International Clinical Research Subcommittee

A/Prof Hao-Wen Sim is a Sydney-based medical oncologist with specialised expertise in adult neuro-oncology and biostatistics. He graduated with Honours from the University of Melbourne, receiving the James Stewart Bequest for Surgery and a place on the Margaret Whyte Honour Board. He also holds a Master of Biostatistics from the University of Sydney, where he earned several prestigious awards, including the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia Star Graduate Award, the Judy Simpson Biostatistics Scholarship, the Les Irwig General Epidemiology Award and the Australasian Epidemiological Association Top Student Prize. A/Prof Sim completed a neuro-oncology fellowship at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.

Currently, A/Prof Sim serves as the Deputy Chair of the COGNO Scientific Advisory Committee, Chair of the COGNO International Clinical Research Subcommittee, and is the Group Coordinator and Clinical Lead for COGNO at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre. He is also actively involved in treating adult neuro-oncology patients at The Kinghorn Cancer Centre and the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse. His research focuses on the development and implementation of national brain cancer trials.

Zarnie Lwin OAM is an Associate Professor from the University of Queensland and is a Senior Staff Specialist Medical Oncologist at the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital. She undertook a two-year clinical research fellowship in brain and lung cancer at the Prince Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto under the mentorship of Professor Warren Mason, Professor Natasha Leighl and Professor Frances Shepherd. Zarnie has been actively involved in clinical trials, research, and advocacy for the past 15 years. During this time, she has also had the privilege to serve on and chair several national and international committees in oncology. Her keen research interests include Societal Research, Health Services Research, and Equity and she has won three awards for her Original Research. She currently serves as the Executive Editor for Neurooncology Practice. Zarnie is committed to global education and mentorship, and served as Past Co-Chair for the Society of Neurooncology International Outreach Committee. She also serves as Chair of the Asian Society of Neurooncology Education and Outreach Committee. In 2024 Zarnie was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her service to medicine in the field of neuro-oncology.

Dr Michael Colditz is a neurosurgeon with specialty interests in functional neurosurgery (movement disorders/epilepsy/pain), neuro-oncology, spine, and general neurosurgery. Michael graduated Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Queensland and completed specialist neurosurgery training in Queensland finishing at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and completed a post-fellowship year at Toronto Western Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada, followed by St Vincent's Hospital and the Austin Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, in functional neurosurgery. Michael is currently a staff specialist neurosurgeon and the supervisor of neurosurgery training at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and a clinical senior lecturer at the University of Queensland. Michael graduated with a neuroscience masters from the Queensland Brain Institute, has published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at neurosurgery conferences and has received neurosurgery grants/awards from NSA, RACS, RBWH and WSSFN.

Prof. Gan graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery. In 2016, he was appointed the head of the Cancer Clinical Trials Unit at Austin Health. He is Adjunct Professor with Latrobe University. From 2020-2024, he was Clinical Research Lead at the Olivia Newton- John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) and joined the ONJCRI Executive Team overseeing research across the ONJCRI.

He is a very active clinician scientist. He obtained his PhD from Melbourne University. In 2019, he formed and is the Head of the Cancer Therapies and Biology Group at ONJCRI, focused on the development of better cancer treatments, particularly brain cancer. He has had continuous grant success since 2015 and over 170 peer reviewed journals including in Nature, Journal of Clinical Oncology and Neuro-Oncology, the leading global journals in science, clinical oncology and neuro-oncology respectively.

He is passionate about improving the outcomes for patients with brain cancer. In particular, he has helped lead multiple clinical trials in brain cancer, including trials using drugs from the ONJCRI research program such as mAb806 (subsequently developed into ABT-414) and ifabotuzumab, one of the first drugs specifically targeting the tumour microenvironment. He co-founded the Australian Brain Cancer Research Alliance (ABCARA) and is the study chair for the LUMOS-1 and LUMOS-2 platform trials in recurrent IDH-mutant glioma.

Dr Neda Haghighi graduated from the faculty of health sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. After gaining the FRANZCR, she completed an extended Fellowship in intra-cranial and extra-cranial Stereotactic Radiotherapy at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.She leads the Victorian Gamma Knife service and the neuro-oncology unit at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and holds a position as a senior Radiation Oncologist at Icon Cancer Centre. Dr Haghighi is involved as a primary investigator and co-investigator of international and local clinical trials, relating to radiation treatment and radiosurgery for primary and secondary brain tumors. Dr Haghighi has published several peer reviewed journal articles in high impact neuro-oncology journals. She is an active member of International Society of Radiosurgery (ISRS), International Radiosurgery Research Foundation (IRRF), Trans Tasmanian Radiation Oncology Group (TROG), and Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO). DR Haghighi chairs the Stereotactic Interest Group of Australasia (SIGA) and is a committee member on CNS disease specific interest groups. She possesses superior knowledge in management of tumors of the brain and spine with special interest in radiosurgery for the treatment of skull base tumors as well as functional neurological disorders.

