RESEARCHER PROFILE
Dr Josephine Wright
South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI)
Filmed September 2023
Dr Josephine Wright is a Senior Research Fellow in the Gut Cancer group. She has been developing a translational network of labs, hospitals and clinics to enable validation of new approaches to prevent and treat colorectal and gastric cancer. Her key focus is studying human tumour organoids to better personalise therapy in cancer.
Dr Wright is part of an international team of researchers from Adelaide and the United States that has engineered bacteria capable of detecting mutated DNA released from colorectal cancer cells, opening the door to faster disease detection.
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Paramedicine workforce across Australian & New Zealand
Liz Thyer is an Associate Professor in the Western Sydney University Paramedicine program and is passionate about innovations and excellence in health sciences teaching and learning.
She was an advanced life support paramedic with Ambulance Victoria for 11 years including roles as a clinical instructor and peer support officer. She has previously worked at Victoria University with the Paramedic programs and at Deakin University in Learning Futures.
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Novel therapy for pancreatic cancers, targeting molecular foundation
Dr Michael Lee is an experienced medical oncologist, sub-specialising in gastrointestinal cancers and neuroendocrine tumours at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
He plays a key role in molecular tumour boards at VCCC Alliance (Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre) and MPCCC (Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium), ensuring the accurate and effective use of precision medicine in cancer care across the state.
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Biostatistics in Clinical Trials
As a biostatistician working in research and clinical settings, Kate Francis plays a vital role in ensuring all projects adhere to best practice guidelines and are transparently reported. She has served as the lead statistician for the analysis of clinical trials across a broad range of subject areas, including neonatal resuscitation, BCG for allergy and infection, convulsive status epilepticus and her work has been published in the top journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The Lancet. Most recently she was awarded the 2025 Excellence in Trial Statistics Award for her work on the PLUSS trial.
