Breast Cancer Trials
by Breast Cancer Trials
Breast Cancer Trials is a group of world-leading breast cancer doctors and researchers based in Australia and New Zealand, with a commitment to exploring and finding better treatments for people affected by breast cancer through clinical trials research. The Breast Cancer Trials Podcast is a platform to share the latest in breast cancer research, to share stories and experiences of those who have had breast cancer, and to help explain topics around breast cancer and clinical trials research. www.breastcancertrials.org.au
Episodes
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Oncoplastic Breast Surgery: Balancing Cancer Treatment and Aesthetic Outcomes
How can breast cancer surgery achieve the best cancer outcomes while also considering the appearance and shape of the breast? In this episode, we sit down with Professor Elisabeth Elder to explore oncoplastic breast surgery and some of the important questions that remain unanswered. Professor…
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Hot Flushes, Poor Sleep & More: Managing Menopause After Breast Cancer
Breast cancer treatment can bring on menopause suddenly or make existing symptoms more severe, significantly affecting a woman's quality of life. In this episode, we sit down with Dr Christina Jang to explore the challenges of managing menopause during and after breast cancer treatment. Dr Jang...
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What's Next When Treatment for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Stops Working?
Treatment for triple-negative breast cancer has advanced significantly, but challenges remain when, in some cases, the disease returns after treatment. In this episode, we sit down with Dr Belinda Yeo to explore treatment options for triple-negative breast cancer patientswhose cancer has that has...
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What Makes Lobular Breast Cancer Different? Unlocking the Biology of Invasive Lobular Carcinoma
Invasive lobular carcinoma is the second most common type of breast cancer, yet there is still much to learn about what makes this disease biologically distinct. In this episode, we sit down with Associate Professor Amy McCart Reed to explore the molecular underpinnings of invasive lobular...
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Could Patients with Breast Cancer Safely Skip Radiation & the Potential Side Effects? Inside the ROSALIE Clinical Trial
Could Patients with Breast Cancer Safely Skip Radiation & the Potential Side Effects? Inside the ROSALIE Clinical Trial Could skipping radiation after breast-conserving surgery be safe for some patients? The ROSALIE trial is exploring this possibility. In this episode, we sit down with Professor...
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Neoadjuvant Now: What's Next in Pre-Surgical Breast Cancer Treatment?
Neoadjuvant Now: What's Next in Pre-Surgical Breast Cancer Treatment? More and more breast cancer patients are now receiving treatment before surgery - but what’s next for this approach? In this episode, we look at how neoadjuvant therapy is changing, the new treatments being tested, and what it...
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Next Gen Oncology: Insights for Trainees and Early-Career Clinicians
Next Gen Oncology: Insights for Trainees and Early-Career Clinicians Are you a trainee or early career professional in oncology looking to connect, learn, and grow? In this episode, we highlight the Trainee and Early Career Day at the Breast Cancer Trials Annual Scientific Meeting. A unique...
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Caring for the Caregivers: Preventing Burnout in Oncology
Caring for the Caregivers: Preventing Burnout in Oncology What happens when the people caring for everyone else are running on empty? In this episode, we sit down with London-based Professor of psycho-oncology, Dame Lesley Fallowfield, to explore burnout, practical self-care strategies, and ways…
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Intimacy and Insight: Sexual Health After Breast Cancer
Intimacy and Insight: Sexual Health After Breast Cancer Sexual health after breast cancer is a topic too often left in the shadows - yet it profoundly affects quality of life both during and post-diagnosis. In this episode, Dr Belinda Yeo and Dr Virginia Baird open the conversation, sharing...
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Choosing Your Path & Navigating Difficult Treatment Decisions
Choosing Your Path & Navigating Difficult Treatment Decisions What happens when patients say ‘no’ to recommended treatments? The search for alternatives can be confronting for both patients and clinicians. Associate Professor Lesley Stafford explores why some patients take this path, what it…
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Lotjpa Yapaneyepuk (Talk Together): Bridging Communities and Cancer Research
Lotjpa Yapaneyepuk (Talk Together): Bridging Communities and Cancer Research Access to clinical trials isn't equal, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Regional Victoria, barriers in accessing treatment for breast cancer remain. Dr Monica Green and Ms Leah Lindrea-Morrison...
