Congratulations to Assoc Prof Aung Ko Win on being awarded an NHMRC Investigator Grant - Reducing colorectal cancer burden in young adults: Precision prevention and early detection

Assoc Prof Aung Ko Win

Congratulations to Assoc Prof Aung Ko Win from the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics who has received funding to improve colorectal cancer outcomes for people under the age of 50.

Early-onset colorectal cancers – diagnosed before the age of 50 – are increasing. This is in stark contrast to the overall incidence of colorectal cancer cases, which have been consistently falling over the last 20 to 30 years.

Screening and early detection have been pivotal in effective prevention of the disease, however screening does not cover people under the age of 50. As such, the majority of colorectal cancers in young adults are diagnosed at a late stage.

Professor Win’s work will focus on enabling tailored prevention and detection for colorectal cancer in people under the age of 50. He will develop a risk-assessment tool to optimise screening, identify risk factors, and recruit the children of people with early onset colorectal cancer to develop future research.