Monday Lunch Livestream

with Associate Professor Kara Britt, Professor Phil Darcy, Dr Stephen Leun, Dr Kortnye Smith and Associate Professor Jayesh Desai

29 August 2022

In this MLL, learn how the new Clinical Trialist Development Hub can support pioneering concepts in early-phase clinical trials.

See Associate Professor Kara Britt, Professor Phil Darcy, Dr Stephen Leun, Dr Kortnye Smith and Associate Professor Jayesh Desai explore the challenges and opportunities for both early-career researchers and clinicians who may be thinking about translating their ideas into a clinical trial.  

As part of the 2021-2024 Strategic Program Plan (SPP) - Accelerating Novel Therapies Program, a Clinical Trialist Development Hub will be developed to provide a mechanism to chaperone emerging trialists through the process of trial design by providing pitch sessions, access to biostatisticians and peer-support workshops, as well as protocol writing. The goal is to ultimately facilitate increased numbers of therapies assessed on trials and provide access to novel therapies to patients of greatest needs.

The presentation explores the challenges and opportunities for both early-career researchers and clinicians who may be thinking about translating their ideas into a clinical trial and introduces the Hub to VCCC Alliance members and the wider community highlighting and demonstrating its role in supporting them with their pioneering concepts in early phase clinical trials.

Associate Professor Kara Britt

Associate Professor Kara Britt is a VCA Mid-career Fellow and Group Leader at the Peter Mac. Her work is focussed on the development of novel therapies for breast cancer prevention. She also co-chairs the VCCC Accelerating Novel Therapies to the clinic program with Jayesh Desai.

Professor Phil Darcy

Professor Phil Darcy is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and Group Leader at the Peter Mac. He is a world leader in tumour immunology and developing effective cancer immunotherapies. Phil has acquired vast experience in the translation of his work, making a number of seminal contributions for enhancing the immunotherapy of cancer that has led to translation into patients. One area has involved the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modified T cells where he has three patents.

Dr Stephen Leun

Stephen Luen is an early career Medical Oncologist and cancer researcher specialising in breast cancer, sarcoma, early drug development, and precision oncology. He completed his PhD investigating genomic and immune biomarkers in early stage breast cancers under the supervision of Professor Sherene Loi in 2021. He has subsequently developed an interest in generating novel clinical trials that apply precision oncology treatment approaches to treatment-resistant cancers. This work has led to the development of a number of investigator-initiated clinical trials in this space.

Dr Kortnye Smith

Dr Kortnye Smith is a medical oncologist and researcher at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Eastern Health. After completing her medical oncology training, she pursued a two-year fellowship at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Melbourne Genomic Health Alliance where she investigated genomic sequencing in cancer therapy. Kortnye works predominantly in lung cancer and melanoma as well as focusing on her passion to improve patient equity by coordinating the Oncology in the Home program in Melbourne.

Associate Professor Jayesh Desai

Associate Professor Jayesh Desai is a Medical Oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He has extensive experience in translational research applied to early drug development, particularly in sarcomas and in colorectal cancer. He heads the Phase I/Early Drug Development program and is Deputy-Director of the PCCTU, and leads Peter Mac’s efforts in its formal engagements with Industry Alliances and Partnerships.