SHOM GOEL

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2009 Fulbright Postgraduate Alumni (WG Walker Scholar) Scholarship

“Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed amongst women worldwide, and accounts for almost 3000 deaths in Australia alone each year. As we continue to discover more complexities within cancer biology, doctors are increasingly reliant upon laboratory scientists to develop new therapies to control breast cancer. Such therapies can ultimately improve the survival rates for patients with breast cancer, and simultaneously improve their quality of life.”

Dr Shom Goel is currently a senior medical oncology registrar within the Sydney South West Area Health Service. He graduated with First Class Honours and the University Medal in Medicine and Medical Science from the University of Adelaide.

Shom has won the Fulbright Postgraduate Alumni (WG Walker) Scholarship granted to the highest ranked Australian postgraduate applicant and funded through donations by Fulbright Alumni. Based at Harvard Medical School he will undertake twelve months’ research related to his Australian PhD.

“My research will focus on the process of malignant angiogenesis – the growth of new blood vessels within tumours – and will investigate ways by which it can be inhibited or manipulated to maximise our ability to kill tumour cells. Drugs designed to inhibit blood vessel growth in tumours – “anti-angiogenic therapies” – have recently been tested in patients with breast cancer, and while the results have been promising, survival rates have not been improved. I will study these drugs in the laboratory, aiming to increase our understanding of how they work and how they can be rendered more effective”.

“Researchers at Harvard Medical School have previously discovered major abnormalities within tumour blood vessels and have shown that anti-angiogenic therapy transiently reverses these (“vascular normalisation”), improving chemotherapy penetration into tumours. Harvard is a leader in the field of tumour angiogenesis, and the School’s laboratories at the Massachusetts General Hospital are led by a world class scientific team.”

“I will concentrate on developing methods to prolong the vascular normalisation period. The work aims to optimise the use of anti-angiogenic therapy for breast cancer, and could help to prolong the duration and quality of life for breast cancer patients. Upon returning to Australia, I plan to assist in the training of young Australian doctors and cancer researchers, aiming to strengthen the profile of Australian cancer research on the world stage”.

Shom has an extensive list of honours to his name, including the Honours Alumni University Medal for the single most outstanding graduate across all faculties of the University of Adelaide for 2002, and the Bryan Hudson Medal, awarded to highest performing candidate in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians’ annual fellowship examination. He also won an Australia & Asia Pacific Clinical Oncology Research Development (ACORD) Fellowship in 2008.