Catalysis

Professor Paul Timpson speaks with Divya on pancreas cancer research, his relationship with mentors and mentees and how to deal with career rejection

In this episode, Professor Alex Broom shares his research insights into the social, political and economic aspects of cancer care, primarily investigating the inequities within our health system and the flow on effect this has for the individual and society. Professor Broom is a Professor of Sociology at the School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Sydney. He is recognised as an international leader in sociology, with a specific interest in health. This has included a focus on the social, cultural and political dimensions of cancer and palliative care, and more recently, infectious diseases. His work takes a person-centred approach, qualitatively exploring the complex intersections of individual experience and social, cultural and political context.

Dr Alison Young is the current T2T3 Research Fellow at Sydney Catalyst and is working on implementing a smoking cessation pathway in several hospital sites across Sydney and regional NSW.

Veronica is the Director of Strategic Research Investment at the Cancer Institute NSW. She has over 20 years' experience in the strategic development, implementation, delivery and monitoring of medical research and health related projects. After completing a PhD at Imperial College London, Veronica worked as a post doc at Kings College London before transitioning to a career in research administration. She worked as a Grants Manager at the Wellcome Trust and then as Director of Grants at Barts Charity before moving to Australia. Prior to joining the Cancer Institute NSW she was a principal policy officer in the Health and Medical Research Unit at Queensland Health. Recorded at the Garvan Institute for Medical Research on 19 September 2019 as part of the Sydney Catalyst International Translational Cancer Research Symposium.

Professor Harris is a practicing orthopaedic surgeon and academic. His clinical interests are in trauma surgery. His research interests broadly cover the topic of surgical effectiveness and clinical research. He conducts randomised trials, systematic reviews, cohort studies and methodological studies. Current evidence for surgery is poor, incomplete and largely observational and there is a discrepancy between drug and surgery standards in practice. The implications for the lack of surgical evidence are widespread, and multifaceted approaches from key stakeholders, such as surgeons, policy makers and consumers are required to change practice.