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Medical Oncology Research

The Medical Oncology Clinical Trials Unit was established in 1985 and is integrated within the Medical Oncology department. We value multidisciplinary and interdepartmental research. Our research portfolio includes:

  • Phase I, II and III interventional clinical trials
  • Observational studies
  • Studies inclusive of a broad range of cancer types
  • Studies on the assessment and management of cancer
  • Studies on the psychosocial and survivorship care of people with cancer
  • Studies to improve the health care delivery of people with cancer

We support industry and investigator-led studies. We collaborate with Cancer Cooperative Groups, universities, and pharmaceutical companies to identify and conduct important research studies that will improve the lives of people with cancer.

Our team are experienced, enthusiastic, and diligent in their research activities, and share knowledge from their diverse backgrounds in nursing, science, and ethics to improve the unit. We provide a constant point of contact for sponsored studies. Our role in each study is determined by individual trial requirements and may include assistance with ethics submissions, recruitment, participant visits and data management. 

All staff participate in professional development activities, such as attendance at educational events and conferences, to consolidate and improve their research knowledge and skills.

Selected Grants

Amount awarded Grant and project details
$2,000,000 Griffith Contribution, 2021-2024
A randomised, controlled trial evaluating the effect of exercise during chemotherapy for ovarian cancer on survival and health resource use
Investigator: Beale P
$1,600,000 NHMRC, 2020-2025
Improving long term health for cancer survivors
Investigator: Vardy J
$1,100,000 NHMRC, 2019-2024
Phase III study of the impact of a physical activity program on disease-free survival for early colon cancer, “CHALLENGE”: Colon Health and Life Long Exercise ChaNGE
Investigators: Vardy J, Dhillon H, Courneya K, Booth C, O’Callaghan C, Zalcberg J, Burge M
$686,674 Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), 2020-2023
HyNOVA - A randomised study comparing Hyperthermic and Normothermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy following interval cytoreductive surgery for stage III epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer
Investigator: Beale P
$600,000 NHMRC, 2023-2026
Intraperitoneal bevacizumab for recurrent malignant ascites (REZOLV3R)
Investigator: Stockler M
$494,132 NHMRC, 2023-2026
ICON9: A phase 3 randomised trial of cediranib and olaparib maintenance in patients with relapsed platinum sensitive ovarian cancer
Investigators: Mileshkin L, Lee YC, Friedlander M, Brand A, Ledermann J, Davis A, Beale P, Coward J, Viney R
$300,000 Dust Diseases Board Research Grant, 2020-2023
A novel 3D model for drug screening in mesothelioma
Investigator: Linton A
$300,000 National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, 2023-2024
Advancing Cancer Survivorship Through Partnership Between Australia and Greater China (The AC2 Project)
Investigator: Vardy J
$144,188 NHMRC, 2023
Evaluating the time toxicity of cancer treatments in patients with advanced solid-organ malignancy
Investigator: Stevens S
$116,320 Sydney Cancer Partners, 2023
Evaluating the time toxicity of chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer using patient survey data: a prospective feasibility study
Investigators: Stephens S, Vardy J

