Autumn Edition

Diane Langmack OAM, AGCF Board Chair.

Dear AGCF friends and supporters,

I am writing to you as AGCF Board Chair with a special request for your support as we move towards the end of the financial year.  We need your financial help and support to continue AGCF's life-saving research efforts to help women with gynae cancers.  I am writing as a 3 times cancer survivor and the beneficiary of life-saving research.

The AGCF is a small, dynamic, national, not for profit, gynae cancer research charity, launched in 2015, with the goal of funding breakthrough laboratory research in the 8 gynae cancers affecting women: vulval, cervical, vaginal, ovarian, uterine, fallopian tube, peritoneal and placental. It won't surprise you to know that fund raising for cancer research is proving challenging in these tough economic times, and we seek your help to sponsor and support AGCF to continue our research for women with gynae cancer, sharing hope.

We have an enviable health system in Australia, world leading in many areas, however, with rising gynae cancer rates of 7000 newly diagnosed each year, and 2,200 deaths, now is the time for concerted action. Only cervical cancer has an effective vaccine, AND a reliable screening test, the other 7 gynae cancers have no reliable early test.  Sadly, we are losing too many women from their families each year.

At AGCF we raise funds for brilliant minds, like Dr Dane Cheasley of the Peter Mac Cancer Centre, Dr Liz Caldon of the Garvan Institute, and Dr Dongli Lui of the Lowy Institute, to conduct vital breakthrough laboratory research, and we collaborate with other organisations to ensure that all women have access to the latest gynae cancer information, treatments and support, wherever they live in Australia. 

Research saves lives, it saved mine.  I'm only here today because of the research-leading cancer care that I received each time a new cancer developed.  I am living my best life today as a wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, community partnership manager and voluntary board member, who has survived three different cancers.  It hasn't been easy.  I so want to help AGCF researchers to aid prevention and find a cure for the 8 gynae cancers.  I hope my efforts and those of the AGCF brilliant mind researchers will save my granddaughters and yours from ever having gynae cancer.

I commend the AGCF to you for your donations as we move closer to the end of the financial year.  Every donation over $2 is tax deductible, and every little bit helps.  Help AGCF save lives through research, to donate visit the AGCF website.

Best wishes and grateful thanks,

Diane Langmack OAM, Board Chair, AGCF.

I was invited to attend the 23rd Annual International Conference of the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre in Delhi, held in late March 2025. This is a relatively new not-for-profit private hospital and cancer research centre.

It opened in 1996, and has become one of India's leading cancer centres. The conference was held in a city hotel, but I had the pleasure of visiting the Centre itself. I met with the Director of Medical Services, Dr Sudhir Rawal, and the Director of Gynaecological Oncology, Dr Vandana Jain, who took me on a tour of the treatment and research facilities there.

Prof Hacker (R) with Dr Sudhir Rawal (L) and Dr Vandana Jain (M).

Dr Jain spent one month as an Observer at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney in 2017, and is now head of a department that sees 1200 new cancer patients per year. That is an amazing number of new patients, given that I was used to seeing about 300 such cases per year in Sydney.

I was most impressed by the facilities for both patient care and for research at the centre. They have 4 robots, and much of the surgery is done robotically. In addition to the Da Vinci robots from the United States, they also have 2 new Indian-made robots, which have been reported as more comfortable to operate by the surgeons.

Prof Hacker tests the Indian-made robots.

The conference was excellent. There were 800 registrants and 16 international faculty, mainly from Europe and North America.

There were 3 named orations. On the first day, I gave the Dr K. K. Pandey Memorial Oration entitled "Current management of squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva". I discussed the recent controversy surrounding the width of the surgical margin that was necessary to prevent a local recurrence, and introduced the concept of performing a second monthly groin ultrasound for 12 months instead of a groin dissection for patients with a normal baseline groin ultrasound. It is estimated that this should eliminate groin dissection for about 65% of patients, and markedly decrease the incidence of lower limb lymphoedema, one of the major complications of treatment for this disease.

On the second day, the oration was given by Dr Anita Maheshwari on the topic "Gynaecologic oncology in India: Journey over the years and future directions". Much of the gynaecologic cancer surgery in India has been performed by surgical oncologists or general gynaecologists, so a major advance for the country has been the introduction of a dedicated 3-year surgical training course for gynaecologists about 10 years ago. After the training, candidates have to sit a written and oral examination to obtain their MCh (Master of Surgery). Such Fellowship training programs were first introduced in the United States in 1974. They were introduced in Australia in 1987, but are still not available in some European countries.