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4CASTING the Future: Innovations in Triple Negative Breast Cancer
4CASTING the Future: Innovations in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Triple negative breast cancer remains one of the most challenging types to treat because it lacks the common treatment targets, grows and spreads aggressively, is highly diverse and currently has limited effective therapies - but…
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Listen to Your Heart: Cardiac Care After Breast Cancer
Listen to Your Heart: Cardiac Care After Breast Cancer Breast cancer treatments save lives, but sometimes it can leave the heart at risk. Professor Thomas Marwick sheds light on cardiac care for breast cancer survivors, exploring how monitoring and management strategies can protect heart health...
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Facing the Fear: Life After Breast Cancer
Facing the Fear: Life After Breast Cancer For many breast cancer survivors, finishing treatment isn't the end of the journey - it's the beginning of new fears. Fear of recurrence is one of the most common and distressing challenges patients face. In this episode, Associate Professor Ben Smith...
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Screening Smarter: Personalised Approaches in Breast Care
Screening Smarter: Personalised Approaches in Breast Care Is it time to rethink a ‘one size fits all’ approach to breast screening? Associate Professor Sanjay Warrier joins us to discuss the future of tailored breast screening, a personalised approach that could revolutionise how we detect breast...
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Advancing Care for Young Women with Breast Cancer
Advancing Care for Young Women with Breast Cancer Young women with breast cancer often face unique challenges beyond their diagnosis, including long-term survivorship issues, fertility and family planning concerns, and a higher likelihood of aggressive cancers. But are their treatment pathways...
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Holding It Together: Breast Cancer and the Busy Mum Life
Holding It Together: Breast Cancer and the Busy Mum Life When you’re a mum of two young boys, life is full of chaos, and for Belinda, it also became a time of deep uncertainty when, in 2019, she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer. In this episode, we sit down with Belinda to…
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Routine, Resilience, and Research: One Mum’s Cancer Story
Routine, Resilience, and Research: One Mum's Cancer Story What happens when your life plans are suddenly redrawn by a breast cancer diagnosis? Emily, her husband, and their two children had moved to Australia in 2012 from the UK and was busy building a future for her family when she found herself...
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The Village Effect: Why Community Matters During Cancer Treatment
The Village Effect: Why Community Matters During Cancer Treatment For Sarah, motherhood was already a full-time job — between nippers, football, and everything in between. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she found herself navigating treatment while parenting young children and holding...
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Virtual Reality Meets Radiation: A New Era in Patient Coaching
Virtual Reality Meets Radiation: A New Era in Patient Coaching Kathleene Dower is a Radiation Therapist and 2025 Clinical Fellow with Breast Cancer Trials. Her project is about piloting virtual reality (VR) coaching and education for deep inspiration breath hold, a breathing technique used during...
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From IVF to Breast Cancer: Navigating a Diagnosis in Early Motherhood
From IVF to Breast Cancer: Navigating a Diagnosis in Early Motherhood Rebecca Pickering is a devoted mum to Daphne and Dorothy and wife to Matt. She loves spending quality time with her family and exploring the beauty of her hometown, Mildura. Rebecca’s journey to motherhood included a series of...
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Beyond the Plate: Rebuilding Healthy Habits After Breast Cancer
Beyond the Plate: Rebuilding Healthy Habits After Breast Cancer Lifestyle interventions such as diet and exercise have been shown to have positive impacts on clinical outcomes, including tolerance to chemotherapy, fatigue, weight maintenance, and reduced risk of cancer recurrence. However, no one...
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Revolutionising Radiotherapy: The ORNATE Study and the Future of Breast Cancer Treatment
Revolutionising Radiotherapy: The ORNATE Study and the Future of Breast Cancer Treatment Dr Metz is a radiation oncologist and 2025 clinical fellow with Breast Cancer Trials. Her project, optimising radiotherapy in the neoadjuvant therapy era, also known as ORNATE, aims to refine radiotherapy for...
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ADCs in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Breakthroughs, Challenges, and the Future of Targeted Therapy
Understanding Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) in Metastatic Breast Cancer: Breakthroughs, Challenges, and the Future of Targeted Therapy ADCs are a breakthrough in targeted chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer. While ADCs like trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) offer new hope, challenges like...
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Beyond the Clinic: How ePRO is Revolutionising Metastatic Breast Cancer Care While Saving Patients Time & Money
Beyond the Clinic: How ePRO is Revolutionising Metastatic Breast Cancer Care While Saving Patients Time & Money Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome (ePRO) remote monitoring is a game-changer for people living with metastatic breast cancer. Many patients on treatments like CDK4/6 inhibitors and...
