BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Professor Sunil Lakhani was elected to the Breast Cancer Trials (BCT) Board of Directors in July 2017 and was appointed Chair of the Board in September 2021. He is the Executive Director of Research and Senior Staff Specialist at Pathology Queensland and Head of the Breast Group, Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

He is a clinical diagnostic pathologist and heads a research team comprising scientists and clinicians, ensuring a translational focus to the program. His current research interests include lobular carcinoma and its variants, establishing whole genome sequencing for high risk primary familial and sporadic breast cancers and mechanisms and therapeutic developments of brain and distant metastases. He is study pathologist and member of steering and translational committees for the OlympiA clinical trial (PARPi Olaparib in BRCA1/2 early breast cancers).

He was Series Editor of the 4th Edition WHO Tumour Classification Monographs, Volume Editor of the WHO 4th Edition Tumours of the Breast (2012), and standing member of the Board for the WHO 5th Edition (2017-2021).

He is the recipient of the Distinguished Pathologist Medal, International Academy of Pathology (2015); the BCT’s Robert Sutherland Award for Excellence in Translational Research (2016); The Distinguished Fellow Award, The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (2017), William O Russell and Joanne Vandenberg Award, MD Anderson Cancer Centre (2017) and The William L. Gerald Award, Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center, New York USA (2021). He is the first recipient of the combined Bruce Cain / A.B.Pearson Award from NZ Societies of Oncology & Pathology (2023).

In 2017, he was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

Mr Luke Bugden is a Partner of a large professional services firm, with over 24 years of experience providing advice to a wide range of public and private entities in a number of different sectors including, infrastructure, manufacturing, utilities, financial services, services, not-for-profit and pharmaceutical. He also worked in New York where he advised a number of foreign investors investing into Australia.

Mr Bugden has extensive experience advising clients on a range of issues including capital management opportunities, financing arrangements and corporate governance. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) and is a member of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand (CA).

Mrs Fiona McPhee is a leading fundraising consultant who works with non-profit leaders around the globe. Formerly a senior strategist in one of Australasia’s leading fundraising agencies, Fiona is the Insights Director for the market’s leading fundraising benchmarking and analytics program as well being a sought-after strategist, coach and mentor to fundraising teams and leaders. Before devoting her time to the non-profit sector Fiona was a sales and marketing executive.

Through a research and insights based approach, Fiona’s mission is to inspire boards and organisational leadership to pursue their purpose with precision and drive transformational growth in income so they can do more of the life changing work they exist to do.

Fiona sits on several non-profit boards, is a member of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand’s Ethics Committee and is an advisor to several social ventures and commercial startups providing services to the non-profit sector. Fiona has written for Fundraising and Philanthropy magazine, FINZ magazine and a variety of fundraising and marketing blogs.

She presents regularly on a variety of organisational culture, strategy and fundraising topics and has presented most recently at the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) Netherlands, FIA national conference, FINZ national conference and the Fundraising and Philanthropy Forum.

Professor Andrew Spillane is a Professor of Surgical Oncology at The University of Sydney. He specialises in the surgical management of breast cancer and melanoma. Professor Spillane is a senior VMO surgeon at the Mater North Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospitals.

He is a member of the BCT Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and BCT Very Early Breast Cancer subgroup. He is past President of BreastSurgANZ and a board member / Deputy Chair of Melanoma and Skin Cancer (MASC) Trials (formerly the ANZMTG). He is a member of the BCNA Medical Advisory Committee and Faculty Member of Melanoma Institute Australia.

Professor Spillane is Breast sub-editor for the ANZ Journal of Surgery, and an editorial board member of the Annals of Surgical Oncology and the Journal of Surgical Oncology. He is founding co-director and malignant disease unit of study co-ordinator of the University of Sydney’s Graduate Certificate in Advanced Breast Surgery.

Andrew’s research interests include neoadjuvant therapy, surgical clinical trials, promoting involvement of surgeons in multidisciplinary clinical trials, issues around quality assurance in surgery, and safe introduction of new surgical techniques and safe de-escalation of surgery.

He is involved in clinical and translational research on aspects of breast cancer and melanoma research including trial management committee of the multiple international trials and a member of the International Neoadjuvant Melanoma Consortium. He has been an author on about 290 peer reviewed publications and co-authored 4 book chapters and chief investigator on multiple existing and recent NHMRC and MRFF grants.

Mrs Larissa Willoughby is a Principal of a professional consulting services firm, Australian Environmental Auditors (AEA), with over 28 years of experience providing advice to public and private entities in relation to site contamination and managing risk to human health and the environment.

Larissa has a lived experience of breast cancer, being diagnosed in 2012, and is a confirmed BRCA1 gene mutation carrier. Having completed chemotherapy, bi-lateral mastectomy and reconstruction, she has also participated in research feedback on post-reconstruction outcomes.

As a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, she is passionate about being a director on a board where she can apply her professional experience in risk management, governance and auditing, combined with her lived experience as a BRCA1 gene carrier and breast cancer survivor.

Dr Sheridan Wilson is a Medical Oncologist at Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand. Sheridan is clinical lead for the medical oncology team providing systemic treatment across the Auckland region and in 2018 she established a pilot program at Auckland City Hospital for neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer.

Sheridan sits on the assessment committee for Cancer Research Trust New Zealand and is a member of breast cancer working groups for Te Aho o Te Kahu (Control Agency).

Associate Professor Andrew Redfern is Associate Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Western Australia, Associate Director for Clinical Strategy at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Group Leader of the Perkins Translational Oncology Laboratory, Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, and Principal Medical Advisor of Linear Clinical Research specialising in early phase human trials.

Beyond a clinical practice treating breast and urological cancers, he is principal investigator for a range of clinical trials across all phases and has a portfolio of translational research initiatives. His research interests centre around growth signalling and mechanisms of chemotherapy and hormone therapy resistance in cancer, differentiation and EMT in cancer progression, tumour-stroma interactions and Indigenous cancer biology.

Associate Professor Nicole McCarthy obtained her medical degree through the University of Queensland in 1990. She underwent her internal medicine and medical oncology training in Brisbane and was awarded her Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1998.

To further advance her academic career, Associate Professor McCarthy joined the National Cancer Institute (Bethesda, MD, USA) Medical Oncology Fellowship program from 1998 – 2001. During her fellowship her main interests included clinical trials and translational research investigating new drug treatments for breast cancer, in particular inflammatory breast cancer and anti-angiogenesis agents. She also completed a Masters in Health Sciences in Clinical Research through Duke University and her thesis focused on autologous stem cell transplant and immune reconstitution in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Associate Professor McCarthy spent two years in Auckland and was the recipient of the Breast Cancer Research Trust Fellowship Grant. Associate Professor McCarthy returned to Brisbane in January 2006 and has remained focused on clinical trials research. Associate Professor McCarthy is the Chair of the Breast Cancer Trials Medical Oncology Craft Group and is a member of their Scientific Advisory Committee.

Her other clinical and research interests include management of gynaecological cancers and sarcomas. Associate Professor McCarthy sits on a number of national advisory boards and guideline groups and has a close involvement with several breast cancer consumer groups including the Kim Walter’s Choices Program and the Breast Cancer Network of Australia.

Associate Professor McCarthy’s work has been published in leading journals and she is an investigator on several grants including NHMRC and Queensland Cancer Council. Since September 2009, Associate Professor McCarthy has held a position as Associate Professor in Medicine with the University of Queensland.