Our Publications

2023

Agar MR, Nowak AK, Hovey EJ, Barnes EH, Simes J, Vardy JL, Wheeler HR, Kong BY, Leonard R, Hall M, Tim E, Spyridopoulos D, Sim HW, Lwin Z, Dowling A, Harrup R, Jennens R, Kichenadasse G, Dunlop T, Gzell C, Koh ES. Acetazolamide versus placebo for cerebral oedema requiring dexamethasone in recurrent and/or progressive high-grade glioma: phase II randomised placebo-controlled double-blind study. BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2023 Sep;13(3):354-362. doi: 10.1136/spcare-2022-004119. Epub 2023 Feb 17.
Allen NC, Martin AJ, Snaidr VA, Eggins R, Chong AH, Fernandéz-Peñas P, Gin D, Sidhu S, Paddon VL, Banney LA, Lim A, Upjohn E, Schaider H, Ganhewa AD, Nguyen J, McKenzie CA, Prakash S, McLean C, Lochhead A, Ibbetson J, Dettrick A, Landgren A, Allnutt KJ, Allison C, Davenport RB, Mumford BP, Wong B, Stagg B, Tedman A, Gribbin H, Edwards HA, De Rosa N, Stewart T, Doolan BJ, Kok Y, Simpson K, Low ZM, Kovitwanichkanont T, Scolyer RA, Dhillon HM, Vardy JL, Chadban SJ, Bowen DG, Chen AC, Damian DL. Nicotinamide for Skin-Cancer Chemoprevention in Transplant Recipients. N Engl J Med. 2023 Mar 2;388(9):804-812. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2203086.
Blum JL, Laird AD, Litton JK, Rugo HS, Ettl J, Hurvitz SA, Martin M, Roché HH, Lee KH, Goodwin A, Chen Y, Lanzalone S, Chelliserry J, Czibere A, Hopkins JF, Albacker LA, Mina LA. Determinants of Response to Talazoparib in Patients with HER2-Negative, Germline BRCA1/2-Mutated Breast Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Apr 1;28(7):1383-1390. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-21-2080.
Bui KT, Li Z, Dhillon HM, Kiely BE, Blinman P. Scanxiety Conversations on Twitter: Observational Study. JMIR Cancer. 2023 Apr 19;9:e43609. doi: 10.2196/43609.
Butow P, Faris MM, Shaw J, Kelly P, He S, Harris M, Cuddy J, Masya L, Geerligs L, Kelly B, Girgis A, Rankin N, Beale P, Hack TF, Kirsten L, Dhillon H, Grimison P, Viney R, Clayton JM, Schlub T; ADAPT Program Group; Shepherd HL. Effect of core versus enhanced implementation strategies on adherence to a clinical pathway for managing anxiety and depression in cancer patients in routine care: a cluster randomised controlled trial. Implement Sci. 2023 May 22;18(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s13012-023-01269-0. 
Butow P, Havard PE, Butt Z, Juraskova I, Sharpe L, Dhillon H, Beatty L, Beale P, Cigolini M, Kelly B, Chan RJ, Kirsten L, Best MC, Shaw J. Stakeholder perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 on oncology services: a qualitative study. Support Care Cancer. 2023 Jul 24;31(8):491. doi: 10.1007/s00520-023-07916-y.
Campbell I, Wetzig N, Ung O, Espinoza D, Farshid G, Collins J, Kollias J, Gebski V, Mister R, Simes RJ, Stockler MR, Gill G. 10-Year axillary recurrence in the RACS SNAC1 randomised trial of sentinel lymph node-based management versus routine axillary lymph node dissection. Breast. 2023 Aug;70:70-75. doi: 10.1016/j.breast.2023.06.009. Epub 2023 Jun 23.
Campbell R, King MT, Stockler MR, Lee YC, Roncolato FT, Friedlander ML. Patient-Reported Outcomes in Ovarian Cancer: Facilitating and Enhancing the Reporting of Symptoms, Adverse Events, and Subjective Benefit of Treatment in Clinical Trials and Clinical Practice. Patient Relat Outcome Meas. 2023 May 8;14:111-126. doi: 10.2147/PROM.S297301.
Conduit C, Lewin J, Weickhardt A, Lynam J, Wong S, Grimison P, Sengupta S, Pranavan G, Parnis F, Bastick P, Campbell D, Hansen AR, Leonard M, McJannett M, Stockler MR, Gibbs P, Toner G, Davis ID, Tran B, Kuchel A. Patterns of Relapse in Australian Patients With Clinical Stage 1 Testicular Cancer: Utility of the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group Surveillance Recommendations. JCO Oncol Pract. 2023 Nov;19(11):973-980. doi: 10.1200/OP.23.00191. Epub 2023 Jun 16.
