Principal and Chief Investigators

Professor David Bowtell

Professor Bowtell is Principal Investigator for the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study (AOCS), is Co-Head, Cancer Genomics and Genetics Program, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and was Director of Research at Peter Mac from 2000-2009. He is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellow. Professor Bowtell has an extensive background in human cancer genomics and his research has focused on the classification of ovarian cancer, mechanisms of primary and acquired drug resistance and end-stage disease. His research team showed that BRCA1/2 germline mutations are more frequent in high grade serous cancer than previously appreciated, leading to a re-writing of genetic testing guidelines in Australia and elsewhere. The group also reported on the impact of BRCA1/2 mutation on therapeutic response and demonstrated non-equivalence of the molecular and immunological characteristics of BRCA1/2 tumours. He is the genomic lead and one of the senior investigators for a recently-awarded, large DoD-funded program on long term survivors and exceptional responders. His lab has a major focus on the evolution of chemotherapy resistance in ovarian cancer and the development of immune therapies.

 

Professor Anna deFazio

Professor Anna deFazio is the Sydney-West Chair in Translational Cancer Research, University of Sydney at Westmead Hospital. She is the co-Deputy Director of the Sydney-West Translational Cancer Research Centre and heads the Gynaecological Oncology Research Group at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research. Professor deFazio has a long-standing commitment to translational research with an emphasis on improving treatment outcomes for women with ovarian cancer. The focus of her research is on understanding the clinico-genomic parameters that underlie response and resistance to systemic therapy. She leads a new program, INOVATe, that is taking results arising from AOCS and other laboratory research a step closer to the clinic, with the ultimate aim of implementing precision medicine to improve treatment for ovarian cancer. She is a Chief Investigator on the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study (AOCS) and is the Head of the AOCS Clinical Follow-Up Core.

 

 

Professor Penny Webb

Professor Webb is Head of the Gynaecological Cancers Group and Coordinator of the Population Health Department at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. She is also Chair of the Epidemiology Working Group of the International Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (2017-2019). Her interests cover all aspects of the epidemiology of ovarian cancer from aetiology and prevention, to patterns of care, quality of life and survival. She is a founding member of the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study (AOCS) Group and is currently conducting the first study to look at the role of potentially modifiable lifestyle behaviours in determining quality of life and survival following a diagnosis of ovarian cancer - the Ovarian cancer Prognosis And Lifestyle (OPAL) Study. Professor Webb is Head of the AOCS Epidemiology Core.

 

 

Professor Georgia Chevenix-Trench

Professor Georgia Chenevix-Trench is a Senior Principal Research Fellow of the NHMRC, and head of the Cancer Genetics Laboratory and the Department of Genetics and Computational Biology at the QIMR Berghofer in Brisbane. She is a founding member of the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study (AOCS) Group and has been instrumental in the collection of public resources such as kConFab, the Australian consortium for research into familial breast cancer. She is the leader of the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA), and a founding member of the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). OCAC, in which AOCS is an active participant, has identified over 40 regions of the genome associated with risk of ovarian cancer. A major focus of her current research is to work out the function of the alleles associated with cancer risk, and to identify their target genes. Georgia is also interested in finding genes associated with ovarian cancer survival.