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Why Language Matters: Using Respectful Terms in Breast Cancer Care
Why Language Matters: Using Respectful Terms in Breast Cancer Care Professor Fran Boyle is a highly experienced Medical Oncologist who specialises in the areas of breast cancer and melanoma. She is passionate about making advances in this field, and her practice focuses on researching new...
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Science and Hope: How Research is Changing Breast Cancer Treatment
Science and Hope: How Research is Changing Breast Cancer Treatment Elissa Simms is a mum of two daughters, 20-year-old Bryn and 17-year-old Ella, who enjoys spending time with her family and walking her dogs Kahlua and Lottie. In March 2024, Elissa noticed a strange sensation in her breast. At…
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Receiving a Shock Diagnosis: The Importance of Supporting Clinical Trials Research
Receiving a Shock Diagnosis: The Importance of Supporting Clinical Trials Research Tamara Dawes is a mum and primary school teacher living in NSW, who enjoys living in the country, going to the beach, and spending time with her family and their dog. Around Easter time in 2021, Tamara had been...
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Navigating Breast Cancer: A Patient's Perspective of the CAMBRIA-2 Clinical Trial
Navigating Breast Cancer: A Patient's Perspective of the CAMBRIA-2 Clinical Trial Wendy Rolls is a wife and mum of three daughters from New South Whales, Australia who enjoys golf, quilting, scrapbooking, and spending time with her family. In October 2023, Wendy found a small lump in her breast,...
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Bridging Science and Personal Experience: The Role of the Consumer Advisory Panel
Bridging Science and Personal Experience: The Role of the Consumer Advisory Panel The Breast Cancer Trials Board of Directors established the Consumer Advisory Panel, also known as CAP, in 1998 because it recognised the value and importance of consumer input to the planning and conduct of…
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Improving Treatment Outcomes: Advancing Adjuvant Therapy for Early ER+ Breast Cancer
Improving Treatment Outcomes: Advancing Adjuvant Therapy for Early ER+ Breast Cancer Dr Erica Mayer is the director of clinical research and institute physician at the Breast Oncology Centre, Dana-Faber Cancer Institute, and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston,...
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Cracking the Code: Biomarkers and the Fight Against Hormone Therapy Resistance
Cracking the Code: Biomarkers and the Fight Against Hormone Therapy Resistance Professor Andrew Tutt is a Consultant Clinical Oncologist in the Breast Cancer Unit at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. He is also a Professor of Oncology at King's College in London. We spoke to him about...
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Is Less More? Rethinking the Future of Breast Cancer Surgery
Is Less More? Rethinking the Future of Breast Cancer Surgery Professor Michael Gnant is a Professor of Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, where he also serves as President of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group. We spoke to him about trends in surgery...
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How to Select the Right Patients for Volume Replacement Therapy
How to Select the Right Patients for Volume Replacement Therapy Peter Barry is a Consultant Surgeon at the Breast Unit, Royal Marsden in London. He focuses on breast oncoplastic techniques and reconstructive options following cancer surgery, as well as preventative surgery for high-risk women. We...
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DCIS & The Risk of Local Recurrence: What You Need to Know
DCIS & The Risk of Local Recurrence: What You Need to Know Dr Christina Kozul is a Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Accredited General Surgical trainee at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, who aims to subspecialise in Breast Surgery. She is passionate about contributing to breast cancer…
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Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment: What’s New in the Field?
Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment: What's New in the Field? Dr Carlos Barrios is a medical oncologist from Brazil. He dedicates himself to breast cancer and clinical research, and coordinates the Latin-American cooperative oncology group in Brazil, which congregates investigators from 16…
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Why Every Breast Cancer Patient Should Have a Voice in Their Treatment
Why Every Breast Cancer Patient Should Have a Voice in Their Treatment Rebecca Angus is a Senior Podiatrist with a personal history of breast cancer, being diagnosed with the disease in 2018, at just 33 years old. She is also a member of the Breast Cancer Trials Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP)…
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Collaborating with Patients for a Successful Clinical Trial
Collaborating with Patients for a Successful Clinical Trial Dr Nick Zdenkowski is a Medical Oncologist and Medical Advisor with Breast Cancer Trials. He is the Chair of the Breast Cancer Trials Scientific Advisory Committee and works on a broad range of breast cancer research, including shared...
