PATIENT REPORTED OUTCOMES IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF LYMPHOMA
Dr Elizabeth Goodall,
Haematologist and PhD student
Austin Health, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute & Monash Health, Melbourne, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Melbourne | February 2025
Dr. Elizabeth Goodall (BMedSci Hons, MBBS Hons, FRACP, FRCPA) is a PhD student and early career researcher with La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI), and Haematologist at Austin Health and Monash Health, Melbourne.
After completing her undergraduate degree in Medical Sciences at La Trobe University she went onto complete an Honours degree in malaria research before enrolling in Medicine at Monash University, Gippsland, Victoria in Australia.
Following medical school, she trained at Austin Health and successfully completed both clinical and laboratory haematology programs before moving to a lymphoma clinical trials fellowship at Monash Health. This fellowship provided essential clinical skills and has fostered a life-long interest in improving patient access to trials, finding ways to better select therapies for patients with blood cancers and learning more about the patient’s experience throughout treatment.
Her specific interest in how patients experience their illness and treatment forms the basis for her research in improving patient outcomes. This research comes at a pivotal time in modern lymphoma management with an ever-increasing number of treatment options available and renewed focus on each patient’s journey.
This has led to her PhD on Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) which will focus on the accurate documentation of the patient experience and learn how best to include this data for future clinical trial design, an essential component of obtaining excellent treatment outcomes. For this work she is the 2025 recipient of the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Leukaemia Foundation New Investigator PhD Scholarship which will provide invaluable support throughout the PhD.
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Identification, characterisation and role of leader cells in ovarian cancer progression
Dr. Maree Bilandzic is a molecular cancer biologist dedicated to advancing the understanding and treatment of ovarian cancer (OC). Her research addresses critical gaps in OC treatment by investigating the mechanisms behind metastasis, chemotherapy resistance, and tumour recurrence. By utilising innovative methodologies and disease-representative models, Dr. Bilandzic has pioneered the identification and characterisation of leader cells (LCs)—a unique, stem-like subpopulation within tumours that plays a crucial role in OC progression.
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Enhancing occupational therapy service provision with military veterans
Prof McKinstry was instrumental in the development of the occupational therapy course at the La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus and also the establishment of the Rural Health School.
Prof McKinstry’s research focus is on health workforce, particularly developing a sustainable rural health workforce through recruitment of rural students for health courses, innovative and flexible delivery of health courses, telehealth and emerging areas of practice for occupational therapists.
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Food and fasting periods as medicine to prevent disease
Professor Leonie Heilbronn is based at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), where she leads the Obesity and Metabolism laboratory. Her research is at the interface between basic and clinical science. She is internationally recognised for her work in nutritional modulation in humans and has made major contributions to our current understanding of mechanisms underlying conditions such as insulin resistance, particularly inflammation and lipid metabolism. She has also contributed significantly to current concepts of caloric restriction (CR), intermittent fasting (IF) and time restricted eating (TRE) in humans. She has published more than 110 peer reviewed papers in scientific journals and is an Associate Editor of Obesity, and Obesity Research and Clinical Practice.
