Charlie Teo Foundation
Fundraise Volunteer

Our story

Precision, pioneering & possibilities

Precision, pioneering & possibilities

A leading neurosurgeon in demand across the globe, Charlie is famous for offering surgery to brain cancer patients who have been given no hope.

He is a skilled surgeon, a highly awarded teacher and now a philanthropist.

Game-changing

Game-changing

Charlie has never been satisfied with the status-quo and now wants to shake-up the way brain cancer research is funded.

As such he launched the Charlie Teo Foundation in 2018.

It’s different, it’s GAME CHANGING and it’s pure Charlie.

Radical thinking

Radical thinking

Founded by a rebel with a cause, this foundation is all about RADICAL THINKING.

It’s about funding brilliant, original minds to go where no brain cancer researcher has gone before.

Low-cost model

Low-cost model

The Foundation also has a LOW COST MODEL that’s setting the bar for how charities should run.

When it comes to our books, we’re an open book.

Everything we do is underpinned by our values

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Everything we do is underpinned by our values

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Board

We are privileged to have the expertise of our Board of Directors.

Garry Browne AM

Chair

Guy Farrow

Director

Charlie Teo AM

Founder & Director

Shaun Treacy

Director

Scientific Advisory Board

The primary role of our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) is to peer review and make recommendations to the Charlie Teo Foundation on scientific matters relating to our research programs.

SAB members are expert scientists and clinicians in the field of brain cancer, and include a representative from the Charlie Teo Foundation Board of Directors. The community of scientists undertaking brain cancer research globally is relatively small due to the complexity of the problem and lack of funding available. Under our Grant Guidelines and SAB Charter, SAB members must comply with our conflicts of interest policy and are not involved in peer review of any application where they are a member of the research team. From time-to-time, we may call on external, independent reviewers with particular expertise. We are immensely grateful for the voluntary contribution of our SAB members.

Markus Bittl

Markus Bittl

SAB Member

Markus Bittl is head of the section of Paediatric Neurosurgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum Stuttgart, Germany.

He received his medical degree from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Munich. After completing his residency training at the Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum Augsburg, he spent two and a half years as a clinical fellow at the University of Virginia Department of Neurosurgery. There he worked with the world famous faculty in vascular, neuroendocrine and epilepsy surgery. Teaching and surgical training of young neurosurgeons became his passion.

Returning from the US he could intensify his special interest in minimally invasive and endoscopic neurosurgery while working with Prof. Nikolai Hopf in Stuttgart.

He tries to bring the view of a practicing neurosurgeon in the “real world“ to the foundation and to identify research with hopefully immediate impacts on the needs of today’s brain tumour patients.

Dr Kristina Cook

Dr Kristina Cook

SAB Member

Dr Kristina Cook is a biologist and research fellow at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney. Dr. Cook completed her D.Phil. in Chemical Biology at the University of Oxford in a collaborative program with the NIH, USA, as an OxCam Biomedical Research Scholar.

Her lab studies how cells respond and adapt to reduced oxygen, particularly in the context of tumour progression in both paediatric diffuse midline gliomas and adult glioblastoma tumours.  Dr. Cook has a multi-disciplinary background in molecular and cell biology, drug development, high-throughput screening and rational drug design. Her research has a strong collaborative approach with a clinical focus aimed at translating her findings in the role of hypoxia, oxygen sensors, and the circadian rhythm in brain cancer for the benefit of patients.

Dr Cook’s impactful work has been extensively cited (> 2,400 times) and is published in many top journals including Nature Communications, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Blood, Science Advances, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and others. Her Research is supported by prestigious grants from NSW Health (2021-2024) and the Charlie Teo Foundation (2020-2024)

A/Prof Anoop Patel

A/Prof Anoop Patel

SAB Member

Dr Anoop Patel, is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Duke University. He earned his MD from Harvard Medical School before completing a neurosurgical residency and research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

As a Neurosurgeon, Dr Patel specialises in minimally invasive approaches for brain tumours, aiming to provide optimal outcomes with reduced risk. He focuses on caring for patients with intrinsic brain tumours, including glioblastoma and metastasis.

