Chair 

Dr Teresa Sadras
Head of the Leukaemia Biology and Functional Genomics Laboratory, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute
Deputy co-lead Haematological cancer, VCCC Alliance

Dr Teresa Sadras is an internationally recognised translational researcher in haematological malignancies. She leads a research program focused on the molecular mechanisms driving paediatric and adult acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and other lymphoid cancers, with an emphasis on functional genomics, disease modelling, and drug profiling to identify new therapeutic vulnerabilities.

Dr Sadras has a strong track record in national and international collaborative research, having previously held senior positions at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and conducted postdoctoral research in the USA. She has co-authored over 24 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, delivered invited talks at more than 35 conferences, and contributed to multiple international consortia advancing translational haematology research.

Beyond her research, Dr Sadras is actively engaged in education and mentoring, supervising PhD, Masters, and Honours students across the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University, and the University of Adelaide, and serving as a tutor in the VCCC Master of Cancer Sciences program. She is also committed to fostering cross-institutional collaboration, clinician-scientist integration, and consumer engagement to accelerate research translation into improved patient care.

Speakers

Professor Deb White
Deputy Director, South Australian Health Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI); Director, Precision Cancer Medicine Theme (SAHMRI) and Scientific Group Leader of the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Genomics and Functional Genomics Research Group

Professor White's research focus is genomics and rationally targeted therapies in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). She has presented over 200 papers at scientific meetings and authored over 160 scientific publications. Prof White

Prof White has established, led and federated the ALL Stream of The Australian Genomics Health Alliance. She is an elected member of the Board of Directors for both the Australian and New Zealand Children's Haem-Oncology Group (ANZCHOG)and the Australasian Leukaemia Lymphoma Group (ALLG) and an invited member of the Precision Medicine Committee, Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health (CEIH) SA Health.

Internationally, Prof White is the Australian representative to The Variant Interpretation for Cancer Collaboration (VICC) Executive Group {An initiative of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH)}. She has received a number of awards: Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) Leading Light, the University of Adelaide James McWha medal, the prestigious NHMRC Research Excellence Award and the Beat Cancer Women in Leadership Award.

Professor David Yeung
Head of Haematology, Royal Adelaide Hospital; Post Doctoral Research Fellow, SAHMRI; SA Cancer Council Clinical Investigator; Clinical Professor at the Adelaide Medical School

Prof Yeung received his PhD in 2016 on the molecular monitoring and optimised management of chronic myeloid leukaemia. He is the clinical lead for adult ALL in Adelaide. In 2017, he led the establishment of a comprehensive suite of genomic studies for adult ALL patients across ANZ, through a clinical trials platform within the ALLG, and helped the ALLG to establish an ANZ ALL registry. This project provided a sequencing service for ALL in ANZ, allow cases to be fully characterized beyond what is provided with the standard of care diagnostics, assisting in prognostication and personalisation of treatment. Through this genomics project, we clarified the diagnosis of ~1900 cases referred nationally, leading to >40 publications, including a report in the prestigious Journal Blood describing a novel UBTF::ATXN7L3 fusion, a description of genomic landscape in AYA ALL, and a review article in Br J Haem on ALL genomic subtypes.

Besides ALL genomics, Prof Yeung is also an accomplished clinical researcher, having led 5 of the last ALLG clinical trials in chronic myeloid leukaemia, with practice changing results. He contributed to the design, operation and analysis of the last 2 AYA ALL studies, ALL06 and ALL09. Their results are now published in prominent journals, and their schema implemented as standard of care across ANZ.