Breast Cancer Trials

Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Navigating Treatment Side Effects Naveena Nekkalapudi is a member of the Breast Cancer Trials Consumer Advisory Panel, where members provide a patient's perspective in the development of trials and the conduct of our research program. Naveena was diagnosed with Stage 3, Grade 3, Triple Negative breast cancer on Christmas Eve in 2014, after finding a lump in her b...

Improving Early Detection of Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: A Key to Better Outcomes Dr Tivya Kulasegaran is a Medical Oncologist at the University of Queensland's Centre for Clinical Research. This is the third year of the Breast Cancer Trials Clinical Fellowship Program, and Dr Kulasegaran has been successful in receiving a fellowship in 2024. Her project involves establishing tools for the ear...

Pre vs. Post Pectoral Implant Reconstruction: What's Best for You? Dr Kylie Snook is a Breast Surgeon based in Sydney, Australia, and the Vice-President of BreastSurgANZ, with an interest in implant reconstruction. We spoke with Dr Snook about the treatment changes that have occurred over recent years in breast reconstruction and radiotherapy, and the importance of giving patients a choice whe...

Teeing Off for a Cure: How Golfers Are Supporting Breast Cancer Research East's Leisure and Golf Club is one of the longest-supporting golf clubs in Australia of Breast Cancer Trials. The club held its first fundraising event in 1997, the inaugural year of the Tee Off fundraising program, initially referred to as ‘Chip-In’. We spoke to their Lady President, Caroline Norrie, about the event, an...

Making Waves: How Aqua Aerobics is Helping Fund Breast Cancer Trials Ann-Maree is an Aqua Aerobics Instructor who runs a class known as Aquafit, and has hosted a number of events to support the research of Breast Cancer Trials. This year, the event raised an incredible $3,700, and we spoke with Ann-Maree about the Aquafit community, her inspiration behind the event, and the importance of breast ca...

Can Multigene Assays Improve Breast Cancer Treatment for Young Women? Dr Belinda Kiely is a Medical Oncologist working at both Campbelltown and Concord Hospitals in Sydney, specialising in breast cancer treatment. We spoke with Dr Kiely about Multigene Assays, which look at tumour samples and genes that can predict the risk of recurrence in patients. Like this episode? ⁠⁠Follow Breast Cancer Trial...

Managing Pain After Breast Cancer Therapy: What Works Best? Dr Holly Keane is a Breast Surgeon at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, with an interest in the areas of pain management and tailored screening for breast cancer patients. We spoke with Dr Keane about pain after breast cancer therapy, its implications on day-to-day life for breast cancer patients, and some ways to reduce pai...

Bioinformatics: The Future of Personalised Breast Cancer Treatment Dr Cristin Print is a Professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine in Auckland, New Zealand. Dr Print has an interest in bioinformatics in breast cancer, which involves taking large amounts of data and distilling clinically useful information from that data. We spoke to him about the opportunities for research in this area, and ho...

Finally, Some POSITIVE News for Young Women with Breast Cancer! For many young women with a breast cancer diagnosis, starting a family following their treatment can be a primary point of concern. The POSITIVE clinical trial was looking to investigate if it was safe to temporarily stop endocrine therapy in young women with estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, who wanted to become pregnant afte...

The Power of Patients: Why Consumer-Led Research is the Future Ms Karen Alexander has been a member of the Breast Cancer Trials Consumer Advisory Panel since 2017. She was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2011 and carries a BRCA1 gene mutation. We spoke with Karen about the importance of consumer-led research. Like this episode? ⁠⁠Follow Breast Cancer Trials on Social Media: Instagr...

How Are Breast Surgeons Trained? A Look at Oncoplastic Techniques Dr Ben Green is a Breast Surgeon based in Brisbane, Australia, with an interest in the current oncoplastic and reconstruction capabilities in 2023 and beyond. We spoke with Dr Green about breast reconstruction, techniques to preserve the breast, and the importance of using the breast shape to your advantage during reconstruction to...

The Role of Diet in Early-Stage Breast Cancer Treatment Dr Cindy Tan is a dietician working in a cancer survivorship clinic at the University of Sydney, who is researching lifestyle interventions to improve diet and exercise for cancer survivors, as well as the psychosocial aspects of cancer recovery. We spoke with Dr Tan about the importance of dietary considerations for patients with early-stage...

