Chair 

Pauline Ryan
Program Manager, Statewide Cancer Consumer-led Research Partnership, VCCC Alliance

Speakers

Dr Sean Tan
Cardiologist and Research Fellow, Victorian Heart Hospital (Monash Health) and Victorian Heart Institute (Monash University)

Dr Sean Tan is an academic cardio-oncologist and researcher based at the Victorian Heart Hospital and Monash University. A cardiologist by training, he recently completed a PhD evaluating cardiovascular risk in people with cancer treated with immunotherapy.

He is currently the lead investigator in several Australian multicentre cardio-oncology trials, including the SOCRATES and MONITOR-HER2 studies. Dr Tan is also an avid educator and the Clinical Dean for Monash University medical students placed at the Victorian Heart Hospital.

Peter Doyle
Lived Experience Representative

Peter is a retired Firefighter and diagnosed with Melanoma in May 2021. Initial surgery was excision and pathology with further surgery Encompassing wide local excision of the Right Neck. Determined at that stage to be stage 1b. In late 2023 the cancer returned as a Lump in the neck lymph node and further surgery was performed in February 2024. Prior to the surgery, immunotherapy was started (3 weeks) and then continued following for 12 months. The cancer returned, again in the lymph nodes, and a level 5 neck direction was completed in Nov 2024 (this was during immunotherapy). Further monitoring and Scans (MRI, PET) were carried out 3 monthly, with a scan in Nov 2025 detecting an anomaly in the Heart arteries (stenosis). Peter was then referred to Dr Sean Tan and the Socrates trial with further treatment at the VHH in Nov 2025 and Jan 2026. To date the scans at Peter Mac are continuing as is involvement in the Socrates trial.