Professor Ian Campbell
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Ian is a molecular geneticist and is Head of the Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He has a particular interest in genetic research into breast and ovarian cancer, with over 20 years experience in the banking and analysis of primary cancers. Ian is the Lead Chief Investigator for the Cohort Project. In addition to running an active and successful research program, he has also served for several years on the Peter Mac ethics committee and is very familiar with the policies and procedures required for ethical conduct of this type of research.

Professor John Hopper
The University of Melbourne School of Population Health

John is an internationally renowned epidemiologist and has published more than 350 research papers on various aspects of the role of genetic and environmental factors on diseases such as cancer. He has been a trail blazer in establishing and running large Australian epidemiological resources including the Australian Breast Cancer Family Study, the Australasian Colorectal Cancer Family Study, the Australian Mammographic Density Research Facility and the Australian Twin Registry. John’s work has played a major role in developing guidelines for genetic testing and simple tools to help prioritise breast cancer genetic testing and inform women of their breast cancer risks. John is the Director (Research) of the Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic (MEGA) Epidemiology in the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne.

Ms Vicki Pridmore
BreastScreen Victoria

Vicki is the Chief Executive Officer of BreastScreen Victoria. Since the mid 1990’s Vicki has held senior positions in the public health sector. As part of the Chief Investigator team on the lifepool Project, Vicki will ensure smooth interaction between routine mammography screening through BreastScreen Victoria and recruitment of women to lifepool. Vicki’s involvement with the lifepool Project means that information from research data can be effectively translated into improved public screening policy.

Professor Anne Kavanagh
The University of Melbourne School of Population Health

Anne is a medically-trained epidemiologist who is well known for her work on cancer screening programs and social epidemiology. She has worked in the field of screening for cancer for over 15 years. Anne is Director of the Centre for Womens’ Health, Gender and Society at the University of Melbourne. She has worked closely with BreastScreen Victoria over the last 10 years, playing an advisory role on collection and interpretation of routine data and collaborating on policy and practice relevant projects. Her research has focused primarily on ways to improve screening outcomes with a focus on hormone therapy and breast density. Anne will provide a focus on population-based cancer screening to this project.

Dr Gillian Mitchell
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Gillian is the Director of the Familial Cancer Centre (FCC) at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and is a medical and radiation oncologist and researcher. Prior to joining the Peter Mac team, Gillian was at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London where she trained as a clinical oncologist. Gillian’s research focus is to find better ways of identifying people at familial risk of cancer and to target cancer screening and treatments more effectively using the genetic information. Gillian provides a strong clinical perspective to the design of the lifepool Project and the way in which it will support research to improve our understanding of breast cancer risk.

Professor Bruce Mann
The Royal Melbourne Hospital

Bruce is the Director of the Breast Service at Royal Melbourne and Women’s Hospital. This is a busy clinical service that treats about 200 new cases of breast cancer and DCIS each year. In addition to his surgical practice, Bruce heads an active clinical research program and is a consultant surgeon to BreastScreen Victoria. His close connection with the clinical management of patients with DCIS and invasive breast cancer – including screening, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up – provides valuable clinical perspective to the work of the lifepool Project.

Professor Stephen Fox
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Stephen is Director of Pathology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and is a breast pathology specialist with a research focus in this area. In addition to overseeing the collection and management of breast cancer tissue samples, he will contribute expertise to pathological studies of screen detected cancers and research into breast cancer risk for groups of women with different breast density.

Ms Lisa Devereux
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Lisa has been a member of the Research Division staff at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for over 27 years in various roles. For 8 years she managed the Tissue Bank at Peter Mac, gathering cancer samples from Melbourne patients undergoing surgery and then making the cancer tissue samples available for medical research. She has had extensive experience in maintaining confidential records. Lisa will oversee the day to day running of the lifepool project and is the contact point for all participant and researcher enquiries and requests. Lisa will ensure that the lifepool project communicates clearly with all stakeholders.

Ms Rhonda Huynh
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Rhonda has been working in the science and medical research field for 9 years and over this time have gained experience across different disciplines within the science environment.  The majority of her learning experience has been at the Peter Mac Tissue Bank as the senior Research Assistant. This role involved the supervision of a bio repository lab, collecting, processing, and storing bio-specimen samples from consented donors. The role also allowed her to interact, liaise and network with a wide variety of patients, hospital clinicians and researchers. At lifepool, Rhonda is assisting Lisa with the day to day running of the Project, processing of specimens, data management and responding to participant queries.

Management Committee
The Chief Investigators on the lifepool Project are responsible for the day to day operation of the Project. The lead Chief Investigator chairs this committee and meetings are scheduled at least monthly. Membership is:

Vicki Pridmore (Chair)

Ian Campbell
Stephen Fox
John Hopper
Bruce Mann
Carolyn Nickson

Warwick Lee

Gelareh Farshid

Gita Mishra

Jennifer Stone

Paul James
Lisa Devereux (Project Manager) ex officio

Access Committee 

The Lifepool Access Committee is made up of Chief Investigators on the lifePool Project and a team of skilled individuals who review applications for access to lifepool resources. The Lifepool Access Committee is committed to providing advice and guidance to researchers about the available resources to ensure that lifepool can support high quality research. The Access Committee can also call on individuals with specific expertise from time to time, depending on the

The current membership is:

Ian Campbell
Leanne Carlson
Jennifer Cawson
Stephen Fox
John Hopper
Paul James
Bruce Mann
Vicky White

Cameron Wellard (Data Manager) ex officio
Lisa Devereux (Project Manager) ex officio

Ethical Oversight
The operating protocol and all recruitment documents for the lifepool Project have been reviewed and approved by the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Human Research Ethics Committee.

The lifepool Project reports annually to the Ethics Committee.

Any research project applying to the lifepool Project for access to resources must be independently reviewed by the Human Research Ethics Committee overseeing research at that particular site.