Lesley Fallowfield
International Guest Speaker
Lesley Fallowfield
International Guest Speaker
Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield is Professor of Psycho-oncology at Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex where she is Director of the Sussex Health Outcomes Research & Education in Cancer (SHORE-C) group.
Dame Lesley originally trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital, London but then did a BSc in Experimental Psychology at Sussex. Research for her doctorate examining the perceptual correlates of optic nerve damage in demyelinating diseases was completed at the Universities of Sussex and Cambridge.
In 1991 she became the full-time Director of a Psychosocial Oncology Group and in 1997 was awarded the first European Chair in Psycho-oncology from University College, London. Her research interests are wide and include the measurement of quality of life in clinical trials of cancer therapy and the training of communication skills for health care professionals in cancer.
She has published over 500 papers, many book chapters, 3 textbooks and numerous evidence-based educational materials for the teaching of communication skills. She lectures and runs training workshops throughout the world in psychosocial oncology, quality of life assessment and communication skills.
She is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Cancer Physicians UK and was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2016.
Javier Cortes
International Guest Speaker
Javier Cortes
International Guest Speaker
Dr Javier Cortes received a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1996. He specialised in Medical Oncology through the Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, and was awarded the title of Doctor in Medical Oncology from the University of Navarra in 2002.
From June 2003 to July 2015, he worked in the Department of Medical Oncology at the Hospital Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, where he was the Coordinator of the Teaching and Training Programme for Residents in Oncology.
In addition, he was the Head of the Breast Cancer Program from July 2006 to August 2015. From September 2015 to October 2018, he was Head of the Breast Cancer and Gynecological tumors at Ramon y Cajal University Hospital in Madrid.
Dr Cortes was the Head of the Breast Cancer Program at IOB Institute of Oncology, Quironsalud group, in both Madrid and Barcelona, from 2011 to September 2020. He has been a Senior Clinical Investigator of the Breast Cancer Research Program at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology from 2011 to February 2022.
Dr Cortes is currently the Head of the International Breast Cancer Centre (IBCC) in Barcelona, and a founding partner of Medica Scientia Innovation Research (MedSIR), a company involved in the clinical development of clinical trials.
In addition to his medical specialties, he has two master's degrees in “Medical Direction and Clinical Management” from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) and “Research methodology in Health Sciences” from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona and a degree in “Statistics in Health Sciences” from the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona.
Shom Goel
Conference Guest Speaker
Shom Goel
Conference Guest Speaker
Dr Shom Goel is a physician-scientist at the University of Melbourne and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
He completed his doctoral and postdoctoral research in the USA (published in Nature and Cancer Cell) and returned to Australia in 2019. In addition to maintaining a clinical practice as an oncologist and trialist, he leads a research laboratory that positions itself at the intersection of cell cycle biology, epigenetics, and immunology in cancer.
His team’s work at the Peter Mac has been published in Nature Cancer (2021) and Cancer Discovery (2023). Shom serves as either Global PI or Translational PI for several randomised clinical trials in breast cancer, all directly stemming from his laboratory findings was appointed Chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Education Committee in 2023.
Shom is also a recent awardee of a Snow Fellowship and Era of Hope Scholar Award (US Department of Defense).
Reshma Jagsi
International Guest Speaker
Reshma Jagsi
International Guest Speaker
Professor Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., is the Lawrence W. Davis Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology and a Senior Faculty Fellow in the Center for Ethics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
A graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Oxford, where she earned her DPhil in Social Policy as a Marshall Scholar, she is the author of over 450 publications regarding both breast cancer and bioethics. She is the PI of multiple grants from the US National Institutes of Health, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and other philanthropic foundations. Both a clinical trialist and health services researcher, she is known for research to strengthen autonomy in breast cancer patients and to individualize breast cancer care.
Inspired by the patients she encounters as a radiation oncologist who treats patients with breast cancer, she leads multicenter randomized trials of forgoing radiotherapy in lower-risk patients, intensifying it in patients with more aggressive disease, and enhancing patient-centered communication. She also investigates women’s under-representation in senior positions in academic medicine and the mechanisms that must be targeted to promote equity.
Active in organized medicine, she serves on the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the US NIH Advisory Committee for Research on Women’s Health, the Steering Committee of the Early Breast Cancer Trialists Collaborative Group and the Lancet’s Breast Cancer Commission.
She has received many honors, including the AAMC Group on Women in Science and Medicine’s Leadership Award, LEAD Oncology’s Woman of the Year Award, ASTRO’s inaugural Mentorship Award, AMSA’s Women Leaders in Medicine Award, AWiS’s Meridian Award, AMA’s Inspiration Award, AMWA’s Woman in Science Award, and AAWR’s Marie Curie Award.
Her contributions have also been recognized with her election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians, and she is a fellow of the AAAS, ASCO, ASTRO, AAWR, and the Hastings Center.
Sunil Lakhani
Conference Guest Speaker
Sunil Lakhani
Conference Guest Speaker
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 also 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 a study pathologist and member of the steering and translational committees for the OlympiA trial (PARPi Olaparib in BRCA1/2 early breast cancers)
He was the Series Editor of the 4th Edition WHO Tumour Classification Monographs and Volume Editor of the WHO 4th Ed Tumours of the Breast (2012) and a 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).
In 2017, he was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
Bruce Mann
Conference Guest Speaker
Bruce Mann
Conference Guest Speaker
Professor Bruce Mann is the Director of Research at Breast Cancer Trials, Professor of Surgery at The University of Melbourne, and Director of the Breast Tumour Stream at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
He has facilitated clinical and translational research into all aspects of breast cancer via the development and maintenance of extensive clinical data collection.
