Prof Paul de Souza

SAC Member

Prof Paul de Souza has over 20 years of experience caring for patients with cancer, especially those with brain and genitourinary cancer and has a strong interest in clinical research and trials. 

Prof de Souza is the former Dean of Medicine at Wollongong University, a Foundation Professor of Medical Oncology at Western Sydney University, a conjoint Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Australia, and an Honorary Professor of the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney. 

After completion of his medical oncology training in Sydney, Paul was appointed as a Research Associate and later, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Virginia where he developed his clinical and research interests in cancer drug development. 

Paul works as a medical oncologist at Southside Cancer Care Centre and St George Private Hospital. He runs a research laboratory at the Ingham Institute, Liverpool, dedicated to developing new drugs for cancer patients and innovative methodologies for monitoring cancers, as well as running many clinical trials of experimental new drugs.

Prof Peter Fecci

SAC Member

Peter Fecci, MD PhD, is a Professor of Neurosurgery, Pathology, and Immunology at Duke University, where he also serves as the Director for the Center for Brain and Spine Metastasis, as well as the Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program (BTIP). 

Peter earned his MD PhD at Duke in 2007, before pursuing his neurosurgical training at MGH. While in Boston, he continued his post-doctoral research training at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Peter returned to Duke in 2014 to join the neurosurgical faculty. 

He was a recipient of the Sontag Distinguished Scientist Award in 2015 and heads an R01-funded laboratory that focuses on integrating strategies for reversing cancer-induced T cell dysfunction with current immune-based platforms.  

His recent work on GBM-induced T cell exhaustion and sequestration has produced high profile publications including in Nature Medicine. Clinically, as a neurosurgeon, he focuses on intrinsic brain tumours and has built one of the country’s largest centers for Laser Interstitial Thermal Therapy as a minimally invasive option for brain tumours.

A/Prof Raelene Endersby

SAC Member

A/Prof Raelene Endersby was awarded her PhD in 2003 from the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research and undertook postdoctoral training in the Neurobiology and Brain Tumour Program at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, U.S.

She was awarded the John Lillie Childhood Cancer Fellowship in 2011 to return to Australia to establish the Brain Tumour Research Program at the Telethon Kids Institute, which she co-leads with Dr Nick Gottardo. Her team investigates potential therapeutic targets and uses in vivo model systems to evaluate novel treatments for paediatric brain tumours prior to clinical trial. 

Dr Endersby is a passionate advocate for science and actively encourages young scientists to get involved in medical research. She has mentored high school students, undergrads, Honours, Masters and PhD students in her lab, has chaired the Telethon Kids Institute Postdoctoral Council and was on the inaugural executive committee for the Australian Academy of Science Early-Mid Career Researchers Forum.