Brilliant Scientists

Cure Cancer Australia is proud of the scientists it supports who, in turn, support the Foundation. Click on the names below to learn more about each of these brilliant scientists.

PROFESSOR TATTERSALL Successful researchers need commitment and an ability to think laterally and cross-fertilise ideas. Above all, they need mentoring and support. That's the view of Professor Martin Tattersall, chairman of Cure Cancer Australia's Medical Grants Advisory Committee, and he should know. After three decades of work in clinical and cancer research, the Professor of Cancer Medicine at the University of Sydney has mentored some truly exceptional researchers.
ROSEMARY BALLEINE Cancer research is entering a new era, in which a growing body of knowledge and more detailed understanding is feeding into new management strategies including prevention, early detection and better-targeted treatments, says Dr Rosemary Balleine, translational oncologist and research pathologist at Westmead and Nepean Hospitals, Sydney.
DIONA DAMIAN "The most interesting aspect of research is devising novel ways to approach challenging problems,” says University of Sydney dermatologist Dr Diona Damian, whose interest in research was sparked while studying medicine. “In the middle most of it's hard slog. The results don't always work out the way you expect but this can often lead to new and exciting areas of investigation.”
JOY HO Dr Joy Ho is staff specialist at the Institute of Haematology at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital and a Research Associate at the Centenary Institute. A former winner of the Cure Cancer Australia Foundation's Young Researcher of the Year Award, Joy leads the Multiple Myeloma Group which is investigating the molecular pathogenesis of multiple myeloma - a cancer of the plasma cells that form part of the immune system.
MARIA KAVALLARIS Dr Maria Kavallaris had compelling reasons to become involved in cancer research, and they did not merely involve an interest in science. When she was 21 and had just begun her undergraduate science degree at the University of New South Wales, she was diagnosed with cancer herself. Then while she was in the second year of her PhD, her brother died of pancreatic cancer when he was aged 30.
DANIEL SZE Renowned internationally for his work on clinical and experimental immunology, Dr Daniel Sze is working on a collaborative project studying myeloma with the Centenary Institute and Institute of Haematology at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He was a finalist for the Cure Cancer Australia's Young Researcher Award in 2002 and again in 2003.