Breast Cancer Trials

Naomi Richards is a wife and mum of three daughters, Mila, Lottie, and Eden, living in Wagga Wagga, Australia.

In 2023, Naomi felt a lump in her left breast, and after undergoing days of testing, including a mammogram and an ultrasound, she was diagnosed with breast cancer on March 8th, 2023, which also happens to be International Women's Day.

We spoke with Naomi about her shock diagnosis, navigating breast cancer with a young family, and the importance of supporting breast cancer clinical trials research.

Jenna Dean is a Radiation Therapist at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre, with an interest in patient-centered care, research, breast planning, and particle therapy.

This is the third year of the Breast Cancer Trials Clinical Fellowship Program, and Jenna has been successful in receiving a fellowship in 2024.

Her project is called OPRAH MRL and will investigate the benefits and limitations of lying on your stomach versus lying on your back during treatment with the MR Linac (a magnetic imaging machine), to see which patients will benefit more from either treatment position.

Find out more in this episode!

Naveena Nekkalapudi is a member of the Breast Cancer Trials Consumer Advisory Panel, where members provide a patient's perspective in the development of trials and the conduct of our research program.

Naveena was diagnosed with Stage 3, Grade 3, Triple Negative breast cancer on Christmas Eve in 2014, after finding a lump in her breast during a self-examination. Due to the long-term side effects of her treatment, Naveena is unable to return to full-time work.

However, she is still working part-time and trying to make a difference in the lives of other people who have been diagnosed with breast cancer

Dr Tivya Kulasegaran is a Medical Oncologist at the University of Queensland's Centre for Clinical Research.

This is the third year of the Breast Cancer Trials Clinical Fellowship Program and Dr Kulasegaran has been successful in receiving a fellowship in 2024. Her project involves establishing tools for the early detection of Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, that aims to improve clinical practice and treatments for patients.

We spoke with Dr Kulasegaran about her project and what she is hoping to achieve through this research.

Dr Kylie Snook is a Breast Surgeon based in Sydney, Australia, and the Vice-President of BreastSurgANZ, with an interest in implant reconstruction.

We spoke with Dr Snook about the treatment changes that have occurred over recent years in breast reconstruction and radiotherapy, and the importance of giving patients a choice when it comes to their treatment.

East's Leisure and Golf Club is one of the longest-supporting golf clubs in Australia of Breast Cancer Trials. The club held its first fundraising event in 1997, the inaugural year of the Tee Off fundraising program, initially referred to as ‘Chip-In’.

We spoke to their Lady President, Caroline Norrie, about the event, and why they continue to support breast cancer clinical trials research.

Ann-Maree is an Aqua Aerobics Instructor who runs a class known as Aquafit, and has hosted a number of events to support the research of Breast Cancer Trials.

This year, the event raised an incredible $3,700, and we spoke with Ann-Maree about the Aquafit community, her inspiration behind the event, and the importance of breast cancer clinical trials research.

Dr Belinda Kiely is a Medical Oncologist working at both Campbelltown and Concord Hospitals in Sydney, specialising in breast cancer treatment.

We spoke with Dr Kiely about Multigene Assays, which look at tumour samples and genes that can predict the risk of recurrence in patients.

Dr Holly Keane is a Breast Surgeon at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, with an interest in the areas of pain management and tailored screening for breast cancer patients.

We spoke with Dr Keane about pain after breast cancer therapy, its implications on day-to-day life for breast cancer patients, and some ways to reduce pain during recovery.

Dr Cristin Print is a Professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine in Auckland, New Zealand.

Dr Print has an interest in bioinformatics in breast cancer, which involves taking large amounts of data and distilling clinically useful information from that data.

We spoke to him about the opportunities for research in this area, and how it can be used to generate better care for future patients.

For many young women with a breast cancer diagnosis, starting a family following their treatment can be a primary point of concern.

The POSITIVE clinical trial was looking to investigate if it was safe to temporarily stop endocrine therapy in young women with estrogen-receptor-positive breast cancer, who wanted to become pregnant after their breast cancer diagnosis.

We spoke with Professor Christobel Saunders about the outcomes of this clinical trial.

Ms Karen Alexander has been a member of the Breast Cancer Trials Consumer Advisory Panel since 2017. She was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in 2011 and carries a BRCA1 gene mutation.