Emmett L, John N, Pathmanandavel S, Counter W, Ayers M, Sharma S, Agrawal S, Poole A, Hovey E, Pranavan G, Gedye C, Mallesara G, Guminski A, Lee A, Stockler MR, Hickey A, Eu P, Joshua AM, Crumbaker M, Nguyen A. Patient outcomes following a response biomarker-guided approach to treatment using 177Lu-PSMA-I&T in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (Re-SPECT). Ther Adv Med Oncol. 2023 Mar 1;15:17588359231156392. doi: 10.1177/17588359231156392.
Fardell JE, Irwin CM, Vardy JL, Bell ML. Anxiety, depression, and concentration in cancer survivors: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey results. Support Care Cancer. 2023 Apr 15;31(5):272. doi: 10.1007/s00520-023-07710-w.
Fardell JE, Tan SYC, Kerin-Ayres K, Dhillon HM, Vardy JL. Symptom Clusters in Survivorship and Their Impact on Ability to Work among Cancer Survivors. Cancers (Basel). 2023 Oct 24;15(21):5119. doi: 10.3390/cancers15215119.
Fardell JE, Walker A, Chan RJ, Vardy JL. Cognitive function among women with breast cancer receiving endocrine therapy: what are the impacts? JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2023 Mar 1;7(2):pkad026. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkad026.
Kasherman L, Yoon WH, Tan SYC, Malalasekera A, Shaw J, Vardy J. Cancer survivorship programs for patients from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds: a scoping review. J Cancer Surviv. 2023 Aug 12. doi: 10.1007/s11764-023-01442-w. Epub ahead of print.
Lee J, Currow D, Lovell M, Phillips JL, McLachlan A, Ritchie M, Brown L, Fazekas B, Aggarwal R, Seah D, Sheehan C, Chye R, Noble B, McCaffrey N, Aggarwal G, George R, Kow M, Ayoub C, Linton A, Sanderson C, Mittal D, Rao A, Prael G, Urban K, Vandersman P, Agar M. Lidocaine for Neuropathic Cancer Pain (LiCPain): study protocol for a mixed-methods pilot study. BMJ Open. 2023 Feb 21;13(2):e066125. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066125.
Livingstone A, Howard K, Menzies AM, Long GV, Stockler MR, Morton RL. Preferences for Adjuvant Immunotherapy in Adults with Resected Stage III Melanoma-A Discrete Choice Experiment. Patient. 2023 Sep;16(5):497-513. doi: 10.1007/s40271-023-00635-w. Epub 2023 Jun 23.
Mileshkin LR, Moore KN, Barnes EH, Gebski V, Narayan K, King MT, Bradshaw N, Lee YC, Diamante K, Fyles AW, Small W Jr, Gaffney DK, Khaw P, Brooks S, Thompson JS, Huh WK, Mathews CA, Buck M, Suder A, Lad TE, Barani IJ, Holschneider CH, Van Dyk S, Quinn M, Rischin D, Monk BJ, Stockler MR. Adjuvant chemotherapy following chemoradiotherapy as primary treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer versus chemoradiotherapy alone (OUTBACK): an international, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2023 May;24(5):468-482. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(23)00147-X. Epub 2023 Apr 17.
Morris JN, Crawford-Williams F, Koczwara B, Chan RJ, Vardy J, Lisy K, Iddawela M, Mackay G, Jefford M. Current landscape of cancer survivorship research in Australia. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol. 2023 Oct;19(5):e305-e313. doi: 10.1111/ajco.13914. Epub 2023 Jan 19.
Naher SK, Mercieca-Bebber R, Siu D, Grimison P, Stockler MR. Prognostic value of patient reported outcomes in advanced gastro-oesophageal cancer: a systematic review. Intern Med J. 2023 Nov;53(11):1946-1955. doi: 10.1111/imj.16209. Epub 2023 Aug 22.
Nahm SH, Martin AJ, Clayton JM, Grimison P, Moth EB, Pavlakis N, Sjoquist K, Smith-Uffen MES, Tognela A, Vasista A, Stockler MR, Kiely BE. Accuracy of oncologists' estimates of expected survival time in advanced cancer. JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2023 Oct 31;7(6):pkad094. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkad094.
Nahm SH, Stockler MR, Kiely BE. Voluntary assisted dying: estimating life expectancy to determine eligibility. Med J Aust. 2023 Jan 16;218(1):48. doi: 10.5694/mja2.51790. Epub 2022 Nov 24.
Obeid LA, Dhillon HM, Tan SY, Vardy JL. Is there a need for change in cancer survivorship care? A qualitative exploration of survivor experiences and needs at the Sydney Cancer Survivorship Centre Clinic. Support Care Cancer. 2023 Oct 18;31(12):642. doi: 10.1007/s00520-023-08102-w.
