Colorectal Cancer

• Professor Mark Jenkins

  Unit Head

  m.jenkins@unimelb.edu.au
  83440902

Research Overview

Although we understand the major factors that increase the risk of developing colorectal cancer and we know that screening for colorectal cancer reduces the number of new cases and deaths, fundamental questions remain:

• How can we increase the effectiveness of colorectal cancer screening?
• How can we target prevention to those most at risk?
• What is the best way to medically manage people with a genetic predisposition?
• What are the best treatments and most accurate prognoses for people who do get colorectal cancer?

We undertake a comprehensive approach to find the answers to these questions to reduce the burden of colorectal cancer.

Staff

Professor Mark Jenkins (Unit Head)

A/Prof Aung Ko Win (Deputy Unit Head)

A/Prof Jennifer McIntosh  (Deputy Unit Head)

Dr Driss Ait Ouakrim

Maggie Angelakos

Dr Dan Buchanan

Annette Dulfer

Nicole Eggers

Samantha Fox

Dr Lanxi Huang

Michelle King

Dr Joyce Jiang

Fiona  Munro

Amanda Torosidis

Professor Carlene Wilson

Ye Zhang

Alysa Azryn

Honorary  Staff

Dr Louisa Flander

Dr Robert Macinnis

Graduate Researchers

Ye Kyaw Aung

Aaron Meyers

Sandra Sursock

Ye Zhang

Professional Staff

Lyn Buchanan

Lynette Walker

Collaborators

Our research programs are based in national and international collaborations that were initiated in 1997 with the formation of the Australasian Colorectal Cancer Registry. We are a principal partner in an international registry of tens of thousands of participants from thousands of families who have generously provided questionnaire data, blood samples, and access to tumour tissue for future research.

We are also the administering organisation for the Bowel Cancer Screening Alliance, a new national research collaboration committed to increasing participation of Australians in bowel cancer screening.

Funding

Our Unit’s research funding comes from the National Health and Medical Research Council and also from the National Institutes of Health (USA) Colorectal Cancer Family Registry Cohort.