AIHI Seminar Series 2017 - Professor David Goldstein

The Translational Cancer Research Network (TCRN) is a Translational Cancer Research Centre based at UNSW and funded by the Cancer Institute NSW. Founded in 2011, the TCRN brings together researchers and clinicians from across its member groups including UNSW Sydney, hospitals within the South East Sydney Local Health District, University Technology Sydney, Border Medical Oncology and the Australian Institute of Health Innovation.

The Cancer Institute identified translational research as an area to focus research support to supplement the usual research funding models that focus upon preclinical scientific discovery or clinical trials. The focus of such research is intended to be on mainstream application of novel approaches to care emerging from preclinical or preliminary clinical research or clinical observation leading to novel directions for preclinical research.

The goals of the TCRN are to foster a sustainable culture of translational research and develop a sustainable cancer focussed workforce. Examples of the TCRN work in biobanking and bioinformatics and hereditary cancer will be used as examples of potential system change, identification of potential metrics to assess impact in partnership with the AIHI, and our planned future program will be outlined.

Professor Goldstein is a conjoint clinical professor at the UNSW Prince of Wales Clinical school. He is the director of the UNSW Cancer Institute NSW Translational Cancer Research Centre – the Translational Cancer Research Network [TCRN] of which the AIHI is a key member. The TCRN belongs to a network of centres established to aggregate translational cancer research in NSW.

He has been involved in a variety of clinical research projects ranging from laboratory basic science to novel therapeutics trials to psychosocial aspects of Cancer care. He has been PI of a number of NHMRC and Cancer Australia funded therapeutic trials including both investigator initiated and as Australian PI for multinational studies. He has also been involved with psychosocial and cross cultural/CALD research for many years. His clinical interests are treatment of GI malignancies including pancreas cancer, colorectal cancer, anal carcinoma, hepatobiliary and upper GI malignancy and renal cell carcinoma and lymphoma.

He is the adult program leader of the newly formed UNSW Cancer Survivors Centre and is involved with a research program associated with survivorship issues. As part of this activity, he is the Chief Investigator of a Cancer Institute NSW translational program grant of $3,100,000 to study the impact of chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy.

He also actively participates in three laboratory research programs dealing with stromal biology, pancreas drug resistance and modelling optimal targeted therapies in sarcoma.

Professor Goldstein has over 250 co-authored peer reviewed publications and has presented at numerous national and international meetings: USA – ASCO, Japan - Japan Pancreas Society, Gastro week and medical oncology group, New Zealand, S. Korea, Singapore, COSA ASM. Professor Goldstein is a past president of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia and was a long serving board member of the Australasian Gastrointestinal Trials Group over 11 years and was treasurer for most of that time. He is currently the project leader for the ASCO/HVO cancer program in Hue Vietnam, as well as being a member of the supervisory committee of all HVO cancer projects.