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Quality of Life & Treatment Success: What You Should Know
Quality of Life & Treatment Success: What You Should Know Dr Deme Karikios is a Medical Oncologist and head of the department at Nepean Hospital in Sydney. He has a clinical and research interest in thoracic and gastrointestinal malignancies. Deme also has a research interest in the costs and…
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What is Ductal Carcinoma in Situ? Understanding the Basics
What is Ductal Carcinoma in Situ? Understanding the Basics Professor Sunil Lakhani is the Chair of the Breast Cancer Trials Board of Directors. He is a clinical diagnostic pathologist and also heads a research team comprising scientists and clinicians, ensuring a translational focus to the…
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Telehealth, Screening, and Recruitment: The Future of Clinical Trials
Telehealth, Screening and Recruitment: The Future of Clinical Trials Dr Sarah Zardawi is an early-career Medical Oncologist who has also trained in Palliative Medicine. She has a private practice in Maitland, NSW, and is a Clinical Fellow at Breast Cancer Trials. Sarah is dedicated to providing...
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Lobular Prognostic Biomarkers: Key to Advancing Breast Cancer Treatment?
Lobular Prognostic Biomarkers: Key to Advancing Breast Cancer Treatment? Associate Professor Amy McCart Reed holds a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Queensland and has undertaken a series of studies investigating the genomic landscape of breast cancer subtypes. She is passionate...
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Surviving Breast Cancer: Post-Treatment Challenges You Might Face
Surviving Breast Cancer: Post-Treatment Challenges You Might Face Dr Syapiq Long is an early-career Medical Oncologist. He graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and moved to Australia in 2015 to complete his training in Medical Oncology. He is currently working as a joint Fellow...
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Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Care: Improving Breast Cancer Outcomes
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Care: Improving Breast Cancer Outcomes Shavaun Wells is a Senior Fieldwork Officer on the Kulay Kalingka Study, a national cohort study aiming to understand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s beliefs and attitudes about cancer, engagement with…
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Can Text Messages Really Improve Endocrine Therapy Adherence?
Can Text Messages Really Improve Endocrine Therapy Adherence? Dr Anna Singleton is a Senior Research Fellow at the Daffodil Centre, a joint venture between the University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW. Her research focuses on co-designing and implementing accessible and scalable digital health...
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Genomic Testing and Targeted Therapy: The Future of Breast Cancer Care
Genomic Testing and Targeted Therapy: The Future of Breast Cancer Care Dr Stephen Luen is a Medical Oncologist and translational researcher at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. His current research interests include the study of genomic and immune biomarkers in breast cancer, with a particular...
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How Exercise and Diet Are Changing Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment
How Exercise and Diet are Changing Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment Marina Reeves is a Professor in the School of Public Health and Deputy Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland. She is also an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian coordinating…
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How Structured Exercise Boosts Health: The PREFERABLE-EFFECT Study
How Structured Exercise Boosts Health: The PREFERABLE-EFFECT Study Dr Eva Zopf is an exercise physiologist whose research interest focuses on the role of exercise as medicine for the management of cancer. Aside from developing, conducting, and evaluating exercise intervention studies in cancer...
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Overcoming Challenges in Very Early Breast Cancer Treatment
Overcoming Challenges in Very Early Breast Cancer Treatment Professor Bruce Mann is the Director of Research at Breast Cancer Trials, Professor of Surgery at The University of Melbourne, and Director of the Breast Tumour Stream at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. His research interests...
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Oligometastatic Breast Cancer: What’s the Latest in Treatment?
Oligometastatic Breast Cancer: What's the Latest in Treatment? Professor Prue Francis is the Clinical Head of Breast Medical Oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and a consultant Medical Oncologist at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. Associate Professor Steven David is an experienced...
About this show
Breast Cancer Trials is a group of world-leading breast cancer doctors and researchers based in Australia and New Zealand, with a commitment to exploring and finding better treatments for people affected by breast cancer through clinical trials research. The Breast Cancer Trials Podcast is a platform to share the latest in breast cancer research, to share stories and experiences of those who have had breast cancer, and to help explain topics around breast cancer and clinical trials research. www.breastcancertrials.org.au
Hosted by
Breast Cancer Trials