dr Elgene lim

<< Back to 2010 Australian Scholars

Fulbright Victoria Scholar

Media Profile

“Breast cancer is a major health problem in Australia, accounting for the highest rate of cancer mortality in women. Through new research platforms we aim to identify novel treatment targets in breast cancer subtypes that do not respond to conventional treatments.”

Dr Elgene Lim, a medical oncologist with the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and a researcher at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute, is the winner of the 2010 Fulbright Victoria Scholarship, established by the Victorian government and Victorian based universities.

Through his Fulbright tenure, he will spend two years at the Dana Faber Cancer Institute at Harvard University, researching new ways to treat breast cancer, particularly for variants that are resistant to chemotherapy. Fifteen to twenty percent of breast cancers are a sub-type that is difficult to treat as they tend to be resistant to chemotherapy. This subtype tends to occur at higher frequency in younger woman, the disease is more aggressive and they have disproportionately higher mortality rates.

“There are new technologies with the promise to improve existing and identify new treatments for this subgroup. My study aims use these research platforms to better understand the mechanisms underlying these cancers and in the long-term, and translating these findings into treatment for patients. In addition, it aims to identify those who will respond positively to new treatments, and therefore sparing non-responders unnecessary side effects of therapy.”

Elgene said that this research is highly relevant to Victoria as it develops to become a major international centre of excellence in the field of cancer. He aims to bring back to Australia new skill sets and develop stronger links between Victoria and the US cancer research community.

Elgene has Bachelors degrees in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Melbourne, and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He subsequently attained his Phd at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute researching on human breast stem cells. Through this research, he identified the cells likely to be responsible for BRCA1-associated breast cancer, a hereditary form of breast cancer. This work was published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature Medicine in 2009.

In addition, Elgene has participated in multiple medical relief efforts in India, including Orissa and in the slums of Calcutta. He has also volunteered as a physician to asylum seekers in Melbourne. He recently led a multidisciplinary team comprising doctors, dentists and teachers from Melbourne to the tribal groups of Orissa to build upon the foundations laid in previous visits.