Research

2011 Cancer Conference

Cancer Council Western Australia and the Palliative Care Research and Evaluation Unit (CaPCREU) hosted the Seventh State Cancer Conference at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in Perth, Western Australia, on Thursday 24 March 2011.

The biennial conference was run as part of the Cancer Council WA's Research Program, and provided an opportunity to hear current advances in cancer research from eminent international, national and local researchers. The conference program covered basic biology/laboratory research, prevention, early detection and treatment, and service delivery. Clinicians, researchers, scientists, cancer survivors, those working in service organisations and grass-roots community groups, and others with a specific interest in cancer attended the conference.

Conference Program

Please download the conference program (pdf, 99KB) and concurrent session program (pdf,124KB). The full abstract booklet (pdf, 356KB) can also be downloaded.

Keynote speakers

Keynote speakers included:

About the speakers

Dr Heather Bryant, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer

Dr Heather Bryant is the Vice President of Cancer Control at the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. The Partnership is a federally funded independent organisation whose mandate is to accelerate action on cancer control in Canada.

Heather joined the Partnership in January 2008 from the Alberta Cancer Board where she was Vice-President and Chief Information Officer and Director of the Division of Population Health and Information. At the Alberta board, she was responsible for the Cancer Registry, Screening and Prevention Programs, as well as an active Research Unit in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention. In addition, she led Electronic Health Record Implementation.

Heather currently chairs the Partnership team working on the National Colorectal Screening Network. She also is part of the Programme Board for the International Cancer Benchmarking Program. Heather is also a Clinical Professor in the departments of Community Health Sciences and Oncology at the University of Calgary.

Professor Dallas English, University of Melbourne

Professor Dallas English is the Director of the Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology. He teaches epidemiology to graduate students and has a research program in cancer epidemiology. He is a co-investigator on the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (MCCS), which is based at the Cancer Council Victoria, and has an appointment at the Cancer Council.

Dallas worked for many years on the epidemiology and prevention of skin cancer, but most recently has been focussing on breast cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer within the MCCS. The MCCS program includes studies of lifestyle factors such as diet, obesity, hormones and genetic variants. His other main research interest is in evaluating cancer screening programs. He is a member of the Board of BreastScreen Victoria.

Professor Matt Trau, University of Queensland

Professor Matt Trau is a physical chemist interested in biological and medical applications of nanotechnology. Matt is currently a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Queensland (UQ) and is also a group leader and co-founder of the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN).

Matt has held positions within industry and academia across the globe. These include a Fulbright Research Fellowship at Princeton University, USA, a research scientist at Dow Chemical and ICI Pty Ltd, as well as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Assoc Prof and Professor at UQ. Matt has also been a Visiting Professor at two of the largest Cancer Research Centres in the world: The Dana Farber Cancer Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Seattle.

Matt is internationally recognised for his innovative and cross-disciplinary research at the interface between chemistry, nanotechnology, biology and biomarkers. His major awards and honours include an ARC Federation Fellowship, a Fulbright Research Fellowship to the US, a "Young Tall Poppy" Award for Queensland, a UQ Foundation/Vice Chancellor's Research Excellence Award, and a Paul Harris Fellowship. Matt is currently the lead CI on a 5-year collaborative research grant from the National Breast Cancer Foundation ("Novel Strategies for the Prediction and Control of Advanced Breast Cancer via Nanoscaled Epigenetic Biosensors"). In 2009, Matt became the foundation director of the Centre for Biomarker Research and Development at UQ.

Professor Robert Thomas, Department of Health, Victoria

Professor Robert Thomas is currently the Chief Clinical Advisor for Cancer with the Department of Health, and Distinguished Fellow-Surgical Oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Robert is Chair of the Victorian Cancer Agency Consultative Council, and holds positions on many government cancer-related committees. He has a wealth of experience as a cancer surgeon and researcher.