Congratulations to winners of the 2025 Awards

At the 27th AGITG Annual Scientific Meeting, held in Tarntanya Adelaide between 24–27 November 2025, several members were recognised for their contribution to GI cancer research.

Congratulations to our outstanding winners, and thank you for your ongoing dedication to create a better future for people with GI cancer.

View all award winners below.

The John Zalcberg AO Award for Excellence in AGITG Research was presented to Professor Tim Price. Professor Price’s commitment to the AGITG spans over two decades, beginning with his membership in 2001. His leadership and dedication have been instrumental in advancing GI cancer research and shaping our organisation’s direction. There are not many roles he hasn’t held – he joined the Board in 2004 and served as Chair from 2013 to 2020, served as Chair of the SAC from 2004 to 2023, is a member of the International Development Committee and Lower GI Working Party, from 2008 to 2012 served as Convenor of the Annual Scientific Meeting and is now an AGITG Ambassador.

Tim’s research contributions have been truly remarkable. He has led landmark trials including ASCEND, NEO-POLEM, and the completed PETACC-6 study. He has been site Principal Investigator for an impressive portfolio of studies, including ASCOLT, INTEGRATE II and IIb, MONARCC, SPAR, DYNAMIC-III, RENO, SSGXXII, MODULATE, LIBERATE, and CONTROL NETS.

But his commitment extends beyond research, he has personally participated in two Gutsy Challenges, demonstrating his dedication to fundraising and patient advocacy.

Tim’s 24 years of service embody the highest standards of scientific excellence, collaborative leadership, and unwavering commitment to advancing gastrointestinal cancer research and care.

The Russell Conley Anal Cancer Grant was awarded to Dr Thomas Hansen for his project Molecular Risk Stratification in HPV-associated Anal Cancer: Translating Genomic Insights into Personalised Care. Thank you to Russell’s sister Chris Conley for presenting the award to Dr Hansen.

Read more about Dr Hansen's project.

The Member Fundraiser of the Year Awards were presented to:

Associate Professor Andrew Dean in recognition of referring his patient, Chris Reichstein, to our organisation who left a generous bequest.
Brooklynn Dowling from the Community Advisory Panel who generously shared the story of losing her dad Jim to oesophageal cancer for a fundraising appeal. Brooklynn works as a Medical Technician Instructor in the Royal Australian Air Force, posted to the ADF School of Health, and held a great event to raise funds for our research at Latchford Barracks in Albury.
Catherine Trevaskis, a long-time member, who has taken part in four Gutsy Challenges and has raised close to $30,000, including the most recent Kangaroo Island trek where she raised over $10,000!

The Christine Aiken Memorial Award for Excellence in AGITG Study Coordination was presented to Chia Chia Tan.

Chia Chia has demonstrated deep commitment and enthusiasm for GI cancer research over her three years as study coordinator, with ASCEND as her primary AGITG trial at Fiona Stanley Hospital, exceeding recruitment targets and maintaining 100% data query resolution through high-level involvement from protocol implementation to patient follow-up, whilst consistently maintaining protocol adherence across complex, multi-centre studies.

To ensure equitable access to the ASCEND trial, Chia Chia has facilitated participation for culturally and linguistically diverse patients by working closely with Aboriginal health services and multicultural liaison officers to create culturally safe trial environments, routinely engaging interpreters to support informed decision-making, collaborating with regional referring centres outside metro Perth, and promoting the trial to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health networks through internal outreach and staff education.

Chia Chia has contributed to trial awareness by presenting at the Cancer Network Forum on Clinical Trials Coordination and engaging with patient support groups, whilst her dedication enabled several patients with challenging social circumstances to participate through simplified patient tracking systems and reduced barriers to recruitment and follow-up, with participants routinely providing positive feedback highlighting her professionalism, attentiveness, personalised communication, and compassionate care.

This year, the Excellence in Site Performance Award – Metropolitan Category was brought home by Austin Health Clinical Trials GI Team, Victoria, and accepted by Meg Donovan-Hayes and Prof Niall Tebbutt.

