DR SARAH ZARDAWI: IMPROVING ACCESS TO BREAST CANCER RESEARCH

About Dr Sarah Zardawi

Dr Sarah Zardawi is a Medical Oncologist, Palliative Care Physician and Clinical Fellow with Breast Cancer Trials. She is dedicated to providing compassionate, patient-centred care for people affected by cancer, supporting patients and their families throughout every stage of treatment. 

Alongside her private oncology practice at Maitland Private Hospital in New South Wales, Sarah is passionate about expanding access to breast cancer clinical trials, particularly for people living in regional and rural communities. Through her work with Breast Cancer Trials, she is helping develop innovative approaches that make participation in clinical research more accessible for Australians, regardless of where they live. 

Biography

Sarah completed her medical degree in Sydney before undertaking specialist training across New South Wales, including at Calvary Mater Newcastle, Tamworth Hospital and Wyong Hospital. 

She was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of Physicians (Medical Oncology) in 2020 and became a Fellow of the Australian Chapter of Palliative Medicine in 2021. 

During her advanced training, Sarah completed a Medical Oncology Clinical Trials Fellowship at Calvary Mater Newcastle, where she worked across Phase I–IV clinical trials, particularly in genitourinary cancers and melanoma. She now combines her clinical practice with her role as a Clinical Fellow at Breast Cancer Trials, contributing to research that aims to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with breast cancer. 

Qualifications and Personal Experience

Sarah has extensive experience caring for people with cancer across both medical oncology and palliative medicine. Her dual specialist training enables her to provide comprehensive care, with a focus on symptom management, supportive care and quality of life alongside cancer treatment. 

As a Clinical Fellow with Breast Cancer Trials, Sarah provides medical support for the planning, development, conduct and evaluation of Breast Cancer Trials clinical trials. She is also involved in research that aims to improve access to innovative treatments and clinical trials and is particularly interested in ensuring research is accessible to people regardless of where they live. 

Sarah is leading Breast Cancer Trials’ innovative telehealth pre-screening initiative, piloted through the OLIO clinical trial.  The project enables eligible patients, particularly those living in regional and rural areas, to be remotely assessed for clinical trial participation before travelling to a study site. 

By reducing geographical barriers to participation, this approach aims to improve equity of access, increase participant diversity and make clinical trial results more representative of the broader Australian community. 

Reflecting on the project, Sarah said: 

“Our project is about trying to expand recruitment and reach more patients to try and catch those patients that are eligible for these increasingly specific clinical trials, and also just reach more patients in general that might not live in a metropolitan area.” 

STORIES FROM OUR RESEARCHERS

Our researchers work tirelessly to develop and conduct clinical trials because they see the benefits this research brings to their patients and all those affected by breast cancer.