CST governance

The CST Management Advisory Committee is responsible for the strategic governance of Cancer Symptom Trials (CST). The CST Scientific Advisory Committee is responsible for the overall review of clinical study proposals and associated ethics applications, publication, dissemination, and implementation of study outcomes.

CST committee chairs (Left to right): Associate Professor Tim Luckett, Dr Belinda Butcher, Professor Meera Agar, Associate Professor Jodie Ellis, Emeritus Professor Jane Phillips, Dr Aaron Wong

Members
Professor Meera Agar, Chair
Professor Meera Agar is a palliative medicine physician with particular interests in delirium, supportive care needs of people with brain tumours and geriatric oncology.
Meera leads a clinical research portfolio at UTS, including clinical trials and health services evaluation in cancer and palliative care. She is the Director of IMPACCT as well as the CST Chair.
Emerita Professor Jane Phillips, Deputy Chair
Emerita Professor Jane Phillips is at the forefront of her field and brings her considerable clinical nursing, national policy and academic expertise to deliver outcomes that are changing practice and enhancing palliative care globally.
Jane's interdisciplinary program of research targets the delivery of care that enables people to spend more days in their place of choice, to move seamlessly between care settings and to receive best evidence based palliative care.
Dr Belinda Butcher
Dr Belinda Butcher [opens external site] is a pharmacologist and biostatistician. She has worked in clinical research both in academia and within the pharmaceutical industry for more than two decades.
Belinda has extensive experience in trial design, analysis and reporting. Her experience covers a wide range of therapeutic areas including haematology, rheumatology, oncology, diabetes, kidney disease, neurology, psychiatry, pain, hepatitis C, arthritis and respiratory disease. She is an accredited statistician with the Statistical Society of Australia Inc.
Professor Brian Le
Professor Brian Le is a Palliative Care Physician and Medical Oncologist and is Precinct Director of Palliative Care at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and honorary Professor (Clinical) at the University of Melbourne.
Brian's other current appointments include Honorary Associate Fellow in Palliative Care, University of Technology Sydney.
Associate Professor Christopher Steer
Associate Professor Christopher Steer [opens external site] is a medical oncologist working at Border Medical Oncology in the recently completed Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre. He is also a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Rural Clinical School, Albury campus.
Christopher is a principal investigator at the Border Medical Oncology Research Unit (BMORU). The BMORU has been recognised for innovation in clinical research, particularly in delivering care to a rural/regional population.
Professor Cristina Caperchione
Professor Cristina M. Caperchione is a physical activity and health researcher in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation at UTS.
Cristina leads the health promotion discipline within the school and is a subject coordinator in the areas of Health-Related Physical Activity, Sport and Exercise Psychology, and Health and Lifespan Development.
Professor Deborah Marsh
Professor Deborah Marsh leads the Translational Oncology Research Group in the School of Life Sciences (SoLS), Faculty of Science at UTS.
Deborah is the Discipline Leader for Medical Science in SoLS and holds an honorary appointment at the University of Sydney as a Professor of Molecular Oncology. She works in both discovery science and translational cancer research.
Professor Debra Rowett
Professor Debra Rowett [opens external site] is the Discipline Leader, Pharmacy External Relations, at the University of South Australia, and Director of the Drug and Therapeutics Information Service (DATIS), Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.
Debra was a member of the inaugural investigator team with the Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative (PaCCSC) and a Chief Investigator for the Rapid Program research network in palliative care.
Professor Jennifer Philip
Professor Jennifer Philip [opens external site] is Chair of Palliative Medicine, University of Melbourne and St Vincent's Hospital, in collaboration with the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC).
Jennifer is a palliative care physician and leads the Palliative Medicine Research Group conducting mixed methods research to understand and test complex interventions in palliative care.
John Clements
John Clements is a consumer representative and a member of the IMPACCT Consumer Advisory Group (CAG). His first exposure to the concept of palliative care occurred back in 2016 when his late wife reached the end stage of her illness with pancreatic cancer.
