Breast Cancer: Taking Control: HER2 Study update

Sunday 13 July 2008

HER2 Study update

What's been called our "HER2" study, this week Upali Jayasinghe, the BCI's consultant statistician, Kellie Bilinski, the study's project manager and Greg Heard, Research Manager at the BCI have been updating a submission to the National Cancer Institute (USA) which will examine a cohort of women with node-negative breast cancer treated between 1979 and 1994 at Westmead Hospital without chemotherapy or hormone therapy. This is a very important study, which will look at modern assays such as HER2, Ki-67 and also Vit-D receptors in over 260 archival parafin blocks. The study has been funded by the "Care for Her" Fund of which Steve and Karen Vamos are the patrons.

About John Boyages

John Boyages, MB, BS (Hons), FRACR PhD is a cancer specialist with over 25 years’ experience in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. He is a busy clinician who cares for patients at Westmead public hospital and at the Hills Private and Sydney Adventist hospitals.

Following his training at the University of Sydney and a fellowship at Harvard Medical School under the direction of Professor Jay Harris, he was appointed as a specialist radiation oncologist at Westmead Hospital in 1989 and founded one of the largest free breast screening programs in the west of Sydney.

In 1995, he won a grant to establish and direct the NSW Breast Cancer Institute, which offers clinical care, research, education, and screening programs. The Institute is a research unit within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney, where John holds an academic Professorship.

He has published more than 130 research and clinical articles and is committed to the dissemination of research findings to lay and professional audiences both nationally and internationally. To that end, John has worked in partnership with Breast Cancer Action Group NSW, a patient advocacy group.

John performs numerous national roles in his field, and his current international roles include: member of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), member of the International Expert Advisory Panel for the Staging of Breast Cancer; invited research collaborator with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) on hormone replacement therapy and breast cancer, member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Cancer, and Australia’s representative on the NCI’s International Cancer Screening Network.

In 2006, John received a national Medical Media Award for outstanding service to the media and the community, and in 2008 he was invited to become a media spokesperson for the National Breast Cancer Foundation in Australia.

In September 2010, he published his first book for patients called, Breast Cancer: Taking Control

Sunday 13 July 2008

HER2 Study update

About John Boyages

John Boyages

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