Pancare-supported Researcher awarded as NSW Young Woman of the Year

Dr Samantha Wade, from the University of Wollongong and Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI), has been named the NSW Young Woman of the Year 2021 for her work involving Pancare-funded pancreatic cancer research.

Awarded in Sydney earlier this month by NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, as part of the NSW Women of the Year Awards, Dr Wade has been instrumental in contributing to the project investigating a novel drug-eluting device to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy within pancreatic tumours. This program is led by Dr Kara Vine-Perrow and co-funded with Pancare through Cancer Australia’s Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme (PdCCRS).

Dr Wade commented on being named NSW Young Woman of the year, “I am honoured to be awarded among such incredible leaders in NSW. My commitment is to continue delivering world-leading innovations and helping those affected by pancreatic cancer. I am very thankful to be a part of a dedicated team and to have a great mentor in Dr Vine-Perrow. Together, we are working to develop novel strategies to fight pancreatic cancer.”

Dr Vine-Perrow recently received an award of her own recently – one of three Cancer Institute of NSW Career Development Fellowships for her continuing work on localising Immunotherapy for pancreatic cancers by priming the tumour microenvironment. This award comes off the back of the Cancer Institute of NSW announcing in March that it had awarded $13 million to cancer research, a bulk of which will go toward improving outcomes for people with pancreatic cancer.

Welcome news for the Pancare Foundation

Both awards are welcome news for the Pancare Foundation, which is aiming to help broaden support and funding for pancreatic and upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancers across Australia.

This enhanced focus across Australia on funding pancreatic cancer research is essential to increase national awareness of pancreatic and other upper GI cancers and to provide the evidence-based foundations for improving clinical outcomes and quality of life for those suffering from pancreatic cancer.

You can read more about Dr Wade’s and Dr Vine-Perrow’s important work here: https://pancare.org.au/research_programs/novel-implantable-drug-eluting-device/.

You can read more about Pancare’s commitments to fund high-impact pancreatic and upper GI cancer research here: https://pancare.org.au/cancer-research/.