Membership

Dr Jane Skeen was awarded ANZCHOG Life Membership thanks to the exceptional oncology care she has provided for New Zealand children and families since 1981. Dr Skeen is also acknowledged for her pioneering role in the development and achievements of the Pacific Working Group, formed in 2006. Dr Skeen’s leadership as Chair, and ongoing support, has lead to a range of initiatives to bridge the gap in outcomes seen across Pacific nations. Her support, which included advice, guidance and training to health professionals, has truly made a difference in the care and treatment for paediatric oncology patients and families in these countries.

Dr Karin Tiedemann was a pioneer of allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) and the use of unrelated cord blood for matched unrelated haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Australia and New Zealand. She joined The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, as a consultant Paediatric Haematologist/Oncologist in 1981 and later led the hospital’s BMT program from 1992 to 2010. She also established and led the Cord Blood Bank from 1996 to 2018.

Dr Tiedemann is a longstanding member of ANZCHOG. Additionally, she served on the ANZCHOG executive committee from 2000 to 2006.

Dr Liane Lockwood was the Director of the Oncology Department at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane (RCH) from 1993 to 2005. Alongside colleagues, she oversaw the development of the Oncology Service at RCH Brisbane, including advocating for increased funding to expand services and establishing the paediatric bone marrow transplant service in Brisbane.

Liane has trained, mentored or supervised every consultant paediatric oncologist within the current Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) Leukaemia, Lymphoma and Bone Marrow Transplant Service. She is recognised as an excellent teacher and an inspiring mentor. Lianne has been a member of ANZCHOG (formerly the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Cancer Study Group), since 1991. In this time, she has held positions within ANZCHOG including Chair of the Lymphoma Group, Chair of the Study Control Committee and a member of the executive.

Mary McGowan was awarded ANZCHOG Life Membership in 2021 thanks to her lifelong dedication to caring for children with cancer and their families. Mary started at The Royal Children’s Hospital in 1978 as a paediatric nurse and in two years was promoted to the Nurse Unit Manager role, a role which she held for more than 20 years. She was later promoted to the manager’s position at the Children’s Cancer Centre.

Mary’s dedication extends to more than just her working career. From the beginning, Mary has been a passionate advocate for children and their families, supporting them through their difficult journey. Mary has also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for numerous charities and has been a long-term board member for major children’s cancer organisations.

Professor Richard Cohn AM has been a continuous ANZCHOG member for almost three decades, including serving as Chair of the ANZCHOG Childhood Cancer Survivorship sub-committee from 2009-2022. During this time, he advocated for improved care and research for childhood cancer survivorship, including convening multiple ANZCHOG workshops on childhood cancer survivorship and participating internationally on committees and at meetings that ensured Australia was seen as a contributor to the developing field of cancer survivorship.

Professor Cohn’s broader contributions to the field of paediatric oncology/haematology are vast. He has held many senior positions including:

Clinical Program Director of Medicine and Diagnostics in the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Randwick (2008 – 2023).
Head of Clinical Oncology in the Kids Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital (1999 – 2020).
Professor in the School of Clinical Medicine at UNSW Sydney (from 2010).
Director of the Long-term Follow-up Program at Sydney Children’s Hospital
Clinical Research Associate at the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia
Co-director (Paediatrics) of the NSW Cancer Survivorship Centre, UNSW Sydney.

Throughout Dr Rosemary Sutton’s career, she has worked tirelessly to improve molecular diagnostics for children with blood cancers, leading to her being awarded ANZCHOG Life Membership in 2022.Dr Sutton’s leadership in developing MRD technology in Australia, and then expanding to offer this as a clinical diagnostic test nationally, has changed the way risk stratification and relapse monitoring occurs for Australian children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Importantly, the ability to offer high-quality, consistent MRD testing has paved the way for Australian involvement in clinical trials for ALL, now seen as an essential step to inform optimal treatment decisions.

Sir Scott Macfarlane was awarded ANZCHOG Life Membership as a result of his combined clinical care and research. With over 26 years at Starship Blood and Cancer Centre, his leadership has shaped the provision of oncology care at New Zealand’s largest dedicated children’s cancer centre, improving access to the best treatments available for all New Zealand children. Sir Macfarlane has also been acknowledged for his role at Ministry of Health (New Zealand) which included delivering a national plan for child cancer services. Additionally, he has held various leadership roles in the sector, including as part of the ANZCHOG Executive Committee, the Continental President for International Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOP) and leading the team which hosted the highly successful SIOP scientific meeting in Auckland in 2011.