in the ovarian tumour microenvironment, particularly their role in the spread of ovarian cancer. She is also investigating the potential of using “liquid biopsy”, rather than tissue biopsy, to monitor treatment response in patients with ovarian and endometrial cancers. Dr Colvin is a keen advocate for the health and medical research sector and is the immediate Past-President of the Australian Society for Medical Research.

Dr Antony Kodsi

Dr Kodsi is an Australian trained adult medicine physician, who has qualifications in palliative medicine and pain medicine. He is also supervisor of training of trainees in pain medicine, and regularly is involved in the teaching of undergraduate and postgraduate medical professionals. Dr Kodsi is a board-certified Specialist in Pain Medicine and in Palliative Medicine and has fellowships with the Faculty of Pain Medicine ANZCA (FFPMANZCA), the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and The Chapter of Palliative Medicine (FAChPM).

Dr Esther Lim

Dr Lim is a senior lecturer and postdoctoral fellow within the Precision Cancer Therapy group at Macquarie University. Her research focuses on investigating the genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic expression profiles of melanoma patients treated with targeted therapies and immunotherapies, and examining the mechanisms underlying response to these therapies. She also co-supervises HDR students and convene and teaches into the Bachelor of Clinical Science and Bachelor of Medical Science courses at Macquarie University.

Dr Jeremy Mo

Dr Mo is a Medical Oncologist at the Kinghorn Cancer Centre. He trained at Westmead Hospital and is now undertaking a PhD at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research on cancer-associated fibroblasts across multiple cancer types. His project will involve analysis of the differences in these fibroblasts across pancreatic, prostate, and breast cancers. He hopes this will lead to investigating possible therapeutic agents and translation to clinical trials.

Prof Mark Molloy

Professor Molloy is the Lawrence Penn chair of bowel cancer research at University of Sydney. He has over 20 years of scientific experience in the application of molecular technologies to disease, including publication of over 200 papers. He is an expert in the use of proteomic technologies to study disease. His lab focuses on translational colorectal cancer research. His research programs span biomarker discovery, risk stratification, and CRC molecular cell biology.

Program Sponsors