His research interests focus on tailored screening and treatment for early breast cancer. He was PI on Australia’s first decision impact study of Oncotype Dx, PI on a validation study of the DCISionRT assay for DCIS, national PI of the POSNOC study of axillary treatment for those with positive sentinel nodes, and is an instigator and principal investigator of the PROSPECT trial.
Shelley Potter
International Guest Speaker
Shelley Potter
International Guest Speaker
Shelley Potter is Professor of Surgical Oncology at Bristol Medical School and Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at North Bristol NHS Trust.
She attended Bristol Medical School and completed Basic Surgical Training in Bristol before completing a PhD exploring the feasibility of clinical trials in breast reconstruction. She completed her Higher Surgical Training as an Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Severn Deanery before being awarded a highly prestigious National Training Interface Group Oncoplastic Breast Surgery Fellowship in Liverpool. She returned to Bristol as an NIHR Clinician Scientist and Consultant Senior Lecturer in August 2017 and became a Professor in August 2023.
Her research focuses on improving outcomes for women undergoing breast cancer surgery through the design and delivery of high-quality, patient-centred collaborative research.
As a trainee and Chair of the Mammary Fold Academic and Research Collaborative (MFAC), she led several large-scale national collaborative breast surgery projects including iBRA, iBRA-2 and TeaM. These studies collectively recruited over 5,000 patients from over 80 centres across the UK and helped to establish an evidence base to support the practice of oncoplastic and reconstructive surgery. She is currently Chief Investigator for the Best-BRA, Brighter, ANTHEM and Pre-BRA studies.
More recently, she had developed an interest in breast cancer treatment de-escalation studies and is Chief Investigator for the NIHR HTA funded TADPOLE study which aims to compare targeted axillary dissection and axillary node clearance in patients with node positive breast cancer having primary surgery. She also co-led the recent BIG-NCTN PRECEDENT project which aimed to improve reporting of locoregional therapy in neoadjuvant systemic therapy trials by developing a core outcome set.
Her national roles include Royal College of Surgeons of England Surgical Specialty Lead in Breast Surgery and Secretary to the British Breast Group.
Tanya Symons
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Tanya Symons
TC Forum Guest Speaker
Dr Tanya Symons is a highly experienced clinical trial trainer and consultant, working across the UK and Australia. She has provided Good Clinical Practice and ethics training to over 80,000 people worldwide.
In the UK, Tanya led the redevelopment of the NIHR Clinical Trials Toolkit and continues to manage its content.
In Australia, she has worked with governments and government-funded organisations and uses her trial experience to ensure that Australia aligns with international best practices.
She has authored or co-authored several national guidelines, including the TGA Australian Clinical Trial Handbook and the NHMRC Safety Reporting and Serious Breach Guidelines, as well as the ACTA/CTIQ Consumer Involvement and Engagement Toolkit.
Stuart McIntosh
International Guest Speaker
Stuart McIntosh
International Guest Speaker
Professor Stuart McIntosh is a Professor of Surgical Oncology at Queen’s University in Belfast, and a Consultant Breast Surgeon at Belfast City Hospital.
He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1993 and completed Basic Surgical Training in the South of Scotland, followed by a period as a Clinical Research Fellow in Glasgow and Cambridge. Higher Surgical Training in the North-East of Scotland was followed by a National Training Interface Group Oncoplastic Surgery Fellowship in Leeds.
Stuart returned to Aberdeen as a Consultant Breast Surgeon in 2005, before moving to Belfast in 2009. His growing research interests resulted in a move to an academic role in Queen’s University Belfast in 2015, and he became Professor in August 2023.
His clinical research interests are largely centered around neoadjuvant therapy and treatment de-escalation in early breast cancer. He is currently the Chief Investigator of the UK NIHR HTA-funded SMALL trial, a phase III multicentre randomised trial comparing standard surgery with vacuum-assisted excision for the treatment of small, good prognosis screen-detected breast cancers. He also has surgical leadership roles in several other ongoing UK systemic therapy de-escalation trials, including OPTIMA and HER2-RADiCAL. He co-led the recent BIG-NCTN PRECEDENT project to develop a core outcome set to improve the reporting of locoregional therapies in clinical trials of neoadjuvant systemic therapy.
His translational research interests lie in the area of the DNA damage immune response in breast cancer, and within Queen’s University is a joint holder of a Cancer Research UK Programme Foundation Award grant for this work.
Nationally, he has held a number of research leadership roles, including as Chair of the UK UK Breast Cancer Clinical Studies Group, which is responsible for overseeing the strategic development of the UK breast cancer clinical trials portfolio. Until recently, he was the Royal College of Surgeons Breast Surgical Specialty Lead, and he is also currently Chair of the British Breast Group. Closer to home, he is the Clinical Director of the Northern Ireland Cancer Trials Network, responsible for overseeing the delivery of cancer clinical research across five regional cancer hospitals to the 1.8 million population of Northern Ireland.
Sarah-Jane Dawson
Conference Guest Speaker
Sarah-Jane Dawson
Conference Guest Speaker
Professor Dawson is a clinician-scientist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Centre for Cancer Research at the University of Melbourne.
She is the co-program head of the Cancer Biology and Therapeutics Program, Group leader of the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory, and Medical Oncologist in the Breast Unit.
Her current research interests are focused on the development of noninvasive blood-based biomarkers ('liquid biopsies') for clinical application, including early detection, risk stratification, and disease monitoring in cancer management.