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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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Associate Professor Philip Beale
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...
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Professor Michael Boyer AM
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 oncologi...
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Dr Karen Briscoe
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...
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Dr Bea Brown
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...
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Professor Phyllis Butow
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...
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Associate Professor Wendy Cooper
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...
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Associate Professor Louise Emmett
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...
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Merran Findlay
SCITCRS 2019 Working Group,  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. ...
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Associate Professor Peter Grimison
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;...
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Professor Philip Hogg
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...
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Professor Lisa Horvath
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...
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Dr Anthony Joshua
Scientific Advisory Committee,  SCITCRS 2019 Working Group
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 super...
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Professor James Kench
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 ...
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Dr Jessica Lee
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...
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Professor Geoff McCaughan
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...
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Professor Jane Phillips
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...
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Dr Glen Reid
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...
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Dr Claudia Rutherford
SCITCRS 2019 Working Group,  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...
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Professor Tim Shaw
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...
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Professor John Simes
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 ...
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John Stubbs
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...
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Associate Professor Natalka Suchowerska
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...
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Professor David Thomas
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 Univer...
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Professor Lyndal Trevena
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...
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Professor Mathew Vadas
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...
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Professor Neil Watkins
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 ...
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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...
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Professor Kate White
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...
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Dr Sonia Yip
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...
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Professor Jane Young
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 ...
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Associate Professor Paul Timpson
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...
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Ellen Brodie
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...
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Cara McFarlane
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...
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Kimberley Mander
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...
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Spoorthi Gowda
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...
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Eve Simons
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...
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Merilyn Heuschkel
Research Manager
Merilyn Heuschkel
Background:   Merilyn has an undergraduate degree in Applied Science (Sports Management & Exercise Science) and a Master's degree in Public Health. She has 15 years experience worki...
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Dr Cherry Koh
SCITCRS 2019 Working Group
Dr Cherry Koh
Background Dr Cherry Koh has a wide academic interest. As part of her post graduate training, she completed a Masters of Surgery in Colorectal Surgery researching the value of anorectal phys...
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Dr Marina Pajic
SCITCRS 2019 Working Group
Dr Marina Pajic
Background Dr Marina Pajic completed her PhD in the laboratory of Professor Michelle Haber at the Children's Cancer Institute (CCI), University of New South Wales, where she investigated che...
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Dr Venessa Chin
SCITCRS 2019 Working Group
Dr Venessa Chin
Venessa completed her medical oncology training in the Royal Prince Alfred network in 2010 and went on to do her PhD at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in the field of translational g...
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Dr Prunella Blinman
SCITCRS 2019 Working Group
Dr Prunella Blinman
Background:    Dr Prunella Blinman is a full-time medical oncologist at the Concord Cancer Centre who specialises in the management of thoracic and gastrointestinal cancers. She co...
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