We spoke with Karen about the importance of consumer-led research.

Dr Ben Green is a Breast Surgeon in Brisbane, Australia, with an interest in the current oncoplastic and reconstruction capabilities in 2023 and beyond.

We spoke with Dr Green about breast reconstruction, techniques to preserve the breast, and the importance of using the breast shape to your advantage during reconstruction to achieve the best outcome for patients.

Dr Cindy Tan is a dietician working in a cancer survivorship clinic at the University of Sydney, who is researching lifestyle interventions to improve diet and exercise for cancer survivors, as well as the psychosocial aspects of cancer recovery.

We spoke with Dr Tan about the importance of dietary considerations for patients with early-stage breast cancer.

Dr Richard Isaacs is a Medical Oncologist at Palmerston North Hospital in New Zealand, with an interest in delayed nausea after chemotherapy. His interest in this area began when he was involved in the administration of chemotherapy to his wife, who suffered from extreme nausea during her treatment.

We spoke to Dr Isaacs about the PantoCIN clinical trial, which is looking to prevent delayed nausea and vomiting in patients who have received chemotherapy.

Professor Sibylle Loibl is the Chair of the German Breast Group and a Professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Goethe University of Frankfurt.

Professor Loibl was an International Guest Speaker at Breast Cancer Trials 44th Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand and we asked her about her research in the area of Neoadjuvant Treatment for Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Alastair Thompson is a Professor of Surgery and Associate Director of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Centre, at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Texas.

Professor Thompson was an International Guest Speaker at Breast Cancer Trials 44th Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand and we asked him about his research in the areas of DCIS, Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy, and postoperative recovery.

Professor Philip Poortmans is a Radiation Oncologist at Iridium Netwerk and the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He completed his medical studies at the University of Antwerp and was trained as a Radiation Oncologist at the Middelheim and Vincentius Hospitals in Antwerp. Professor Poortmans was an International Guest Speaker at the Breast Cancer Trials Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland, New Zealand and we asked him about his research in the area of axillary management.

Professor Fran Boyle is a highly experienced Medical Oncologist who specialises in the areas of breast cancer and melanoma. She is passionate about making advances in this field and her practice focuses on researching new treatments as well as developing care and communication.

We spoke with Professor Boyle about the importance of using respectful and inclusive language in breast cancer care, so that patients can understand and make informed decisions about their treatment.

Associate Professor Andrew Redfern is a Medical Oncologist and Translational Researcher from Western Australia, with a particular interest in understanding why breast cancer treatments may or may not work in certain population groups.

Part of his focus is working with Aboriginal Australians to try and answer this question.

Jenni Scarlet is a Research Nurse and Clinical Trial Coordinator at Waikato Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. Her role involves coordinating clinical trials from their set-up stage, obtaining ethics approvals, enrolling and following up with patients, and reporting and analysis of trial information.

During her career of more than 25 years, she has seen vast improvements in patient care and outcomes due to breast cancer trials research. We spoke to Jenni about her experiences in cancer care and why she supports breast cancer trials.

Jan White is a 75-year-old retired Nurse living in Auckland, who used to work in health, disability, and aged care. Since she can remember, Jan has been having 2-yearly mammograms, and like any other appointment, she went in asymptomatic, and expecting the ‘all clear’.

However, the mammogram displayed a lump in her breast, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Jan is a participant in the EXPERT clinical trial, which aims to improve personalized use of radiation therapy in early breast cancer patients.

We spoke with Jan about her diagnosis and her decision to participate in a clinical trial.

Despite CALD Australians representing almost a third of the population, they are often excluded from clinical trials research within Australia. Barriers can include a mistrust and lack of comfort around the clinical trials process, lack of information and resources, time constraints, financial burden, and geographic location.

Dr Rob McNeill is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, and we spoke to him about his research into the challenges of recruiting Indigenous and CALD patients to clinical trials.

Laura Yang lives in Melbourne with her husband and her 6-year-old daughter, where she enjoys listening to music, playing piano, and spending time with her loved ones. At the end of 2022, Laura was diagnosed with breast cancer, and we spoke to her about her diagnosis and her decision to participate in a clinical trial.