The third oration was given by Dr Jonathan Lederman from University College London. His lecture was entitled: "PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer – Dawn of a new era". Jonathan has been a pioneer in clinical trials for PARP inhibitors since 2007. Although it is too early to be certain, he was cautiously optimistic that these targeted therapies may cure many more patients with advanced ovarian cancer. He showed that the survival curve flattens, and further recurrences are uncommon after 4 years on the PARP inhibitor, Olaparib, when it is given as maintenance therapy for patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

As with chemotherapy, some patients develop resistance to PARP inhibitors. Fortuitously, our Carmen Duncan AGCF Fellowship last year was awarded to Dr Liz Caldon, who is doing research at the Garvan Institute looking at the reasons why some patients develop resistance to these drugs.

India has about 1.5 billion people, overtaking China in 2022 as the world's most populous country. Cancer of the cervix is the most common gynaecological cancer, and second only to breast as a cancer in women. Cervical cancer is caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV), and in Western countries, the incidence and mortality from the disease is decreasing because of national screening programs and HPV vaccinations of 12-13 year old boys and girls.

There are no national screening or vaccination programs in India, and most patients present with advanced disease. This is because of a lack of access to healthcare facilities for many of the population, and a general ignorance of the importance of routine screening and HPV vaccination

The good news is that India is doing well economically. I was told that the percentage of people living below the poverty line has decreased from 40% to 20% in the last 15-20 years, which means that about 300 million more people are now earning a reasonable wage. Apparently, the super-rich have increased from 10% to 20%.

Many more women are able to access some of the excellent healthcare facilities that are available in India now and in the future. I understand there are incremental efforts and success within India's regional, primary and preventative health sectors for implementing HPV vaccinations amongst young people and cervical screening.

On Thursday 8 March 2025 (International Women's Day), AGCF Chair Ms Diane Langmack OAM was awarded the Canterbury Local Woman of the Year Award by the NSW Government. Diane received the award in recognition of her outstanding leadership, community participation and support for Canterbury Bankstown, across NSW and beyond. The AGCF board is proud to have Di as our dedicated chair.

This is a wonderful acknowledgement of all that you do for your community and beyond Di. You really are a legend.  Your enthusiasm and optimism is infectious and we are so lucky to have you at the helm of the AGCF.

Prof Neville Hacker AM MD, Founder & Director, AGCF.

Congratulations Di, what an achievement and wonderful recognition by NSW Govt for your leadership and tireless support  for the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs RLC and community, and more – across rugby league, women in  sport, youth pathways, community collaboration, multicultural services, health and the cancer community; Well deserved - for all that you do and personify - with integrity, professionalism, enthusiasm, and never giving up.  We are so proud to have you as Chair, AGCF, driving national recognition of the often devastating impact of gynae cancer on women and their families, and for helping AGCF raise funds for life-saving breakthrough research.

Leonie Young, CEO AGCF.

I am incredibly proud to announce that our very own Diane Langmack OAM has been named Canterbury Woman of the Year 2025!

This prestigious recognition celebrates Di's outstanding contributions not only to our organisation but to the broader Canterbury-Bankstown community. As our General Manager of Stakeholder and Community, Di has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership, compassion, and vision in all her endeavours.

Many of you have witnessed firsthand Di's unwavering commitment to community engagement and her passionate advocacy for women in sport.

What makes Di truly exceptional is her ability to see beyond the game to the profound impact our club can have on individuals and communities. Her dedication to cancer research, youth empowerment, and creating pathways for women in sport reflects the very best of what the Bulldogs stand for as an organisation.

Di's recognition as Canterbury Woman of the Year is not just a personal achievement but a testament to the culture of community service and excellence we strive to cultivate at the Bulldogs. She embodies our values of 'Excellence, Grit, and Family' in everything she does.

Please join me in congratulating Di on this well-deserved honour. Her leadership continues to inspire us all and reinforces the positive difference we can make both on and off the field.

Aaron Warburton, CEO, Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs Rugby League Club.

Congratulations to Dr Zoe Phan, who received commendation on her work at the recent ANZGOG and Garvan Awards. A member of Dr Liz Caldon's PARPi research team, Zoe won the ANZGOG Pre-Clinical Poster on PARPi research at the ANZGOG Australian Scientific Meeting in March 2025. 

