BREAST CANCER RESEARCHER RECEIVES STATES TOP HONOURS

Professor John Forbes AM has received the 2015 NSW Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year.

The Award was presented by the NSW Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner MP, on behalf of the NSW Premier at the 10th anniversary of the Premier’s Awards for Outstanding Cancer Research. The event was hosted by the Cancer Institute of NSW, in Sydney.

The Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year is presented to an individual who has made a significant and fundamental contribution to any field of cancer in NSW. It is awarded to a researcher who shows leadership and is active in NSW cancer research, and who has a record of substantive and noteworthy publications. The winner is selected based on the quality, significance, scientific originality and innovation of their research; their contribution to the acceleration of progress against cancer; and implications for future research. The recipient receives a prize of $50,000 towards their research and a commemorative award.

Professor Forbes is the Director of Research at the Australia and New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZBCTG), which is based in Newcastle. Professor Forbes is Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of Newcastle and is Director of Surgical Oncology at the Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital.

Premier Mike Baird praised Professor Forbes efforts and said, “Tonight the state honours some of its most brilliant minds, those who work away from the public gaze, for years and decades, to unlock the secrets of cancer. We thank them for their skill and tenacity as they work to bring relief and hope to those living with this insidious disease.”

Professor Forbes said it was an honour to be recognised at the awards ceremony with so many outstanding researchers and scientists.

“These awards highlight the extraordinary work that is being undertaken in cancer research in NSW, which have made significant improvements to the health and treatments available to all Australians,” Professor Forbes said.

“The key to the success of breast cancer clinical trials research has been collaboration. I would like to thank the thousands of women in Australia and around the world who have participated in clinical trials and my outstanding colleagues, both in Australia and internationally, who I have been fortunate to work with. This collaboration has resulted in significantly better outcomes for women diagnosed or at risk of breast cancer.”

The NSW Chief Cancer Officer and CEO of the Cancer Institute NSW, Professor David Currow, congratulated Professor Forbes on the award.

“Year on year, our state’s cancer researchers continue to lead the country and the world in many areas of cancer research. Their achievements are a combination of brilliant minds and unwavering determination to improve the lives of people affected by cancer,” Professor Currow said.

“We celebrate when discoveries are made but we must recognise the vision and commitment of these researchers over years and decades of painstaking work, that lead to these breakthroughs.”

“Professor Forbes has demonstrated this ethos and it is an honour to recognise his outstanding contribution to breast cancer prevention and treatment which has benefited people here and the world over.”

Professor Forbes was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012 for service to medicine in the field of breast cancer research, to the development of improved clinical practice standards and service to the community. He was recognised as one of the world’s leading scientific researchers, in the Thomson Reuters list of “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds: 2014”.

Professor Forbes was the International Study Co-Chair of the IBIS-I and IBIS-II international prevention clinical trials. The IBIS-I clinical trial examined the long-term risk and benefits of taking tamoxifen to prevent breast cancer in women at high risk of the disease. Long term analysis found that the preventative effect of tamoxifen continued for 20 years, after treatment with the drug had stopped, with breast cancer rates reduced by around 30%.

Professor Forbes also Co-Chaired the ATAC study that tested the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole as an alternative to tamoxifen. The IBIS-II clinical trial found that taking the breast cancer drug anastrozole for five years reduced the chances of postmenopausal women at high risk of breast cancer developing the disease by 53% compared with women who took a placebo.

The ANZBCTG is Australia’s national organisation dedicated entirely to breast cancer research. It conducts a clinical trials research program for the treatment, prevention and cure of breast cancer. The research program involves multicentre clinical trials and collaboration with 87 institutions and over 700 researchers throughout Australia and New Zealand. More than 14,000 women have participated in ANZBCTG breast cancer clinical trials. The fundraising department of the ANZBCTG is the Breast Cancer Institute of Australia (BCIA).

Media contact: Anna Fitzgerald, ANZBCTG Communications Manager

Phone: 02 4925 5255 or 0400 304 224 or Email: anna.fitzgerald@anzbctg.org