Breast Cancer Trials

4CASTING the Future: Innovations in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Triple negative breast cancer remains one of the most challenging types to treat because it lacks the common treatment targets, grows and spreads aggressively, is highly diverse and currently has limited effective therapies - but new research is changing the story.  

Associate Professor Rachel Dear takes us inside the 4CAST trial, showing how science moves from bench to bedside and what this could mean for the future of triple-negative breast cancer treatment. 

In this episode, we sit down with Rachel to discuss:

• (01:32) What makes triple-negative breast cancer so difficult to treat?
• (02:26) What pre-clinical findings led to the development of the 4CAST clinical trial?
• (08:37) The future of treatment for triple-negative breast cancer.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research.

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Guest: Medical Oncologist Rachel Dear, from Sydney.

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about triple-negative breast cancer.

Listen to Your Heart: Cardiac Care After Breast Cancer

Breast cancer treatments save lives, but sometimes it can leave the heart at risk. Professor Thomas Marwick sheds light on cardiac care for breast cancer survivors, exploring how monitoring and management strategies can protect heart health long after treatment ends.

In this episode, we sit down with Thomas to discuss:

• (01:09) The common cardiac risks associated with breast cancer therapies.
• (02:24) Patient monitoring during and post-treatment.
• (04:07) Balancing effective treatment while protecting cardiac function.
• (05:19) Emerging technologies to improve detection and prevent cardiac events from occurring.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research.

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Like this episode? ⁠⁠⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠⁠⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media:

• Instagram:⁠ ⁠⁠@breastcancertrials⁠⁠⁠ 
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Guest: Cardiologist, Professor Thomas Marwick

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about breast cancer and heart health.

Facing the Fear: Life After Breast Cancer

For many breast cancer survivors, finishing treatment isn't the end of the journey - it's the beginning of new fears. Fear of recurrence is one of the most common and distressing challenges patients face. In this episode, Associate Professor Ben Smith unpacks why these fears occur, how they affect daily life, and what strategies can help patients move forward with confidence.

In this episode, we sit down with Ben to discuss:

• (00:50) How we currently define fear of recurrence.
• (01:59) The factors that can contribute to a person's risk of having a fear of recurrence.
• (03:14) The impact that these fears can have on overall well-being.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research!

⁠⁠⁠Donate to Support Life-Saving Research⁠⁠⁠

Like this episode? ⁠⁠⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠⁠⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: 

• Instagram:⁠ ⁠⁠@breastcancertrials⁠⁠⁠ 
• Facebook:⁠ ⁠⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠⁠⁠ 
• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠⁠⁠ 
• X: ⁠⁠⁠@BCTrialsANZ⁠⁠⁠

Guest: Senior Implementation Scientist, Ben Smith, from Sydney

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about the fear of breast cancer recurrence.

Screening Smarter: Personalised Approaches in Breast Care

Is it time to rethink a ‘one size fits all’ approach to breast screening? Associate Professor Sanjay Warrier joins us to discuss the future of tailored breast screening, a personalised approach that could revolutionise how we detect breast cancer earlier and more effectively.

In this episode, we sit down with Professor Warrier to discuss:

• (01:32) The main factors that might influence a more personalised screening strategy.
• (03:19) The current evidence about tailored screening.
• (04:27) How researchers are working to determine who might benefit from more/less intensive screening.
• (05:20) How close we are to seeing tailored breast screening become part of routine care.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research.

⁠⁠⁠Donate to Support Life-Saving Research⁠⁠⁠

Like this episode? ⁠⁠⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠⁠⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: 

• Instagram:⁠ ⁠⁠@breastcancertrials⁠⁠⁠ 
• Facebook:⁠ ⁠⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠⁠⁠ 
• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠⁠⁠ 
• X: ⁠⁠⁠@BCTrialsANZ⁠⁠⁠

Guest: Breast Surgeon, Associate Professor Sanjay Warrier, from Sydney

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about the importance of tailored breast screening.

Advancing Care for Young Women with Breast Cancer

Young women with breast cancer often face unique challenges beyond their diagnosis, including long-term survivorship issues, fertility and family planning concerns, and a higher likelihood of aggressive cancers. But are their treatment pathways keeping up?

Dr Belinda Kiely explains the ground-breaking OPTIMA-Young trial, part of the larger PATH-for-Young initiative, exploring how global collaboration could change the future of treatment for younger patients.

In this episode, we sit down with Belinda to discuss:

• (04:14) How does OPTIMA-Young differ from existing treatment approaches?
• (05:25) Why is it important to have an international collaborative approach?
• (06:21) How will findings from OPTIMA-Young potentially change the way that we treat young breast cancer patients in the future?

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research.

