Breast Cancer Public Lecture 2023

Hear from award-winning researchers and clinicians on new treatments, overcoming drug resistance, preventing metastasis, and promising clinical trials.

‘From the Breast Cancer Lab to You’ is our annual community update on breast cancer and includes presentation from Garvan and international research leaders, oncologists, patients and funding organisations. No scientific background needed – just bring your questions and curiosity to gain a practical understanding of our new approaches in treating this disease.

Speakers

Professor Elgene Lim

Professor Elgene Lim is a medical oncologist and researcher with a focus on breast cancer research and treatment. 

He is the Principal Cancer Theme Lead at the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, and the inaugural National Breast Cancer Foundation Endowed Chair. Professor Lim's research findings the identification of the culprit cells in carriers of the BRCA1 mutant gene, a hereditary breast cancer syndrome. He completed his medical and oncology training, and doctoral research in Melbourne. Findings from his PhD research had a major impact on the identification of the culprit cells in carriers of the BRCA1 mutant gene, a hereditary breast cancer syndrome. He furthered his research and clinical training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School through fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, and Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Professor Alex Swarbrick

Professor Alex Swarbrick is a Principal Research Fellow and Head of Garvan’s Tumour Progression Laboratory.

In 2012, Alex was appointed co-Head of the Breast Translational Oncology Program in The Kinghorn Cancer Centre. He is an Associate Professor at UNSW and an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. Alex is the immediate-past convenor of the Lorne Cancer Conference, Australia's pre-eminent multi-disciplinary cancer research conference & the Australian Translational Breast & Prostate Cancer Symposium. He serves on the Cancer Research Committee of the Cancer Council NSW.

Associate Professor Liz Caldon

Associate Professor Liz Caldon leads the Replication and Genome Stability research group at Garvan. She studies the way that faulty DNA replication and cell division can alter the fate of a cancer cell.

Established in 2013, Liz's group works towards understanding the way that cancer cells evolve due to the selective pressure of therapeutic drugs and cancer driver genes called oncogenes. In her PhD studies, Liz investigated the interaction between hormone signalling and proliferative control of breast cancer cells. The primary goal of her research at Garvan is to understand the evolution of hormone therapy resistance in breast cancer, which is a major cause of breast cancer-related death. Based on their findings on the multi-step acquisition of hormone therapy resistance, Liz and her team are focused on translating knowledge about fundamental breast cancer biology and evolution into targetable therapies that provide clinical benefit.