Dr Patel also leads a research laboratory at the Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies at Duke and has published high profile papers in prestigious journals including Science and Nature Biotechnology. His expertise lies in leveraging cutting-edge single-cell technologies to study tumour heterogeneity in malignant brain tumours and creating patient-specific disease models. His goal is to advance precision medicine for brain tumours through research, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

His research is supported by grants from the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation, Kuni Foundation, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, and NINDS.

Dr Charles Teo

Dr Charles Teo

SAB Member

For over 30 years Dr Charlie Teo AM has been instrumental in the development, dissemination and acceptance of the concept of keyhole minimally invasive techniques in neurosurgery. Dr Teo ran a fellowship program that attracts over 600 applicants yearly and has trained many of the world’s leading figures in neurosurgery. He has trained at distinguished centres such as the Barrow Neurological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, Stanford University, Vanderbilt University and Harvard University.

He has been published in over 120 peer reviewed journals, has authored two books on keyhole approaches to brain tumours and featured as a guest editor for several journals. He was the Australian representative on the Tumour Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and CNS.

Dr Teo strongly believes that a surgeon’s responsibility to his patients shouldn’t end after surgery. In keeping with his desire to find cures for recurrent brain tumours, he has contributed to raising $50 million that has been used to fund research scientists both in Australia and Internationally.

Dr Teo dedicates time every year to pro bono work in developing countries, for which he has been recognised with awards from Rotary International. This includes the Paul Harris Fellowship for contribution to World Health. He has been a finalist in the NSW Australian of the Year awards in 2003 and 2009.

In 2011 his contribution to the development of minimally invasive neurosurgery was recognised in the Australia Day awards where he was named as a Member of the Order of Australia. In 2012, he was invited to give the Australia Day Address to the Nation and in 2013 was honoured to be the first non-politician Australian to address the US Congress on the need for more funding for brain cancer research.

Charlie is a father to four beautiful daughters and has supported the rights of girls and young women in impoverished countries such as Cambodia and India through various charities.

Markus Bittl

Markus Bittl

SAB Member

Markus Bittl is head of the section of Paediatric Neurosurgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum Stuttgart, Germany.

He received his medical degree from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet, Munich. After completing his residency training at the Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum Augsburg, he spent two and a half years as a clinical fellow at the University of Virginia Department of Neurosurgery. There he worked with the world famous faculty in vascular, neuroendocrine and epilepsy surgery. Teaching and surgical training of young neurosurgeons became his passion.

Returning from the US he could intensify his special interest in minimally invasive and endoscopic neurosurgery while working with Prof. Nikolai Hopf in Stuttgart.

He tries to bring the view of a practicing neurosurgeon in the “real world“ to the foundation and to identify research with hopefully immediate impacts on the needs of today’s brain tumour patients.

Dr Kristina Cook

Dr Kristina Cook

SAB Member

Dr Kristina Cook is a biologist and research fellow at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney. Dr. Cook completed her D.Phil. in Chemical Biology at the University of Oxford in a collaborative program with the NIH, USA, as an OxCam Biomedical Research Scholar.

Her lab studies how cells respond and adapt to reduced oxygen, particularly in the context of tumour progression in both paediatric diffuse midline gliomas and adult glioblastoma tumours.  Dr. Cook has a multi-disciplinary background in molecular and cell biology, drug development, high-throughput screening and rational drug design. Her research has a strong collaborative approach with a clinical focus aimed at translating her findings in the role of hypoxia, oxygen sensors, and the circadian rhythm in brain cancer for the benefit of patients.

Dr Cook’s impactful work has been extensively cited (> 2,400 times) and is published in many top journals including Nature Communications, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Blood, Science Advances, Journal of the American Chemical Society, and others. Her Research is supported by prestigious grants from NSW Health (2021-2024) and the Charlie Teo Foundation (2020-2024)

A/Prof Anoop Patel

A/Prof Anoop Patel

SAB Member

Dr Anoop Patel, is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Duke University. He earned his MD from Harvard Medical School before completing a neurosurgical residency and research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

As a Neurosurgeon, Dr Patel specialises in minimally invasive approaches for brain tumours, aiming to provide optimal outcomes with reduced risk. He focuses on caring for patients with intrinsic brain tumours, including glioblastoma and metastasis.

