Our People

Sydney Catalyst is comprised of a large and diverse membership of individual researchers, clinicians and students with a shared commitment to improving outcomes for people affected by cancer.

The members and staff from the Sydney Catalyst central office team listed here are all involved in the leadership, scientific, and governance groups that are responsible for driving the Sydney Catalyst program. Full access to a list of all other Sydney Catalyst members is available HERE.

Name

Role

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Governing Council, Scientific Advisory Committee, T2/T3 Working Group

Associate Professor Philip Beale

Background: Philip is the Clinical Director of Cancer Services at the Concord Repatriation General Hospital and Associate Professor Medicine, Concord Clinical School. Philip obtained his m...

Executive, Governing Council, Scientific Advisory Committee

Professor Michael Boyer AM

Background: Michael is the Medical Director of the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, a Clinical Professor, within the Central Clinical School of the University of Sydney and a medical oncologist wi...

Governing Council, Scientific Advisory Committee

Dr Karen Briscoe

Background: Karen is a medical oncologist in the Mid North Coast Local Health district. Karen obtained her qualifications from UNSW and trained in the Illawarra and St George region and la...

EnRICH Flagship Program Manager, T2/T3 Working Group

Dr Bea Brown

Background: Bea has been working in health research and research management since the early '00s and in health services and implementation research since 2009, with a brief interlude spent teachi...

Executive, Governing Council, Scientific Advisory Committee, T2/T3 Working Group

Professor Phyllis Butow

Background: Phyllis has worked for over 20 years in the area of Psycho-Oncology and has developed an international reputation in this and the area of health communication. She is curr...

T1/T2 Working Group

Associate Professor Wendy Cooper

Background: Wendy has a broad range of interests in surgical pathology and cytology with special interests in pulmonary pathology, haematopathology and molecular genetics. She graduated fr...

T1/T2 Working Group

Associate Professor Louise Emmett

Background: Louise is a Nuclear medicine physician with a specialty interest in the PET imaging of prostate Cancer (actually, all PET imaging). She undertook her medical undergraduate train...

T2/T3 Working Group

Merran Findlay

Background: Merran Findlay is the Executive Research Lead - Cancer Nutrition and Oncology Specialist Dietitian across the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital - Chris O'Brien Lifehouse partnership. An Ad...

Scholarship Review Panel Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee

Associate Professor Peter Grimison

Background: Peter Grimison is currently Staff Specialist in Medical Oncology at Chris O'Brien Lifehouse in Sydney; Visiting Medical Officer at Royal Prince Alfred and Dubbo Base Hospitals;...

Executive and Operations, Governing Council, Pilot and Seed Review Panel Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee, T1/T2 Working Group

Professor Philip Hogg

Background: Phil is an NHMRC Senior Principle Research Fellow. He graduated with a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Queensland in 1987. His post-doctoral training was in the USA ...

Scientific Advisory Committee, T1/T2 Working Group

Professor Lisa Horvath

Background: Having completed medical school at the University of Sydney and trained in medical oncology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Lisa subsequently worked at the Garvan Institute com...

Scientific Advisory Committee

Dr Anthony Joshua

Background: Anthony completed his medical oncology training at the Royal Prince Alfred hospital in Sydney, Australia before moving to Toronto, Canada to complete a PhD under the supervisio...

T1/T2 Working Group

Professor James Kench

Background: James works with the prostate cancer group at KCC which aims to identify genes and pathways whose expression changes can predict the development of aggressive life-threatening ...

T2/T3 Working Group

Dr Jessica Lee

Background: Jessica is a palliative medicine physician and clinician-researcher at the Concord Centre for Palliative Care. She is a PhD candidate at University of Technology, Sydney, study...

Executive and Operations, Scientific Advisory Committee, T1/T2 Working Group, T2/T3 Working Group

Danielle Miller

Background: Danielle's undergraduate degree was in molecular biology, but she left the lab not long after to pursue a career in project and program management of cancer research. Her early...

T1/T2 Working Group

Professor Geoff McCaughan

Background: Upon completion of his postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford in 1986 as a CJ Martin Fellow, Geoff returned to Sydney where he developed the basic research program f...