⁠⁠Donate to Support Life-Saving Research⁠⁠

Like this episode? ⁠⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: 

• Instagram:⁠ ⁠@breastcancertrials⁠⁠ 
• Facebook:⁠ ⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠⁠ 
• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠⁠ 
• X: ⁠⁠@BCTrialsANZ⁠⁠

Guest: Medical Oncologist Belinda Kiely, from Sydney

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about the importance of clinical trials research.

Holding It Together: Breast Cancer and the Busy Mum Life

When you’re a mum of two young boys, life is full of chaos, and for Belinda, it also became a time of deep uncertainty when, in 2019, she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer.

In this episode, we sit down with Belinda to discuss:

• Navigating a breast cancer diagnosis while raising a young family.
• The importance of having a community around you to offer support during this time.
• Why Breast Cancer Trials' research is so important.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research.

⁠Donate to Support Life-Saving Research⁠

Like this episode? ⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: 

• Instagram:⁠ @breastcancertrials⁠ 
• Facebook:⁠ Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• LinkedIn: ⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• X: ⁠@BCTrialsANZ⁠

Guest: Belinda Ward

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about the importance of breast cancer clinical trials research.

Routine, Resilience, and Research: One Mum's Cancer Story

What happens when your life plans are suddenly redrawn by a breast cancer diagnosis? Emily, her husband, and their two children had moved to Australia in 2012 from the UK and was busy building a future for her family when she found herself on a very different path.

In this episode, we sit down with Emily to discuss:

• Navigating breast cancer with a young family.
• The role that routine and swimming played in helping her cope.
• The role that Herceptin, a treatment drug brought about by the Breast Cancer Trials HERA trial, played in her treatment.
• Why breast cancer clinical trials research is so vital.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research.

⁠Donate to Support Life-Saving Research⁠

Like this episode? ⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: 

• Instagram:⁠ @breastcancertrials⁠ 
• Facebook:⁠ Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• LinkedIn: ⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• X: ⁠@BCTrialsANZ⁠

Guest: Emily Allard

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about breast cancer clinical trials research.

The Village Effect: Why Community Matters During Cancer Treatment

For Sarah, motherhood was already a full-time job — between nippers, football, and everything in between. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she found herself navigating treatment while parenting young children and holding her family together through the uncertainty.

In this episode, we sit down with Sarah to discuss:

• The lead-up to her shock diagnosis.
• Balancing breast cancer treatment and motherhood.
• The importance of having a strong support system in place during treatment.
• Why Breast Cancer Trials' research is so important.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research.

⁠Donate to Support Life-Saving Research⁠

Like this episode? ⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: 

• Instagram:⁠ @breastcancertrials⁠ 
• Facebook:⁠ Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• LinkedIn: ⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• X: ⁠@BCTrialsANZ⁠

Guest: Sarah Withyman

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about breast cancer clinical trials research.

Virtual Reality Meets Radiation: A New Era in Patient Coaching

Kathleene Dower is a Radiation Therapist and 2025 Clinical Fellow with Breast Cancer Trials. Her project is about piloting virtual reality (VR) coaching and education for deep inspiration breath hold, a breathing technique used during radiation therapy to move the heart away from radiation and protect it from damage.

This study will explore whether VR coaching and education can help patients learn this technique more effectively.

In this episode, we sit down with Kathleene to discuss:

• An overview of Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH), and how to effectively do this.
• How the VR coaching program works.
• The benefits of using BR compared to traditional coaching methods for DIBH.
• Next steps after this pilot study.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important research.

⁠Donate to Support Life-Saving Research⁠

Like this episode? ⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: 

• Instagram:⁠ @breastcancertrials⁠ 
• Facebook:⁠ Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• LinkedIn: ⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• X: ⁠@BCTrialsANZ⁠

Guest: Kathleene Dower from Lismore Base Hospital

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about breast cancer clinical trials research.

From IVF to Breast Cancer: Navigating a Diagnosis in Early Motherhood

Rebecca Pickering is a devoted mum to Daphne and Dorothy and wife to Matt. She loves spending quality time with her family and exploring the beauty of her hometown, Mildura. Rebecca’s journey to motherhood included a series of IVF treatments before welcoming her two daughters. Not long after their birth, she began noticing changes in her breasts, and after visiting her doctor for a check-up, she was unfortunately diagnosed with breast cancer.

In this episode, we sit down with Rebecca to discuss:

• Her breast cancer diagnosis.
• Navigating breast cancer with a young family.
• Participating in the OLIO clinical trial
• Remote monitoring during treatment.

Tune in for a deep dive into this important conversation.

⁠Donate to Support Life-Saving Research⁠

Like this episode? ⁠Find more Breast Cancer Trials Podcast Episodes here⁠

Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: 

• Instagram:⁠ @breastcancertrials⁠ 
• Facebook:⁠ Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• LinkedIn: ⁠Breast Cancer Trials⁠ 
• X: ⁠@BCTrialsANZ⁠

Guest: Mrs Rebecca Pickering

Thank you for listening! If you found this episode valuable, please share it with your loved ones and help spread awareness about breast cancer clinical trials research.