Pathmanandavel S, Crumbaker M, Nguyen A, Yam AO, Wilson P, Niman R, Ayers M, Sharma S, Eu P, Martin AJ, Stockler MR, Joshua AM, Emmett L. The Prognostic Value of Posttreatment 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 18F-FDG PET/CT in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Treated with 177Lu-PSMA-617 and NOX66 in a Phase I/II Trial (LuPIN). J Nucl Med. 2023 Jan;64(1):69-74. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.122.264104. Epub 2022 Jun 23.
Raso KL, Suen M, Turner J, Khatri S, Lin Y, Wildbore C, Becerril-Martinez G, Le Page P, Tan SY, Egger S, Vardy J. Prehabilitation Before Gastrointestinal Cancer Surgery: Protocol for an Implementation Study. JMIR Res Protoc. 2023 Mar 27;12:e41101. doi: 10.2196/41101.
Shafiei M, Galettis P, Beale P, Reuter SE, Martin JH, McLachlan AJ, Blinman P. Influence of age on pharmacokinetics of capecitabine and its metabolites in older adults with cancer: a pilot study. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2023 Aug;92(2):135-139. doi: 10.1007/s00280-023-04552-5. Epub 2023 Jun 23.
Shafiei M, Mahmood A, Beale P, Galettis P, Martin J, McLachlan AJ, Blinman P. Dried Blood Spot Sampling in the Monitoring of Anticancer Therapy for Solid Tumors: A Systematic Review. Ther Drug Monit. 2023 Jun 1;45(3):293-305. doi: 10.1097/FTD.0000000000001082. Epub 2023 Feb 3.
Sjoquist KM, Martin A, Pavlakis N, Goldstein D, Tsobanis E, Moses D, Maher R, Hague W, Gebski V, Stockler MR, Simes RJ; Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG). Value of central review of RECIST v1.1 outcomes in the AGITG INTEGRATE randomised phase 2 international trial for advanced oesophago-gastric cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2023 Jul;149(8):4959-4965. doi: 10.1007/s00432-022-04404-4. Epub 2022 Oct 31.
Sweeney CJ, Martin AJ, Stockler MR, Begbie S, Cheung L, Chi KN, Chowdhury S, Frydenberg M, Horvath LG, Joshua AM, Lawrence NJ, Marx G, McCaffrey J, McDermott R, McJannett M, North SA, Parnis F, Parulekar W, Pook DW, Reaume MN, Sandhu SK, Tan A, Tan TH, Thomson A, Vera-Badillo F, Williams SG, Winter D, Yip S, Zhang AY, Zielinski RR, Davis ID; ENZAMET trial investigators and Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group. Testosterone suppression plus enzalutamide versus testosterone suppression plus standard antiandrogen therapy for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (ENZAMET): an international, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial. Lancet Oncol. 2023 Apr;24(4):323-334. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(23)00063-3.
Tan D, Fujiwara N, Fujiwara K, Beale P, Kim JW, Ng J, Kim SI, Evans A, Kim BG; Asia-Pacific Gynecologic Oncology Trials Group (APGOT). The Asia-Pacific Gynecologic Oncology Trials Group (APGOT): building a Pan-Asian and Oceania women's cancer research organization. Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2023 Apr 3;33(4):628-630. doi: 10.1136/ijgc-2022-004236.
Tan D, Fujiwara N, Fujiwara K, Beale P, Kim JW, Ng J, Kim SI, Evans A, Kim BG; Asia-Pacific Gynecologic Oncology Trials Group (APGOT). The Asia-Pacific Gynecologic Oncology Trials Group (APGOT): building a Pan-Asian and Oceania women's cancer research organization. J Gynecol Oncol. 2023 Mar;34(2):e33. doi: 10.3802/jgo.2023.34.e33.
Teng C, Chiarovano E, Tighe D, Bui KT, Venkatesha, Blinman PL, MacDougall HG, Vardy JL. Exploring assessment of balance using virtual reality in patients at risk of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Intern Med J. 2023 Aug;53(8):1356-1365. doi: 10.1111/imj.15861. Epub 2022 Sep 14.
Yenson VM, Amgarth-Duff I, Brown L, Caperchione CM, Clark K, Cross A, Good P, Landers A, Luckett T, Philip J, Steer C, Vardy JL, Wong AK, Agar MR. Defining research priorities and needs in cancer symptoms for adults diagnosed with cancer: an Australian/New Zealand modified Delphi study. Support Care Cancer. 2023 Jul 3;31(7):436. doi: 10.1007/s00520-023-07889-y.
Yung A, Kay J, Beale P, Gibson KA, Shaw T. Computer-Based Decision Tools for Shared Therapeutic Decision-making in Oncology: Systematic Review. JMIR Cancer. 2021 Oct 26;7(4):e31616. doi: 10.2196/31616.