Since then, John has become involved in a number of different activities in and around the palliative care space, serving on numerous committees and consumer groups with a range of institutions. These include a major Melbourne hospital, Safer Care Victoria, Palliative Care Australia and Palliative Care Victoria.
Dr Rayan Saleh Moussa
Dr Rayan Saleh Moussa is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Cancer Symptom Trials (CST) team. She was awarded her doctorate in cancer therapeutics in 2017 by the University of Sydney.
Rayan's postdoctoral research is focused on improving the preclinical to clinical pipeline through multidisciplinary translational research in cancer symptom therapeutics and interventions.
Dr Ross Drake
Dr Ross Drake has been a Paediatrician and Specialist in Paediatric Palliative Care and Pain Medicine at Starship Child Health in Auckland since 2002 where he now leads both the Paediatric Palliative Care and Complex Pain Services.
In his Fellowship training, Ross spent time with the Symptom Control Team at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London and the Pain and Palliative Care Service at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney where part of his training was devoted to the psychological management of children in chronic pain.
Associate Professor Tim Luckett
Associate Professor Tim Luckett is a Senior Lecturer (Research) at Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation (IMPACCT).
Tim’s research lies at the intersection between health and social sciences and seeks to inform multi-disciplinary, holistic care for people with life-limiting illness and their families. His fields of special interest include symptom management, shared decision making, and advance care planning.
Members
Dr Belinda Butcher, Chair
Dr Belinda Butcher [opens external site] is a pharmacologist and biostatistician. She has worked in clinical research both in academia and within the pharmaceutical industry for more than two decades.
Belinda has extensive experience in trial design, analysis and reporting. Her experience covers a wide range of therapeutic areas including haematology, rheumatology, oncology, diabetes, kidney disease, neurology, psychiatry, pain, hepatitis C, arthritis and respiratory disease. She is an accredited statistician with the Statistical Society of Australia Inc.
Dr Aaron Wong, Deputy Chair
Dr Aaron K Wong [opens external site] is a dual-trained Palliative Care Physician and Medical Oncologist and Early Career Researcher. He established the Palliative Care Clinical Trials Unit at Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in 2018.
Aaron is currently Clinical Trials Lead at the Parkville Integrated Palliative Care Service, including the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and The Royal Melbourne Hospital. treatments.
Andrea Cross
Andrea Cross is an experienced research scientist and medical practice manager, having held positions in the Department of Medicine at the University of Auckland, establishing a family medical practice and practising audiometry.
Andrea is also a consumer representative and advocate. She is a member of the IMPACCT Consumer Advisory Group (CAG) as well as an active member of a number of local and national organisations.
Dr Angela Rao
Dr Angela Rao is an early career researcher and clinical nurse specialist in palliative care and advanced cancer clinical trials and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Technology (UTS). She is also a member of the PaCCSC/CST Cognitive and Neurological Disorders Symptom Node sub-committee.
Angela demonstrates a passion for developing an evidence base in psychological health and mind-body therapies for people living with chronic illnesses and supporting their uptake into routine clinical care.
Dr Ben Smith
Dr Ben Smith [opens external site] is a Senior Research Fellow at the Ingham Institute and University of New South Wales, Medicine & Health. His research aims to ensure equitable access to high-quality evidence-based survivorship care for all people living with cancer.
Ben has a particular interest in fear of cancer recurrence, digital health interventions and underserved populations impacted by cancer, such as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and First Nations communities.
Associate Professor Brendan Mulhern
Associate Professor Brendan Mulhern is an Associate Professor of Health Economics and Outcomes Research. He also leads the Cancer Australia-funded Cancer Quality of Life Expert Support Team (CQUEST).
Brendan joined the Centre for Health Economic Research and Evaluation (CHERE) at UTS in January 2015, and completed his PhD in August 2020.
