Speaker

Dr Elisabete Weiderpass
Director, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)

Dr Weiderpass is a Brazilian cancer researcher and an expert in cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention. In 2019, she took office as Director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the World Health Organization, the first woman to hold the position.

In 2020, she launched the World Cancer Report, which provides an overview of current cancer research and information on strategies for cancer prevention. She partnered with the European Society for Medical Oncology, working together to deliver a series of webinars and e-learning modules focused on the elimination of cancer. In 2023, she was recognised as one of the 100 Influential Women in Oncology by OncoDaily

Previously, Dr Weiderpass was Head of the Genetic Epidemiology Group at the Folkhälsan Research Center in Helsinki, where she spent over ten years. At the same time, she oversaw the Cancer Registry of Norway in the Institute of Population-based Cancer Research in Oslo, as well as at the University of Tromsø and Yale School of Medicine.

Chairs 

Professor Dorothy Keefe
Chief Executive Officer, Cancer Australia

Professor Keefe is a medical oncologist and supportive care expert, with an interest in reducing inequity in cancer outcomes. Her major work at Cancer Australia has been in development of the lung cancer screening program and the Australian Cancer Plan. Prof Keefe has represented Australia on the Governing Council of International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) since 2020, and as the Australian representative has been elected Chair.

Prof Grant McArthur AO
Chief Executive Officer, VCCC Alliance; Head of the Molecular Oncology Laboratory and Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Lorenzo Galli Chair of Melanoma and Skin Cancers, University of Melbourne

Prof McArthur is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and holds a PhD in Medical Biology. He has been a national and international study co-chair of a number of clinical trials of targeted therapies. His research interests include melanoma, clinical trials of targeted therapeutics, discovery of novel drug targets in cancer, targeting oncogenes, immunological effect of targeted therapies, personalised medicine, cell cycle control, metabolism and protein synthesis in cancer.

He was the inaugural winner of the Translational Research Award of the Foundation Nelia et Amadeo Barletta, has held the Sir Edward Dunlop Clinical Cancer Research Fellowship of the Cancer Council of Victoria, and was awarded the inaugural Martin Lackmann medal for translational research. He has also received the Medical Oncology Group of Australia’s Novartis Oncology Cancer Achievement Award, the prestigious Tom Reeve Award from the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, and a Monash Distinguished Alumni Award.

Prof Ricky Johnstone
Executive Director Cancer Research, Head of the Gene Regulation Laboratory, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Head of The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne

Prof Johnstone received his PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1993 and, after a postdoctorate at Harvard Medical School, returned to Melbourne to establish the Gene Regulation Laboratory at Peter Mac in 2000. He oversees about 750 research staff and students and plays a key role in strategic decision making across the organisation. Prof Johnstone is also an active cancer researcher and has published more than 270 peer-reviewed papers and was awarded an NHMRC Investigator Grant at Leadership Level 3 in 2023. He is also Chair-elect of VicAAMRI, which represents 14 of Victoria’s world-class independent medical research institutes.