The Picchi Brothers Foundation supports the awards in the hope that they will inspire and encourage the next generation of leaders in cancer research.

Our 2022 award recipients

Clinical Science

Irene Deftereos 

Western Health, Department of Surgery, The University of Melbourne 

Investigating current evidence and practices for improving the nutritional status and outcomes of patients undergoing resection of upper gastrointestinal cancer.

Irene Deftereos is a senior accredited practicing dietitian with over 12 years of clinical experience, specialising in gastrointestinal surgical oncology. In addition to clinical work at Western Health, Irene has worked as clinical research fellow for The Department of Surgery at The University of Melbourne, undertaking research into cancer related malnutrition and sarcopenia. Irene recently completed her PhD at The University of Melbourne, which investigated current evidence and practices for optimising the nutritional status and outcomes of patients undergoing resection for upper gastrointestinal cancer. Irene is passionate about the role of the dietitian within the multidisciplinary team to improve the outcomes of people with cancer.

Population Health

Asha Bonney

The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Department of Medicine

Lung cancer screening with low dose computed tomography (LDCT); exploring opportunities to optimise disease prevention across a range of health outcomes in Australia.

Asha Bonney is a Respiratory and Sleep Physician at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and a second year PhD student at the University of Melbourne. Asha is passionate about providing patients with high quality, evidence-based care. Her PhD focuses on evaluating opportunities provided by a lung cancer screening program with low dose computed tomography in Australia. This research aims to develop a holistic approach to screening that includes risk factor modification, optimisation of co-morbidities and consideration of the psychosocial impacts of screening. 

Basic Science

Wenxin Hu

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology

Reprogrammed CRISPR-Cas13 suppresses tumour RNAs with single-nucleotide precision. 

Wenxin Hu a fourth-year PhD student at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre within the CRISPR-Cas13 team, Trapani laboratory. Her PhD research project is reprogramming Cas13, a new RNA-targeting CRISPR effector to target tumour and viral transcripts that are currently undruggable. The findings of my research provide a detailed catalogue for efficient Cas13 crRNA design and demonstrate its great potential and versatility to specifically target various viral infections and oncogenic drivers in a personalised manner.