Professor Brian Le
Professor Brian Le is a Palliative Care Physician and Medical Oncologist and is Precinct Director of Palliative Care at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and honorary Professor (Clinical) at the University of Melbourne.
Brian's other current appointments include Honorary Associate Fellow in Palliative Care, University of Technology Sydney.
Celia Marston
Celia Marston [opens external site] is the Clinical Lead for Occupational Therapy at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Research Lead at Royal Melbourne Hospital. She is an adjunct lecturer at Monash University and a PhD candidate at the University of Technology in Sydney.
Celia is involved with research in the areas of palliative care and cancer rehabilitation, specifically the experiences of patients and carers, the benefits of rehabilitation and return-to-work programs.
Dr Hannah Wardill
Dr Hannah Wardill [opens external site] is an NHMRC CJ Martin Biomedical Research Fellow leading a program of translational research focused on improving the quality of life of people living with and beyond cancer by addressing acute and chronic side effects of cancer therapy.
As a self-described "disrupter", Hannah challenges convention, advocating for supportive care to be better integrated into modern cancer treatment in a manner that addresses the patient’s unique and personalised needs.
Dr Jessica Roydhouse
Dr Jessica Roydhouse [opens external site] is a Select Foundation Senior Research Fellow in Health Services Research at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania. She is also Director of the Tasmanian Cancer Registry, the state’s population-based cancer registry.
Jessica's research focuses on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical trials and observational studies in cancer. She is interested in methodological issues relating to PROs, including open-label trials, missing data and use of causal inference approaches.
Associate Professor Jodie Ellis
Associate Professor Jodie Ellis [opens external site] is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and researcher with extensive experience in palliative care, aged care, disability, and rehabilitation. She is the Department Head of Dietetics, Speech Pathology and Psychology at Calvary Health Care Kogarah, an Adjunct Associate Professor at UTS and a Professional Associate at the University of Canberra.
Jodie's research interests are lived experience, cancer cachexia, pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, and the effect of nutrition symptoms on quality of life in palliative care.
Associate Professor Joel Rhee
Associate Professor Joel Rhee [opens external site] is an academic GP based at the School of Medicine, University of Wollongong.
Joel has a clinical and research interest in Advance Care Planning and improving end-of-life care in the community setting. He provides primary care to people living in independent living units and residential aged care homes at the HammondCare Centre for Positive Ageing and Care.
Associate Professor Marianne Phillips
Associate Professor Dr Marianne Phillips is a senior Paediatric and Adolescent Oncologist and Palliative Care Physician with over 35 years of clinical experience. Marianne is Lead Clinician for the Western Australia Solid Tumours and Palliative Oncology statewide services at Perth Children’s Hospital.
Marianne has a significant reputation in cancer care in the areas of sarcoma, adolescent and young adult oncology, including their appropriate symptom management and palliative care. She is committed to ensuring local, national and international quality paediatric and adolescent cancer care aimed at improving all outcomes and has developed specific national and international collaborations to ensure ongoing up-to-date maximal symptom management for children and adolescents with cancer.
Marianne is Principal, Chief, or Associate Investigator for numerous collaborative group clinical trials. This includes leadership with IMPACCT Rapid Paediatric Program trials focused on paediatric and adolescent cancer pain, breathlessness, mucositis and nausea.
Marianne holds national and international clinical trials group leadership and strategic positions. She is a representative on national and international palliative care committees and working groups and is a member of the Clinical Expert Advisory Group for the National Paediatric Palliative Care Action Plan.
Professor Meera Agar
Professor Meera Agar is a palliative medicine physician with particular interests in delirium, supportive care needs of people with brain tumours and geriatric oncology.
Meera leads a clinical research portfolio at UTS, including clinical trials and health services evaluation in cancer and palliative care. She is the Director of IMPACCT as well as the CST Chair.