Can we Reduce Delayed Nausea After Chemotherapy? A New Trial Investigates Dr Richard Isaacs is a Medical Oncologist at Palmerston North Hospital in New Zealand, with an interest in delayed nausea after chemotherapy. His interest in this area began when he was involved in the administration of chemotherapy to his wife, who suffered from extreme nausea during her treatment. We spoke to Dr Isaacs abo...

Insights from an International Breast Cancer Expert Professor Sibylle Loibl is the Chair of the German Breast Group and a Professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Goethe University of Frankfurt. Professor Loibl was an International Guest Speaker at Breast Cancer Trials 44th Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand and we asked her about her research in the area of Neoadjuvant Treatm...

Inside the Mind of a Global Breast Cancer Expert Alastair Thompson is a Professor of Surgery and Associate Director of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Centre, at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas. Professor Thompson was an International Guest Speaker at Breast Cancer Trials 44th Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand and we asked him about his research in the areas...

Game-Changing Insights from a Leading Breast Cancer Researcher Professor Philip Poortmans is a Radiation Oncologist at Iridium Netwerk and the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He completed his medical studies at the University of Antwerp and was trained as a Radiation Oncologist at the Middelheim and Vincentius Hospitals in Antwerp. Professor Poortmans was an International Guest Speaker at the Br...

Closing the Gap: Addressing Breast Cancer Outcomes in Indigenous Australians Associate Professor Andrew Redfern is a Medical Oncologist and Translational Researcher from Western Australia, with a particular interest in understanding why breast cancer treatments may or may not work in certain population groups. Part of his focus is working with Aboriginal Australians to try and answer this question...

Why Research Nurses are Essential to Breast Cancer Clinical Trials Jenni Scarlet is a Research Nurse and Clinical Trial Coordinator at Waikato Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. Her role involves coordinating clinical trials from their set-up stage, obtaining ethics approvals, enrolling and following up with patients, and reporting and analysis of trial information. During her career of more than...

A Clinical Trial That Changed My Life: One Participant's Story Jan White is a 75-year-old retired Nurse living in Auckland, who used to work in health, disability, and aged care. Since she can remember, Jan has been having 2-yearly mammograms, and like any other appointment, she went in asymptomatic, and expecting the ‘all clear’. However, the mammogram displayed a lump in her breast, and she...

Overcoming Barriers: Recruiting Indigenous and CALD Patients for Clinical Trials Despite CALD Australians representing almost a third of the population, they are often excluded from clinical trials research within Australia. Barriers can include mistrust and a lack of comfort around the clinical trials process, a lack of information and resources, time constraints, financial burden, and geographic...

What it's Really Like to Join a Breast Cancer Clinical Trial Laura Yang lives in Melbourne with her husband and her 6-year-old daughter, where she enjoys listening to music, playing piano, and spending time with her loved ones. At the end of 2022, Laura was diagnosed with breast cancer, and we spoke to her about her diagnosis and her decision to participate in a clinical trial. Like this episo...

Metastatic Breast Cancer & the TUGETHER Clinical Trial: What You Need to Know Maria Bodnar is a retired nurse, living in Victoria, Australia, with her husband. In 2013, Maria went in for her routine Breast Screen test, and the following day she received a call from one of the nurses asking her to come in so they could review her results, and Maria knew it was breast cancer. Maria is a particip...

The Patient Experience: What it's Like to Undergo a Breast MRI As part of Breast Cancer Trials Clinical Fellowship Program, Dr Julia Matheson is working on a project that will continue research on the existing clinical trial called the Breast MRI Evaluation Study, which aims to establish when breast MRIs improve patient outcomes. The focus of this Clinical Fellowship project will be assessing...

How New Breast Cancer Treatments are Impacting Tumor Biology Breast Cancer Trials International Clinical Fellowship Support aims to financially assist promising junior researchers to gain international experience and connections. Dr Julia Dixon-Douglas has been awarded support in the first year of the program and is heading to France to study novel therapies for breast cancer. Her research may hel...

Metastatic Breast Cancer & the CAPTURE Clinical Trial: What You Need to Know Sham was born in Iraq in the Middle East, but has lived in Melbourne with her parents and 2 children for the last 7 years. In 2019, Sham was diagnosed with breast cancer after noticing some pain in her right breast while at work. She is a participant in the CAPTURE clinical trial, which aims to identify women and men...