Dr Patel also leads a research laboratory at the Center for Advanced Genomic Technologies at Duke and has published high profile papers in prestigious journals including Science and Nature Biotechnology. His expertise lies in leveraging cutting-edge single-cell technologies to study tumour heterogeneity in malignant brain tumours and creating patient-specific disease models. His goal is to advance precision medicine for brain tumours through research, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

His research is supported by grants from the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation, Kuni Foundation, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, and NINDS.

Dr Charles Teo

Dr Charles Teo

SAB Member

For over 30 years Dr Charlie Teo AM has been instrumental in the development, dissemination and acceptance of the concept of keyhole minimally invasive techniques in neurosurgery. Dr Teo ran a fellowship program that attracts over 600 applicants yearly and has trained many of the world’s leading figures in neurosurgery. He has trained at distinguished centres such as the Barrow Neurological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, Stanford University, Vanderbilt University and Harvard University.

He has been published in over 120 peer reviewed journals, has authored two books on keyhole approaches to brain tumours and featured as a guest editor for several journals. He was the Australian representative on the Tumour Section of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and CNS.

Dr Teo strongly believes that a surgeon’s responsibility to his patients shouldn’t end after surgery. In keeping with his desire to find cures for recurrent brain tumours, he has contributed to raising $50 million that has been used to fund research scientists both in Australia and Internationally.

Dr Teo dedicates time every year to pro bono work in developing countries, for which he has been recognised with awards from Rotary International. This includes the Paul Harris Fellowship for contribution to World Health. He has been a finalist in the NSW Australian of the Year awards in 2003 and 2009.

In 2011 his contribution to the development of minimally invasive neurosurgery was recognised in the Australia Day awards where he was named as a Member of the Order of Australia. In 2012, he was invited to give the Australia Day Address to the Nation and in 2013 was honoured to be the first non-politician Australian to address the US Congress on the need for more funding for brain cancer research.

Charlie is a father to four beautiful daughters and has supported the rights of girls and young women in impoverished countries such as Cambodia and India through various charities.

Team

Charlie Teo Foundation is committed to running a low-cost charity with a lean and dedicated team of only 3 full-time employees.

Alana Phadke

Chief Executive Officer

Mary Shipway

Head of Fundraising & Operations

Peter Truong

Head of Research

Caitlin Heavener

Community Fundraising Lead

We are beyond grateful for the support of our dedicated volunteers who help us all year round.

Ashraf Zaman, PhD

Researcher

Bernadette English

Administration Assistant

Christine Lazaris

Volunteer Co-ordinator

Georgia Baines

Research Assistant

Karen Richardson

Clinical Researcher

Lara Fine

Clinical Research Assistant

Dr Michael Sughrue

Scientific Research Fellow

Robin Berthelsen

Legal Counsel

Steele Bromley

Finance Consultant

Ambassadors

We are honoured to have the talent and generosity of our ambassadors.

Alex Cullen

Alex Cullen

TV Journalist & Presenter

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Ben Fordham

Ben Fordham

Radio & TV Journalist & Presenter

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Chris Bath

Chris Bath

Journalist

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Erin Molan

Erin Molan

TV and Radio Presenter

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Jim Wilson

Jim Wilson

Radio Presenter & Sports Journalist

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Joanna Collins

Joanna Collins

Businesswoman & Philanthropist 

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Karl Stefanovic

Karl Stefanovic

TV Presenter

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Kelly Slater

Kelly Slater

Surfer

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Leo Sayer

Leo Sayer

Singer-songwriter 

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Luke Mangan

Luke Mangan

Restaurateur and chef

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Marcella Zemanek

Marcella Zemanek

Brain Cancer Advocate

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Marcia Hines

Marcia Hines

Singer

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Maryanne Larkin

Maryanne Larkin

Cancer & Mental Health Advocate

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Michael Goldman

Michael Goldman

Actor/Presenter

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Peter Overton

Peter Overton

TV Journalist & Presenter

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Richard Wilkins

Richard Wilkins

Channel 9 Entertainment Editor 

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Steve Smith

Steve Smith

Australian Test Cricketer

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Charlie Teo Foundation acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands where we work and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to the people, the cultures and the Elders past, present and emerging.