T2/T3 Working Group

Professor Jane Phillips

Background: Jane is Director of the Centre for Cardiovascular & Chronic Care, Faculty of Health at UTS and a professor of nursing with experience in delivering evidenced-based palliative care...

Scholarship Review Panel, T1/T2 Working Group

Dr Glen Reid

Background: Glen's research focuses on the identification of new markers and molecular targets for malignant mesothelioma. Prior to joining ADRI, he was Principal Investigator and He...

T2/T3 Working Group

Dr Claudia Rutherford

Background: Claudia is Deputy Director of the QOL Office and Senior Research Fellow at the School of Psychology, University of Sydney. She is based at the Quality of Life (QOL) Office, whi...

T2/T3 Working Group

Professor Tim Shaw

Background: Tim is the inaugural Professor of eHealth and Director of Research in Implementation Science and eHealth Group (RISe) in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Syd...

Executive and Operations, Governing Council, Scientific Advisory Committee

Professor John Simes

Background: John, MBBS, MS, FRACP, MD is Director of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Trials Centre based at the University of Sydney. He is a Senior Princ...

Scientific Advisory Committee

John Stubbs

Background: Holding degrees in Accounting and Arts John is a regular speaker at medical conferences and seminars on cancer policy, advocacy, clinical trials and related issues. John is cur...

T1/T2 Working Group

Associate Professor Natalka Suchowerska

Background: Natalka graduated with a PhD in medical physics from the University of Sydney, following a career in clinical physics. Her work broadly aims to use novel technologies and funda...

Governing Council, Scientific Advisory Committee

Professor David Thomas

Background: David is Director of The Kinghorn Cancer Centre and Head of the Cancer Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research. David undertook medical training at the University ...

T2/T3 Working Group

Professor Lyndal Trevena

Background: Lyndal has been a GP for almost 30 years, having spent the first 16 years in purely clinical practice before entering academia. Research Interests: Lyndal's research o...

Governing Council, Scientific Advisory Committee

Professor Mathew Vadas

Background: Mathew trained in medicine at the University of Sydney and as a physician at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before completing a doctorate at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institu...

T1/T2 Working Group

Professor Neil Watkins

Background: After completing medical school, physician training and a PhD in Perth Western Australia, he moved to the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Centre in Baltimore MD, reaching the rank ...

Central Office Team

Jaclyn Verghis

Background Jaclyn started her career in clinical trials within the GI Service of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. As a site and central coordinator, she was involved...

Pilot and Seed Review Panel Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee, T2/T3 Working Group

Professor Kate White

Background: Kate has over 20 years of experience in clinical practice, education and research in cancer care. As the inaugural Chair of Cancer Nursing and Director of the Cancer Nursing Re...

Operations Team, Scientific Advisory Committee, T1/T2 Working Group

Dr Sonia Yip

Background: Sonia is a molecular biologist and obtained her PhD in signal transduction pathways in breast cancer and CML from the Garvan Institute. She has wide experience in oncology rese...

Governing Council, Scientific Advisory Committee, T2/T3 Working Group

Professor Jane Young

Background: Jane is an epidemiologist with a medical background and specialist training as a public health physician. She has appointments at the University of Sydney, where she holds the ...

Scientific Advisory Committee

Associate Professor Paul Timpson

Background: Paul completed his PhD with Professor Margaret Frame at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, UK in 2002 where he assessed the interplay between Src family kinases an...

Central Office Team

Ellen Brodie

Background: Ellen's undergraduate degree was in International Relations with majors in politics, French and Spanish. Ellen undertook a Master's degree in International Developme...

Central Office Team

Cara McFarlane

Background: After completing a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Marketing and Management, Cara pursued her childhood passion to work for an airline. She gained invaluable analy...

Central Office Team

Kimberley Mander

Background: Kim recently joined the Sydney Catalyst team from Adelaide. She completed a Bachelor of Psychological Science and was drawn to the biology of disease and undertook a...

Central Office Team

Spoorthi Gowda

Background: Spoorthi joined the Sydney Catalyst team as Senior Research Officer within the EnRICH Flagship program. She has a Masters degree in Information Technology with a maj...

Central Office Team

Eve Simons

Background: Eve has worked as an Events Manager for 15 years and has also trained and worked as an English as a second language teacher. Eve's career has spanned local government, u...