As part of International Women’s Day 2018, we speak with three leading cancer researchers in NSW about their careers – their achievements, challenges, and goals for the future.
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
It is also a call to action for gender parity – the Cancer Institute NSW is proud to be supporting women in cancer research across the state.
Dr Marina Pajic
“I am determined more than ever to make a difference and help find new and better ways to treat this horrible disease.”
Dr Marina Pajic is working to change the lives of people with pancreatic cancer in NSW and beyond.
Unlike many cancers, incidence and mortality rates of pancreatic cancer have not changed significantly over the last 40 years in NSW.
“I wanted to contribute my expertise in cancer biology and the study of overcoming treatment resistance to develop novel treatment approaches, and help improve outcomes of people with pancreatic cancer.”
“We recently showed that an effective and clinically-used breast cancer drug (palbociclib) may be useful in treating specific molecular subtypes of pancreatic cancer and may be guided by a simple biomarker test.”
In 2017 Dr Pajic received the NSW Premier’s Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow Award – “a very special moment and recognition of my achievements thus far.”
“More importantly, it made me realise how much more we need to do to truly improve survival of people diagnosed every day with pancreatic cancer.”
Dr Zaklina Kovacevic
“Being awarded the NSW Premier’s Cancer Research Fellow of the Year award in 2016 was a very proud and emotional moment for me.”
“It came at a very busy and stressful time in my life – I had just returned to work from maternity leave and was working late nights and weekends trying to juggle family and work.”
Dr Zaklina Kovacevic says it made the award even more special, and all the sacrifices worthwhile.
“I have always loved science and medicine and was intrigued by the immense complexity of the human body.”
“It is this passion that led me towards studying medical science at university where I became fascinated with cancer research.”
"I realised it was something I wanted to keep doing every day."
Her work is now focused on developing better treatment strategies for people with advanced metastatic cancer – something she says is currently extremely difficult to treat.
“My laboratory has developed a novel class of anti-cancer agents that have the unique ability to upregulate NDRG1 and have shown potent anti-metastatic activity.”
“Our work spans multiple cancer types including pancreatic, prostate, colon and breast cancer.”
“We are working towards characterising the molecular mechanisms behind the activity of these novel agents and how they can best be applied treat different cancer types.”
Professor Phyllis Butow
“I love working in cancer – it is something that affects all of us.
“It is a privilege to work with people with cancer and their families, to better understand the psychological impacts of cancer, and ways to manage these.“
Professor Phyllis Butow has spent a career working out how we can give better psychological support to people with cancer.
It includes finding out what new genomic technologies mean for how people cope with cancer, and developing materials to help oncologists communicate with the families of people with cancer.
“My proudest achievement to date is the work we are doing in embedding a clinical pathway for anxiety and depression in people with cancer.”
"I believe this system will ensure that every person who needs help to improve their mental health, while they are managing a cancer diagnosis, gets the help they need."
She says that over her 30 year career, it has become easier for women to take leadership positions in research.
“Going forward, it is important that women are represented equally in research decision-making bodies to ensure that their perspective is heard.”
“Structures that value their contribution and style of leadership are important, as well as the provision of training to ensure women have the skills to be heard in leadership roles.”