The artwork, produced along with her colleague Dr Leila Eshraghi, 'Love Among the Ovarian Cancer Cells' won the Discovery Garvan Institute of Cancer Research Art of Discovery Prize in 2024.

Zoe and Leila describe 'Love Among the Ovarian Cancer Cells' (pictured above):

PARP inhibitors are a class of drugs used to treat certain types of ovarian cancer. However, some tumours develop resistance to these drugs, limiting their effectiveness. This image shows PARP inhibitor-resistant cells forming a surprising heart shape in this single-cell RNA-sequencing data visualisation. This serendipitous image is a reminder that even in the study of challenging diseases, unexpected beauty can emerge from scientific data.

Dr Dane Cheasley from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre was the first recipient of an AGCF Research Fellowship in 2015.  This Fellowship helped Dane to expand his research team and his international collaborators, and this latest paper highlights the great advances his team is making in the fight against low-grade serous ovarian cancer. 

Targeting Rare Ovarian Cancer with New Treatments

Low-grade serous ovarian cancer (LGSOC) is a rare type of ovarian cancer that disproportionately affects younger women. Unlike more common types, it grows slowly but is especially difficult to treat because it doesn't respond well to standard chemotherapy. Sadly, this means that for many women, treatment options are limited, especially when the cancer comes back.

To help find better treatments, researchers Dr Dane Cheasley, Dr Kathleen Pishas, and Professor Kaylene Simpson, from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, led a large-scale drug screening study. They tested over 3,500 different drugs on ovarian cancer cells grown in the lab from real patient tumour samples, alongside healthy ovarian cells for comparison. The goal was to find drugs that could effectively kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed.

Excitingly, the team found several promising drugs, some already known and some brand new, that were highly effective against LGSOC cells in the lab. These discoveries open the door to developing more targeted and personalised treatments for this hard-to-treat cancer.

This important research lays the groundwork for future pre-clinical validation studies and clinical trials. The Australian Gynaecological Cancer Foundation is proud to have supported the early research by Dr Cheasley that helped shape this project development, helping improve the outlook for women with rare and treatment-resistant ovarian cancers like LGSOC.

This article is summarised from High-throughput drug screening identifies novel therapeutics for Low Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma, Kathleen I Pishas, Kaylene J Simpson, and Dane Cheasley et al. (2024). To read the full report visit the AGCF website.

University of South Australia Supported Survey invitation by Ms Sally-Anne Boding, PhD candidate, to health care professionals: Investigating Attitudes, knowledge, and inclusivity of healthcare providers towards sexual and gender-diverse populations within gynaecological cancer care: A mixed-methods study.

For full details or to take part in the research, visit the link here.

Recently appointed AGCF Ambassador, Athlete, Olympian and Mother Jana Pittman, shared a video explaining why she's happy to have joined the AGCF.

Watch the video here or read more about Jana here.

As we approach the end of the financial year, we hear from our inspiring Chair, Diane Langmack OAM, on why research matters, and her survival from three different cancers over 10 years.  Di credits life-saving research helping her recovery and survival each time, enabling her to be here today, living her best life as a mother, wife, sister, grandmother, partnership manager, community worker, and voluntary board director.  Di's charity and community efforts have been phenomenal, (see the article on the NSW Govt award for Canterbury Bankstown Woman of the Year).  Her invitation to donate to AGCF gynae cancer laboratory research is personal and heartfelt, your donations will help brilliant mind researchers help save lives with breakthrough treatments for deadly gynae cancers, now and in the future.  All donations over $2 are tax deductible, receipted by AGCF, and give an immediate tax benefit to the donor while assisting life-saving research.

Professor Neville Hacker AM MD Founder & Director AGCF reports on delivering the Dr KK Pandey Memorial Oration at the 23rd Annual International Conference of the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre in India in March, sharing research results and the challenges of delivering gynaecological oncology services to women in India, and the progress specialists are making.

