2023 Breast Cancer Trials Award Winners
07/08/2023
Winners of the 2023 Breast Cancer Trials Awards were presented at the 44th Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand.
The awards and travel grants recognise the valuable contribution of BCT members to the Group’s clinical trials research program; provide professional development opportunities for members; recognise outstanding achievements by researchers, clinicians and scientists in their particular field; and help promote the research activities of BCT and encourage participation in them.
All BCT awards are at the discretion of the Board of Directors.
The Alan Coates Award for Excellence in Clinical Trials Research
The Alan Coates Award for Excellence in Clinical Trials Research recognises an individual member of BCT who has made an outstanding contribution to BCT’s clinical trials research program and aims to assist the recipient in their professional development.
The 2023 recipient is Professor Boon Chua.
Boon is a Professor of Medicine at UNSW Sydney; Consultant Radiation Oncologist, Director of Cancer and Haematology Services, and Medical Co-Director of the Program of Neurosciences, Cancer Services, Rehabilitation, Intensive Care, Radiology, and Nuclear Medicine at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney.
She is the BCT Study Chair of the EXPERT clinical trial, which aims to improve personalised use of radiation therapy in early breast cancer patients, by using a genomic test to identify women who can safely avoid this treatment after surgery and the possible side effects.
The Robert Sutherland Award for Excellence in Translational Research.
The Robert Sutherland Award for Excellence in Translational Research recognises Translational Researchers and their achievements and contributions to improved patient outcomes as well as scientific excellence.
The 2023 recipient is Professor Wayne Tilley.
Wayne is the Director of the Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories (DRMCRL), Adelaide Medical School, and the University of Adelaide.
He is internationally recognized for research on sex steroid action in hormone-dependent cancers, with a particular focus on breast and prostate cancer.
His career has spanned over 35 years in Australia, the USA and the UK. He cloned the human androgen receptor (AR) at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas in the late 1980s and subsequently showed that the AR is frequently mutated in prostate cancer, which led to a conceptually new understanding about progression of prostate cancer and the development of new drugs to target castration resistant prostate cancer.
The John Collins Medal and Travel Grant
This grant was established to encourage potential academic breast surgeons to become involved in clinical trials research.
The 2023 recipient is Dr Adam Ofri.
Adam is a Breast Surgeon with Northern Breast Cancer at the Mater Hopsital in Sydney, and a Clinical Fellow for BCT.
The Study Coordinator Prize
This award acknowledges outstanding commitment to BCT’s research program by a study coordinator at a participating institution.
The 2023 recipient is Ms Julia Hoffman.
Julia has over 10 years’ experience as a Data Manager and Clinical Trials Coordinator involving a range of cancer types. She coordinates several studies, including trials for BCT.
Education Travel Grants
Our Education Travel Grants recognise study coordinators and junior clinicians who are unable to access institutional or other funding to attend the Annual Scientific Meeting.
2023 recipients are: Joel Ernest, Jasmine Hee, Judi Clarke, Bronwyn Crawford, Mandy McPhee, Rosemary Cotton, Sarah Corfe, Megan Raimondo, Joshua Ting, Brigitte Ross and Katrina Baldwin.
Contact: BCT Communications Manager, Anna Fitzgerald – 0400 304 224 or anna.fitzgerald@bctrials.org.au
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