A/Prof Koh is a consultant Radiation Oncologist based at Liverpool Cancer Therapy Centre, Liverpool Hospital, NSW. She qualified in Medicine at the University of Adelaide then completed her specialty training at Westmead Hospital. She undertook a three year Fellowship at the Princess Margaret Hospital, and the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada, in the areas of adult and paediatric neuro-oncology and stereotactic radiotherapy, and also haematologic and breast malignancies.

Her clinical and research interests include neuro-oncology imaging, cognitive and behavioural sequelae in brain tumours, and clinical neuro-oncology care coordination. A/Prof Koh has a particular research interest in cancer survivorship and the study of late effects of cancer treatment in both adult and paediatric cancer patients.

She is the current chair of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia (COSA) Neuro-oncology group and is the current chair of COGNO, and member of the Scientific Advisory Committee.

 

Deputy Chair

 

Clinical Prof Rosemary Harrup FRACP FRCPA trained in Medical Oncology and Clinical and Laboratory Haematology, completing a dual Fellowship in 2000. She has been Head of Department Medical Oncology and Haematology (including the Cancer Clinical Trials Unit) at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH) since 2009.  External to the RHH she is a member of the board of the Cancer Council of Tasmania, the Tasmanian Cancer Registry Advisory Group and the RHH Research Foundation Scientific and Advisory Committee.  She is a Tasmanian representative on the National Cancer Expert Reference Group (NCERG).  She has a strong interest in clinical research particularly in the areas of Neuro-Oncology, Malignant Haematology and Late Effects and has been the local PI for COGNO trials.   She is the immediate Past Chair of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia Incorporated (MOGA), the peak national body for the Australian Medical Oncology profession, having served as Chair (2014-2016) and is currently Treasurer. She has a successful track record of collaboration with AYA colleagues throughout Australia on a project of national importance assessing and documenting the Patterns of Care, treatment experiences and outcomes of all Australian AYA AML, ALL, CNS, bone and soft tissue sarcoma (National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) project grant 1012250 and grants from CanTeen and The Kids’ Cancer Project).

Treasurer

 

 

A/Prof Halkett completed her PhD in December 2005 at the University of South Australia. She is a qualified radiation therapist and practiced as a radiation therapist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital until 2005 when she moved to Perth. In 2007, Georgia received her Fellowship of the Institute of Radiography.

 

Associate Professor Liz Hovey
Secretary

 

A/Prof Hovey is a Senior Staff Specialist in Medical Oncology at Prince of Wales Hospital (POWH), Conjoint Senior Lecturer at UNSW and Honorary Associate of the University of Sydney. After completing advanced training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, she completed further post-graduate training at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Centre, New York, NY, USA (1998-2001) during which time she was the recipient of a full scholarship to complete a Master of Biostatistics in Patient-Oriented Research at Columbia University School of Public Health (1999-2001). Prior to her 2007 appointment at Prince of Wales Hospital she was a medical oncologist at Liverpool Hospital.
 
Liz’s main areas of expertise and research interest are neuro-oncology, genitourinary oncology and geriatric oncology. She is currently COGNO’s Secretary/Operations Executive Member, and was previously Chair of COGNO’s SAC (Scientific Advisory Committee). She was a previous Chair of the COSA (Clinical Oncological Society of Australia) Neuro-oncology Group after 2 elected terms (2006-2010); Co-Founder and current Co-Chair of the NSW Neuro-oncology Group (alongside Dr Parkinson) at the NSW Cancer Institute. She was the Project Officer for the development of “Australian Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management Adult  Gliomas: Astrocytomas and Oligodendrogliomas” on behalf of Australian Cancer Network, and was on the Working Party and Co-Editor of the subsequent matching Consumer Guidelines. In 2014 she was the co-author of a chapter for the US textbook “Neuro-Oncology” (editors: Mark Bernstein/Mitchel Berger). She is an inaugural member of the Editorial Board of Neuro-Oncology Practice (published by Oxford Press) as well as being a Review Editor for “Frontiers in Neuro-Oncology” and a neuro-oncology reviewer for Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology.

In 2013 she was an invited COSA ASM plenary speaker speaking on the topic of elderly patients with glioma; in 2014 she was the keynote speaker for New Zealand Cancer Society (giving 12 talks around New Zealand on the topic of brain tumours) and an invited speaker at a WFNO (World Federation of Neuro-Oncology) Masterclass in Istanbul, Turkey. In June 2015, she presented a Neuro-oncology Oral Presentation at ASCO, presenting Part 2 results of the CABARET study on behalf of COGNO co-investigators. She was the Co-Convenor of the 2016 COGNO-ASNO ASM (& was also Convenor of the 2009 COGNO-COSA ASM).