Austin Health has demonstrated over 20 years of commitment to AGITG studies, recruiting significant patient numbers across multiple trials including 36 patients to INTEGRATE IIa & IIb, 18 patients to VADER, and 5 patients to BIL-PPP, while consistently receiving praise from sponsors and monitors for their quality and engagement.

Austin Health actively engages with the community through the VCTL and their Cancer Clinical Trials website, has developed multilingual brochures in 16 languages titled “Is a clinical trial right for you?”, and provides multiple feedback channels including QR code posters throughout the hospital and a formal consumer feedback system.

The Excellence in Site Performance Award – Regional, Rural and Remote Category was presented to Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Queensland, and accepted by Dr Michael Allen.

The Cancer Care Clinical Trials Unit at Sunshine Coast University Hospital serves a diverse catchment area across southeast Queensland with a higher incidence of gastrointestinal cancers, addressing accessibility challenges through satellite sites and teletrial infrastructure that enable patients in remote and rural locations to participate in research without the burden of travel.

The unit demonstrates strong commitment to collaborative research through successful completion of sub studies including the Sarcopenia sub study within MASTERPLAN, whilst actively exploring additional translational and quality-of-life sub studies and consistently achieves high participant retention rates with minimal full withdrawal of consent through proactive engagement strategies.

SCUH prioritises equity, diversity, and inclusion by tailoring consent forms in ‘Easy Read’ format for their elderly and low socioeconomic population, implementing patient surveys and QR code feedback mechanisms, and hosting an annual Cancer Research Day that brings together healthcare professionals, researchers, patients, and community members to promote awareness and foster collaboration across the cancer care continuum.

The Early Career Researcher Award for Excellence in AGITG Research was presented to Dr Cassandra White.

Cassandra is an outstanding early career researcher in clinical and translational science who, without prior laboratory experience, developed and refined an RTPCR assay to detect DPYD variants as a PGx research tool, whilst simultaneously conducting a feasibility study in 104 patients and a retrospective study of 500 consecutive patients treated with FP chemotherapy to confirm severe toxicity frequency.

These advances led to the development of the GeneScreen clinical trial, a prospective interventional study recruiting large numbers of patients rapidly from 28 centres around Australia, where Cassandra has been instrumental as one of four project leaders in developing and refining educational tools for clinicians and patients to overcome participation barriers, maintaining this momentum despite her PhD being interrupted by two additions to her family.

The Best New Concept Award was presented to Dr John Mak for the concept A Randomized Phase III Trial of Morning Versus Afternoon Administration of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in dMMR/MSI-High Metastatic Colorectal Cancer.

The Runners-Up for Best New Concept were:

PALM-RC – Patient choice in the Approach to Localised Management of Rectal Cancer – presented by Dr Norma Bulamu.
NEOCYT – Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy Prior to Cytoreductive Surgery for Peritoneal Disease from GI Cancers – presented by Professor Tim Price.

The Best of Oral Abstracts Award was presented to Professor Tim Price for Australian patients with IDH1 mutated cholangiocarcinoma treated with ivosidenib: initial results from the phase 3b ProvIDHe study.

2nd place was awarded to Dr Adel Aref for Proteomics-Driven Risk Stratification in Stage III Colon Cancer: A Validated Prognostic Signature for Recurrence Prediction using three independent cohorts.

Equal 3rd place was awarded to Dr Warren Seow for Compliance and Toxicity of Total Neoadjuvant Therapy in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis, and Dr Madison Shakespeare for A Seedpod of Yarns: Indigenous-Led Yarning as a Transformative Approach in Translational GI Cancer Research and Practice.

Thank you to all the delegates who engaged with the ASM app this year. Congratulations to:

1st place: Dr Simon Wilkins, Cabrini Health
2nd place: Dr Suellyn Centauri, Bankstown Hospital
3rd place: Brooklynn Dowling, Community Advisory Panel