Dr Michael Chapman
Dr Michael Chapman [opens external site] is a geriatrician and palliative medicine physician and director of palliative care at Canberra Hospital. He received his PhD for his award-winning thesis, “The ethics of decision making in dementia: Making sense of senselessness”, from Monash University in 2018.
Michael’s academic interests include using systems thinking in healthcare, integrating specialist palliative services into aged care, and quality dying in the acute setting. He has qualitative methods experience in thematic analysis, ethnography and integrative reviews.
Dr Nicola Atkin
Dr Nicola Atkin [opens external site] is a Palliative Care Physician and early career researcher at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, as well as a clinical lecturer at the University of Melbourne. She completed her specialist training in the UK before moving to Australia.
Nicola's research interests include quality-of-end-of-life care in the acute setting, early integration of palliative care in lung cancer and patient and carer education and information resources.
Professor Rosalie Viney
Professor Rosalie Viney is Professor of Health Economics and Director of the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation at UTS. She has extensive experience in health economics, health services and health policy research.
Rosalie's research interests include health technology assessment and priority setting, measurement and valuation of quality of life and health outcomes, consumer preferences for health and health care, evaluation of health policy, and the impact of funding arrangements on utilisation and outcomes of health care.
Dr Wei Lee
Dr Wei Lee [opens external site] is a palliative care physician based in the northern districts of Sydney. He is passionate about palliative care research and teaching of symptom management. He is involved in various PaCCSC/CST studies in the Cognitive & Mood and Pain symptom nodes.
Wei is undertaking a doctoral program at UTS exploring depression in the end-of-life setting. Wei is the recipient of the CST Emerging Trialist Award 2022.
The Data and Safety Monitoring Committee is an independent contracted committee responsible for the safety evaluation as well as determination and reporting of adverse events for all studies conducted by CST.
Membership
DSMCs are external committees appointed independent of the management of CST.
Objectives and Responsibilities
- Responsible for the safety evaluations, determination and reporting of adverse events and the organisation and oversight of the monitoring and auditing of each study conducted under CST
- Ensures the services provided by CST are aligned with the principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP)
- Operates in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure for the DSMC established for each study
The Qualitative Research Committee (QRSC) provides expertise in:
- relation to the inclusion of qualitative measures into new study protocols, particularly within the development phase of study protocols, and
- the facilitation of program-wide data collection as part of each symptom node group to assist protocol development, study measures and translation activities.
Members
Associate Professor Tim Luckett, Co-Chair
Associate Professor Tim Luckett is a Senior Lecturer (Research) at Improving Palliative, Aged and Chronic Care through Clinical Research and Translation (IMPACCT).
Tim’s research lies at the intersection between health and social sciences and seeks to inform multi-disciplinary, holistic care for people with life-limiting illness and their families. His fields of special interest include symptom management, shared decision making, and advance care planning.
Associate Professor Jodie Ellis, Co-Chair
Associate Professor Jodie Ellis is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and researcher with extensive experience in palliative care, aged care, disability and rehabilitation. She is the Department Head of Dietetics, Speech Pathology and Psychology at Calvary Health Care Kogarah and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Technology, Sydney and Professional Associate at the University of Canberra.
Jodie enjoys both qualitative and quantitative research, with her interests including investigating the lived experience, cancer cachexia, pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, and the effect of nutrition impact symptoms on quality of life in palliative care.
Jodie completed her PhD investigating the psychosocial impact of food and nutrition on hospitalised oncological palliative care patients and their carers utilising phenomenological methodology. Jodie’s research highlights the need to understand the phenomenon from the perspective of those involved.
Dr Amanda Landers
Dr Amanda Landers was born and bred in rural Waikato. Her interest in palliative medicine started very early in her career. She enjoys talking with patients/whānau facing life-limiting illness, helping them to plan and prepare for the future and making sure symptoms are well-managed.