She is the Australian CIA for the CODEL study for oligodendroglioma patients (which secured Cancer Australia/NSWCC funding) and is one of the CI’s for the upcoming Adult Medulloblastoma study  (with CANTEEN funding) including participating in the International Steering Committee. She was the NSW CI on the NHMRC grant for the previous EORTC Low Grade Glioma Study.

 

 

Prof Meera Agar is Professor of Palliative Medicine, Centre for Cardiovascular and Chronic Disease, University of Technology Sydney. She is a Palliative Medicine Physician and is the research lead for the South West Sydney Palliative Care Clinical Trials unit and the Clinical trials director, Ingham Institute of Applied Medical Research. Her research interests include delirium in advanced cancer, dementia end-of-life care, pharmacological and health service randomised controlled trials in palliative care and neuro-oncology supportive and palliative care research. She is the Chair of ImPACCT (Improving Palliative Care through Clinical Trials), the NSW collaborative trials group in palliative care.

 

Narelle Dickinson is an Aged and Disability Team Leader with a demonstrated history of understanding client’s needs and skilled in fostering positive relationships, operational and research strategies and maintaining open lines of communication. Narelle joined COGNO as a Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP) member in 2015 and took on the position of CAP Chair in late 2023. 

 

Graduating from Deakin University in Nursing, she worked in Aged Care facilities and later completed her diploma in Quality and Auditing. She wanted to play a role in assessing and ensuring the quality of aged care services. With a focus on maintaining high standards, identifying areas for enhancement, and supporting positive outcomes for elderly residents. She is currently leading a team in providing services to clients in their homes.

 

Narelle’s interest began when her husband was diagnosed with stage 4 Glioblastoma in June 2009. She took time off to help him through his treatment and spent time researching his condition and looking for potential trials. When he passed away, Narelle was given the opportunity to be part of CAP where members have all been touched by brain cancer and understand the consumer perspective. Narelle believes that the CAP plays an important role through their input and consumer reviews for COGNO trials, putting consumers at the front of mind in research for brain cancer. 

Ms Marcia Fleet

 

Ms Marcia Fleet is a Cancer Care Coordinator in the Neuro-Oncology unit at Royal Melbourne Hospital.  Trained as a radiation therapist and worked for many years in departments in Victoria and NSW. This  experience of many years in oncology works well with the care coordination position. In the CCC position I work with the medical staff to support the patients and their families from before diagnosis often to end of life.  I am the go to person within the unit.  Run a support group for patients with high grade tumours.

Professor Hui Gan

 

Dr Lee is a Medical Oncologist and Network Director of Physician Training at Royal North Shore Hospital and Genesis Care. He has clinical and research interests in neuro-oncology, head and neck and genitourinary cancers. He is currently an Executive Member of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia (MOGA) and Chair of the State Committee in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).

Dr Lee is part of a global team with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York in furthering research in liquid biopsies of solid tumours. His other research interests are in malignant brain tumours and clotting which are conducted through the Bill Walsh Translational Cancer Research Laboratory at the Kolling Institute, University of Sydney. He was previously a recipient of a Rebecca Cooper Foundation Scholarship and has also received funding from Sydney Vital Translational Cancer Research. Dr Lee is also a visiting medical officer at Armidale Hospital where he supervises and co-ordinates the care of general oncology patients in the Armidale region.

He has been the Senior Medical Registrar at Royal North Shore Hospital (2012 -2013). In addition, Dr Lee is also heavily involved with teaching of medical students at the Sydney Medical School – both in clinical tutorials, lectures and examination and basic science research projects.

 

 

 

Dr James Whittle is a Medical Oncologist in Neuro-oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and postdoctoral research fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. He qualified in medicine at the University of Western Australia, and subsequently undertook specialty training in Melbourne at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Box Hill Hospital. He completed his PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute focussing on understanding resistance to cell death in breast cancer. 

 

His clinical and research interests include drug development and novel clinical trial design. Dr Whittle has a particular interest in Adolescents and Young Adults Neuro-oncology where he collaborates closely with Paediatric Neuro-oncology colleagues. 

 

He is the Immediate Past Chair for the Young Oncologists Group of Australia (YOGA).