Maria Bodnar is a retired nurse, living in Victoria Australia with her husband. In 2013 Maria went in for her routine Breast Screen test and the following day she received a call from one of the nurses asking her to come in so they could review her results, and Maria knew it was breast cancer.

Maria is a participant in the TUGETHER clinical trial, which aims to find out if adding tucatinib and pembrolizumab to the usual treatment given to people with advanced (metastatic) HER2-positive breast cancer, slows down the growth of the cancer. We spoke to Maria about her diagnosis and her decision to participate in a clinical trial.

As part of Breast Cancer Trials Clinical Fellowship Program, Dr. Julia Matheson is working on a project that will continue research on the existing clinical trial called the Breast MRI Evaluation Study, which aims to establish when breast MRIs improve patient outcomes.

The focus of this Clinical Fellowship project will be assessing the participant experience of undergoing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). The hypothesis is that having a breast MRI will influence patient preferences for surgery, satisfaction with decision-making, and confidence in treatment.

Find out more about the aim of this research and some of the barriers to accessing breast MRIs in this episode.

Breast Cancer Trials International Clinical Fellowship Support aims to financially assist promising junior researchers to gain international experience and connections. Dr. Julia Dixon-Douglas has been awarded support in the first year of the program and is heading to France to study novel therapies for breast cancer. Her research may help improve our understanding of which patients will have the greatest benefit from these treatments and how they are best administered to patients. We asked Dr Dixon-Douglas to give an overview of her project and explain the importance of this research.

Sham was born in Iraq in the middle east but has lived in Melbourne with her parents and 2 children for the last 7 years. In 2019 Sham was diagnosed with breast cancer, after noticing some pain in her right breast while at work. She is a participant in the CAPTURE clinical trial, which aims to identify women and men with hormone-receptor positive, metastatic breast cancer, who may benefit from a novel combination of drugs that may improve progression-free survival and offer a new treatment option.

We spoke to Sham about her diagnosis and her decision to participate in a clinical trial.

As part of Breast Cancer Trials clinical fellowship program, Dr Adam Ofri is working on two research projects focusing on de-escalation of treatment. His first study, called the ‘Targeted Axillary Dissection Based Study’, is aiming to evaluate the armpit nodes after chemotherapy, in the hopes that fewer nodes will need to be removed during surgery, whilst still providing the same control of cancer in the armpit area. His second study, called the ‘Decision RT Based Study’ is focusing on Decision RT which is a test that is being developed to examine breast tissue from patients with DCIS to measure the benefit they would receive from radiotherapy, in the hopes to potentially avoid patients receiving unnecessary radiotherapy. Find out more in our latest podcast episode.

Diane Barker lives in Sydney with her husband Mike, their daughter Eva, and their dog Boston. In December 2020, at just 44 years of age, Diane was diagnosed with locally advanced triple negative breast cancer.

We spoke with Diane about her diagnosis, her decision to participate in a clinical trial and the importance of supporting breast cancer clinical trials research.

Since 1978, Breast Cancer Trials has conducted a number of clinical trials which have changed the way we treat breast cancer, save lives and improve patient quality of life. We spoke with one of our founders, Professor Alan Coates AM, about the ANZ8101 and BIG 1-98 clinical trials, which were practice changing research and still have relevance today.

Professor Coates discusses the changes he has seen to breast cancer treatments as a result of these trials and his excitement about the future of breast cancer research.

Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) is the second most common subtype of breast cancer, with 2,400 new cases each year in Australia. 

Patients with ILC may have a poorer outcome over time and the cancer has a tendency to metastasize to atypical sites such as the gastrointestinal tract, gynaecological organs or orbit (eye). 

We spoke with Dr Sokolova about her research project, which will examine a new treatment approach directed at ILC.

Approximately 70% of women experience moderate to high levels of fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) and up to 15% experience severe, disabling FCR characterised by constant, intrusive thoughts about cancer; interpretation of mild, unrelated symptoms as a sign of recurrence; a belief that cancer will return regardless of actual prognosis; and an inability to plan for the future due to cancer worry. FCR is a routine reason for seeking professional clinical support and is associated with psychological distress, poorer social and occupational functioning, and increased health care costs.

This study will provide useful exploratory data from the PROSPECT clinical trial, about the association between therapy de-escalation by omitting radiation therapy and FCR. It will also examine FCR and quality of life in women with DCIS.