Bryant Stokes Oration
The highlight of the morning will be the Bryant Stokes Oration delivered by Professor Anna Nowak MB BS, MLdshp, PhD W.Aust., FRACP, FAHMS, GAICD.
Professor Anna Nowak is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and has responsibility for research policy development and leadership of the University's research activities, postgraduate education, industry liaison, intellectual property and commercialisation.
Professor Nowak is a medical oncologist and clinician scientist who completed both her undergraduate medical degree and her PhD in tumour immunology at The University of Western Australia (UWA). A post-doctoral fellowship in clinical trials and quality of life research at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre in Sydney gave her a true bench to bedside research perspective. Anna has been a clinical academic in the UWA Medical School since 2005, and has built a strong research program encompassing laboratory, murine, translational and clinical trials work, with a focus on mesothelioma. Her research has been funded by NHMRC, Cancer Australia, Cancer Council WA, the US Department of Defense, and through industry partnerships and philanthropy. Anna represents her discipline on a number of international research and policy groups in this field. She embraces collaboration, and has built longstanding productive partnerships with researchers in psycho-oncology, public health, palliative care, imaging and clinical trials locally, nationally, and internationally. In 2018, Anna was named Cancer Researcher of the Year by the Cancer Council of WA, and in 2021 received both the International Mesothelioma Interest Group’s prestigious Wagner Medal for her contribution to mesothelioma research, and the Medical Oncology Group of Australia’s inaugural Martin H Tattersall’s Heroes Award for her mentorship, advocacy and contributions to the discipline.
Anna’s research leadership experience includes her role as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health and Medical Research) at UWA, Associate Dean (Research) of UWA’s Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences, as Director of the National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases since 2018, and as Chair of the national brain cancer collaborative clinical trials group COGNO from 2017 to 2020. She is a member of the Cancer Council WA Board. Anna is passionate about mentoring, collaboration, building a positive culture for research staff and students, and women in science.