Researcher Profiles

Professor Christobel Saunders MB BS Lond., FRCS England, FRACS

Christobel Saunders is a Consultant Surgeon at Royal Perth, St John of God, Subiaco and Fiona Stanley Hospitals in Perth, Western Australia. She is Professor of Surgical Oncology and Head of Unit, General Surgery at The University of Western Australia; and Consultant Surgeon for the Western Australian Melanoma Advisory Service. She is closely involved in strategic planning and management of cancer services nationally as Chair of the WA Cancer Care Taskforce, member of various collaboratives for the WA Cancer and Palliative Care Network, past founding Advisory Council member for Cancer Australia, and Board member of Breast Cancer Network Australia and Cancer Council Western Australia. Christobel has been involved in the development of numerous best practice guidelines for both patients and clinicians and her work is embedded in a firm evidence base implementing the latest research.

Christobel has worked in the breast cancer field for over 25 years and in 2010 received the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) Patrons Award for achievement in breast cancer research as well as the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Certificate of Outstanding Service. She was recognised by UWA’s Vice-Chancellor for her contribution to the microscope-in-a-needle invention with the Inaugural Research Award in Impact and Innovation in 2014; and again in 2015 with the Vice-Chancellor’s Senior Research Award.

Christobel’s research covers a wide diversity of areas including clinical trials of new treatments, psychosocial research and translational and health services research. She has an outstanding funding track record, having attracted a total of nearly $30 million in over 80 grants awarded in Australia since 2002. Christobel has published over 140 scientific papers in refereed journals, three books and 18 book chapters. She is co-author of the book Breast Cancer – a guide for every woman and Breast Cancer: The Facts, which was shortlisted for the British Medical Association Book of the Year in 2010.
Christobel has a passion for health and medical research, patient advocacy and an exceptional clinical track record in the management and treatment of breast cancer.

Clinical Associate Professor Donna Taylor MBBS, AMusA, FRANZCR, FRCP(C)

Donna Taylor is a consultant radiologist at BreastScreen WA and Royal Perth Hospital in Perth, Western Australia. She has worked for 25 years as a clinical radiologist, subspecialising in the diagnosis and treatment of breast diseases both in population-based mammographic screening (BreastScreen Western Australia), MRI screening of women at high risk for breast cancer (RPH) and as a member of the multidisciplinary breast team at Royal Perth Hospital.

In 2011, in collaboration with Dr Anita Bourke from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Donna initiated the formation of the WA ROLLIS (Radioguided Occult Lesion Localisation using Iodine 125 Seeds) Investigators Group, aiming to reduce re-excision rates for women undergoing breast conserving surgery for breast cancer.

In 2013, Donna’s passion for research was rewarded with a Clinician Research Fellowship by the Medical Research Foundation of RPH. This three year fellowship has enabled her to have protected academic time to work on the many collaborative inter-hospital and inter-state projects in which she is involved.

Donna strives to stay at the forefront of new technology, and in 2013 RPH became the first site in WA to introduce contrast enhanced spectral mammography for the local staging of breast cancer largely due to the research work Donna had been undertaking.

Donna is a member of the Breast Interest Group, Radiation Oncology and Clinical Radiology Research Committees of the Royal Australasian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, Australian and New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group, Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine, American Roentgen Ray Society and is on the Executive of the Australasian Society for Breast Diseases. Donna is currently an Associate Editor for The Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology and was the Lee Rogers Fellow in Radiology Journalism for 2015

Dr Anita Bourke

Dr Bourke is the Senior Radiologist at the Breast Centre, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital with a special interest and skills in breast cancer screening and assessment, diagnosis and intervention. She is a Sessional Radiologist at BreastScreenWA and a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia. She is both a radiologist and nuclear physician and the first dual trained specialist in these fields in WA. She is responsible for training fellows and registrars in breast radiology at SCGH and BSWA.

She provides expert advice to guide research studies and co-ordinates research activities at the SCGH Breast Centre, drawing on her clinical expertise. She is regularly invited to speak at local and national scientific meetings.