Dr Mandy Ballinger
Dr Ballinger oversees a program of work focused on genetic cancer risk. Key to this is the International Sarcoma Kindred Study (ISKS). Since 2009 she has overseen recruitment of over 3700 families worldwide. Dr Ballinger developed the Surveillance study in Multi-Organ Cancer prone syndromes (SMOC+) which includes adult TP53 variant carriers and other individuals with genotype identified high cancer risk. She leads a similar surveillance study in the paediatric population - SMOC Junior. Dr Ballinger is Head of Clinical Cohorts for Omico including the Genetic Cancer Risk in the Young (RisC) Study investigating the heritable aspects of cancer in a young population suggestive of a genetic etiology (>1400 families). Her clinical training is in genetic counselling. Dr Ballinger has created powerful tools in these cohorts for both discovery and translation, and has well developed skills in clinical cancer genetics, genetic counseling, cohort research, and clinical interventions. Her work has changed clinical practice by impacting on clinical risk management guidelines both nationally and internationally in Li Fraumeni syndrome. Dr Ballinger's goal is to utilize these cohorts to define the extent of heritable risk in sarcoma and other cancers, and to continue to utilize these cohorts as vehicles for intervention to change practice and improve outcomes for families.
Awards
- 2018Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellowship
Selected publications
See all publications- 2023Science (New York, N.Y.)10.1126/science.abj4784
Heritable defects in telomere and mitotic function selectively predispose to sarcomas.
- 2017JAMA Oncology10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.1968
Baseline Surveillance in Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Using Whole-Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Meta-analysis.
- 2017JAMA Oncology10.1001/jamaoncol.2017.1355
Surveillance in Germline TP53 Mutation Carriers Utilizing Whole-Body Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
- 2016The Lancet. Oncology10.1016/S1470-2045(16)30147-4
Monogenic and polygenic determinants of sarcoma risk: an international genetic study.
- 2019Nature Reviews. Clinical Oncology10.1038/s41571-019-0179-3
Therapeutic implications of germline genetic findings in cancer.