Rebecca Angus is a Senior Podiatrist with a personal history of breast cancer, being diagnosed with the disease in 2018, at just 33 years old.

She is also a member of the Breast Cancer Trials Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP), which provides a patient’s perspective on the development of trials and the conduct of our research program. We spoke to Rebecca about the importance of patients having a voicewhen it comes to their treatment.

Dr Nick Zdenkowski is a Medical Oncologist and Medical Advisor with Breast Cancer Trials. He is the Chair of the Breast Cancer Trials Scientific Advisory Committee and works on a broad range of breast cancer research, including shared decision-making, clinical trials, and patient-reported outcomes, particularly around neoadjuvant systemic therapy.

We spoke with Dr Zdenkowski about the importance of collaborating with patients, and why their involvement is crucial for the success of a clinical trial.

Dr Deme Karikios is a Medical Oncologist and head of the department at Nepean Hospital in Sydney. He has a clinical and research interest in thoracic and gastrointestinal malignancies.

Deme also has a research interest in the costs and value of anticancer drugs, decisions about treatment with expensive unsubsidised anticancer drugs, and financial toxicity.

We spoke to him about the importance of quality of life outcomes, and looking beyond survival rates when discussing treatment success.

Professor Sunil Lakhani is the Chair of the BCT Board of Directors. He is a clinical diagnostic pathologist and also heads a research team comprising scientists and clinicians, ensuring a translational focus to the program.

We spoke with him about Ductal Carcinoma in Situ, and how it relates to breast cancer.

Dr Sarah Zardawi is an early-career Medical Oncologist who has also trained in Palliative Medicine. She has a private practice in Maitland, NSW, and is a Clinical Fellow at Breast Cancer Trials.

Sarah is dedicated to providing compassionate, patient-centered care for patients and their families at all stages of cancer treatment. We spoke with her about the role of telehealth in the conduct of clinical trials research.

Associate Professor Amy McCart Reed holds a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Queensland and has undertaken a series of studies investigating the genomic landscape of breast cancer special types.

She is passionate about breast cancer clinical research, biobanking, and precision oncology. In addition to her breast cancer research portfolio, she is on the Scientific Advisory Board for Breast Cancer Trials. We spoke with her about lobular prognostic biomarkers and their role in breast cancer diagnoses.

Dr Syapiq Long is an early-career Medical Oncologist. He graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and moved to Australia in 2015 to complete his training in Medical Oncology.

He is currently working as a joint Fellow at the Calvary Mater Newcastle and Breast Cancer Trials, and we spoke with him about survivorship and some of the challenges that patients face after completing their treatment.

Shavaun Wells is a Senior Fieldwork Officer on the Kulay Kalingka Study, a national cohort study aiming to understand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s beliefs and attitudes about cancer, engagement with cancer screening programs, and experiences with cancer diagnosis, care and treatment, to improve experiences and outcomes.

We spoke with her about the importance of this research. For more information about the study please visit: https://nceph.anu.edu.au/research/projects/kulay-kalingka-study

Dr Anna Singleton is a Senior Research Fellow at the Daffodil Centre, a joint venture between the University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW. Her research focuses on co-designing and implementing accessible, and scalable digital health services to improve health outcomes for people living with and beyond cancer.

We spoke with her about the EMPOWER-SMS clinical trial and what it aims to achieve for breast cancer patients.

Dr Stephen Luen is a Medical Oncologist and translational researcher at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. His current research interests include the study of genomic and immune biomarkers in breast cancer, with a particular focus on investigating biological characteristics and developing clinical trials for high-risk subgroups of patients.

We spoke to Dr Luen about the role of genomic testing in breast cancer treatment.