We congratulate the talented Dr Zoe Phan, of the Garvan Institute, with Dr Liz Caldon, AGCF's brilliant minds Research Fellow 2024, on winning the ANZGOG Australian Scientific Meeting (ASM) Pre-clinical poster award, on PARPi* research, in March, and Zoe & Dr Leila Eshraghi's award-winning, simply stunning, artwork: Love among the ovarian cancer cells Internal art of discovery Garvan competition, 2024. *PARP inhibitors are a class of drugs used to treat certain types of ovarian cancer.  However, some tumours develop resistance to these drugs, limiting their effectiveness.  This image shows PARP inhibitor-resistant cells forming a surprising heart shape in this single-cell RNS-sequencing data visualisation.  This serendipitous image is a reminder that even in the study of challenging diseases, unexpected beauty can emerge from scientific data.

Prof Hacker introduces Dr Dane Cheasley's breakthrough research success in Targeting Rare Ovarian Cancer with New Treatments with his local and international collaborators, in his latest paper high-throughput drug screening identifies novel therapeutics for low grade serous ovarian carcinoma, Pishas, Simpson, Cheasley et al. The study highlights the great advances Dane's team is making in the fight against low-grade serous ovarian cancer.  Dane was the first recipient of an AGCF brilliant minds Research Fellowship in 2015.

Thank you to AGCF sponsors and individuals supporting AGCF and gynae cancer research this autumn, including all those who have bought ovary and vulva socks for mother's day 2025 - and other days this year. A big thank you to Andres & the Sydney Sock Project who donate 10% of profits from gynae sock sales to AGCF;

Thank you Jeremy Harry Harris (@jeremyharryharris), an amazing musician and creative international artist based in WA, who is courageously testing his body, limbs and joints with a Go Fund Me $6k for 3k run campaign in the WA HBFrunforareason25, on 25 May, to raise awareness of peritoneal cancer, its impact on women and the urgent need for more research and help to save every person fighting this disease;

Thanks to the Behreen Foundation for their generous donation to AGCF gynae cancer research; And to Helena Annandale, family & friends, for participating in the WA HBFrunforareason25 AGCF campaign - running for Charlotte.

Following the return of the Labor Party to Government this month, the AGCF team is presenting a strong case for increased funding for gynae cancer and laboratory research investment – evidence and experience shows that breakthrough research saves lives. We will present a submission to Treasury, to the incoming Health Minister, and Women's Health Minister, using the opportunity to secure funding for the proven AGCF brilliant minds Fellowships, for breakthrough research, giving hope to women and their families.

Progress has been made in women's health and gynae cancers in 2024/25 with Federal and State Governments and philanthropic funding, including funding to Rare Cancers Australia, RCA, to begin to address the inequities for everyone with cancer; to Ovarian Cancer Australia, OCA, for information, counselling, support services and nurse navigators for everyone with ovarian cancer; and to Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation OCRF for ovarian cancer research. The AGCF team welcomed the Government's support for women's health initiatives, including new immunotherapy treatments for endometrial cancer and reducing the costs to patients for pharmaceuticals for endometrial cancer.

The progress and recognition of the impact and importance of addressing gynae cancers is growing, though long overdue, it is most welcome, and this year stands to be amplified by the Gynaecological Cancer Transformation Inititiative (GCTI), an evidence-based, nationwide program designed to improve diagnosis, treatment and care pathways for women facing gynaecological cancer, led by ANZGOG, with broad participation and collaboration across the gynae cancer sector, including the AGCF.

The GCTI involves national collaborations between eminent scientists, leading researchers, healthcare professionals, industry leaders, and women with a lived experience; An evidence based program framework that is attracting interest from government funding partners; and a public awareness campaign designed to bring gynae cancers out of the shadows and showcase real women's voices and experiences.  The AGCF team is pleased to stand with the GCTI, to collaborate, and to contribute the successful post PhD laboratory research model, the pre clinical trial evidence projects and successful breakthrough advances made by AGCF brilliant minds, Dr Dane Cheasley, Peter Mac, Dr Liz Caldon, Galvan Inst, and Dr Dongli Lui, Lowy Institute, and to draw from the lived experiences of AGCF Ambassadors and women living with and surviving gynae cancers. 

In wrapping up the newsletter, I thank you again friends of the AGCF for your participation, support and engagement with our website, research, events, social media, face book, Instagram, linked in, and for sharing hope.  Special thank you to our amazing Ambassadors, and to Dr Jana Pittman, former dual Olympian, international athlete, mother of 6, trainee gynae/obstetrician and women's health advocate on sharing what drives her and why she has joined AGCF.  I recommend you view Jana's video on AGCF home page.

Best wishes & warm regards,

Leonie Young MAICD.