Amanda is a senior clinical lecturer with the Otago Medical School in Christchurch and the Principal Investigator of the Aotearoa Australia Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Treatment (ASPERT) multidisciplinary research team.
Anna Collins
Dr Anna Collins is an NHMRC Emerging Leader and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital, at the University of Melbourne. She leads the public health and health services research programs for Palliative Nexus.
Anna's background is in health psychology, and she completed a clinically based PhD on the integration of palliative care in oncology. She is nationally and internationally recognised for her work in community education and engagement related to palliative care.
Dr Deidre Morgan
As an occupational therapist with 25 years clinical experience, Dr Deidre Morgan has an in-depth understanding of the public health system and the value and importance of clinical research that informs practical patient care.
Deidre's clinical and research focus is in palliative care and she has a particular interest in ways to optimise function at the end of life for people with advanced disease and ways to measure meaningful clinical gains in this area.
Gloria Pavey
Gloria Pavey is a dedicated, outcome-focused Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultant at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH), Camperdown. She has more than 20 years’ experience in developing, implementing and evaluating care management plans for individuals with complex health needs in the government and non-government community sectors, and in residential aged care facilities.
Gloria is directly involved in the screening, recruitment and data collection for the Prognostic Awareness and Supportive Care Need in Allogenic Haemapoietic Stem Cell Transplant and CAR-T Cell Therapy trial. She has an integral role in the development of clinical trials within the palliative care unit at RPAH.
Imelda Gilmore
Imelda Gilmore cared for and supported her husband for seven years, from his diagnosis with younger-onset Alzheimer’s Disease until his death in 2016.
Imelda is a member of the IMPACCT Consumer Advisory Group (CAG). As an experienced communicator, advocate, speaker, and campaigner in dementia care, Imelda works to promote the advancement of knowledge, care and services for people with dementia and their family carers.
Emerita Professor Jane Phillips
Emerita Professor Jane Phillips is at the forefront of her field and brings her considerable clinical nursing, national policy and academic expertise to deliver outcomes that are changing practice and enhancing palliative care globally.
Jane's interdisciplinary program of research targets the delivery of care that enables people to spend more days in their place of choice, to move seamlessly between care settings and to receive best evidence based palliative care.
Professor Jennifer Philip
Professor Jennifer Philip is Chair of Palliative Medicine, University of Melbourne and St Vincent's Hospital, in collaboration with the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC). Jennifer leads the Palliative Medicine Research Group conducting mixed methods research to understand and test complex interventions in palliative care.
Jennifer is dedicated to building successful collaborations between researchers and clinicians enabling high-quality evidence to be directly translated into high-quality care for patients and families.
Dr Michael Chapman
Dr Michael Chapman [opens external site] is a geriatrician and palliative medicine physician and director of palliative care at Canberra Hospital. He received his PhD for his award-winning thesis, “The ethics of decision making in dementia: Making sense of senselessness”, from Monash University in 2018.
Michael’s academic interests include using systems thinking in healthcare, integrating specialist palliative services into aged care, and quality dying in the acute setting. He has qualitative methods experience in thematic analysis, ethnography and integrative reviews.
Associate Professor Michelle DiGiacomo
Associate Professor Michelle DiGiacomo has a background in psychology and behavioural health.
Michelle's program of research centres on the ways in which people adjust to living with chronic and progressive life-limiting diseases, particularly focusing on unpaid (family and friend) carers, and workforce capacity development.
Engagement with the community is a high priority for CST and consumers play a vital role in ensuring our research is relevant and meaningful to people living with cancer.
The IMPACCT Consumer Advisory Group (CAG) supports our commitment to continuing dialogue and close collaboration with consumers to ensure that research activities reflect the best possible care for people affected by life-limiting illnesses.
CST consumers contribute via the CAG as well as through the CST Management Advisory Committee and CST Scientific Advisory Committee. Their insights and advice are invaluable and ensure our work is responsive to the needs of people living with cancer and their families.