Clinical Professor Harrup FRACP FRCPA completed dual fellowships in Medical Oncology and Clinical and Laboratory Haematology in 2000. She has been a full-time clinician at RHH for 24 years and is Director of Cancer and Blood Services. She has a passionate interest in clinical research, particularly in the areas of Neuro-Oncology, Malignant Haematology and Late Effects. She is an experienced investigator across Phase I, II and III clinical trials. Prof Harrup has been a member of the Trial Management Committee for several Australian collaborative trials group multicentre clinical trials, including trials run by COGNO, ANZUP, and AGITG, and is Chair of the ALLG APML5 Trial Management Committee. She has more than 10 years’ experience as a Board Director of several NFPs and is passionate about fostering early career researchers.

Selected Professional Memberships
Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology Member, 2007-present (Deputy Chair 2021-)
Australian Brain Cancer Mission Strategic Advisory Group 2021-2024
Australian Brain Cancer Mission Expert Advisory Panel 2024- present
Australian Tele-trials National Steering Committee 2022- present
Australian Institute of Company Directors 2013-present
Medical Oncology Group of Australia Member 2001 -present (Chair 2014-2016)
Australian Tele-trials National Steering Committee 2022-present

A/Prof. Koh is an academic Radiation Oncologist, working as a clinician researcher at Liverpool Hospital, NSW and Conjoint Associate Professor, University of New South Wales. A/Prof. Koh has over 20 years sub-specialty expertise in neuro-oncology and haematological cancers. A/Prof. Koh major research directions include brain tumour research in adult and paediatric patients as well as cancer survivorship research.

A/Prof. Koh has received research support of over $62 million (CI involvement) in competitive funding, including over $60 million in brain tumour-related projects and $2.2 million in cancer survivorship research. She holds CIB status for the MRFF-funded COGNO trial precision oncology LUMOS2 trial in adult recurrent lower grade glioma, currently recruiting to novel drug interventions across Australia and Canada.
She is co-lead for the largest multi-centre FIG study (FET-PET in Glioblastoma), a MRFF funded trial involving TROG, COGNO and ARTnet.

Her role as the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO) Chair, she leads a collaborative network of brain tumour trial sites across Australia, working to develop and deliver both investigator-initiated trials across the collaborative trials landscape as well as working with industry partners. A/Prof. Koh has played a key role across the COGNO trial portfolio includring MAGMA, VERTU and NUTMEG. She has involvement with ASNO as well as RANZCR Asia-Pacific Radiation Oncology Special Interest Group with outreach activities in the Asia-Pacific.

Ben is a Staff Specialist in Medical Oncology at the Nelune Cancer Care Centre, Prince of Wales Hospital, Oncology Research Fellow at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre (University of Sydney) and Senior Research Fellow for Poor Outcomes Cancers within the Cancer Clinical Academic Group (University of NSW). Ben completed his PhD in cancer immunology, developing pre-clinical work for the use of dendritic cells and immune checkpoint inhibitors in glioblastoma. He has clinical interests in thoracic cancer, brain metastases and head and neck cancers. Ben has contributed to development of key study protocols in brain cancer and precision medicine and is dedicated to bridging the gap between scientific innovation and patient care by leading translational and multidisciplinary research.

Robyn has been an active brain cancer consumer representative for the past 18 years, providing input into the development of brain cancer clinical trials and initiating national projects to support research and optimise patient care in brain cancer. She has a long track record as an advocate, raising awareness for the brain cancer cause through her work with Cancer Australia, Cancer Council NSW and Cancer Institute NSW. Robyn has been a member of the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO) since the group’s inception in 2007. She was inaugural Chair of the COGNO Consumer Advisory Panel (CAP), and responsible for developing the processes, protocols and training for the COGNO CAP. She currently sits on the COGNO International Research Subcommittee. As a member of the Australian Brain Cancer Mission Strategic Advisory Group, Robyn was a strong advocate for funding to develop Australia’s brain cancer research infrastructure. She is the Founder/Director of Brain Cancer Biobanking Australia (BCBA) and the Founding Director of BCBA’s charity arm, the Brain Cancer Collective.

Professor David Ziegler is an NHMRC Investigator and paediatric oncologist at the Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick. He trained as a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Medical School. He is Head of the Neuro-Oncology program and the Cancer Clinical Trials program at SCH. He is the Group Leader of the Brain Tumour Group at the Children’s Cancer Institute, Australia, and Conjoint Professor at the University of New South Wales. He leads Australia’s national childhood cancer personalised medicine trials through the ZERO program. He has won multiple awards including the 2023 Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Jian Zhou Medal, awarded to a rising star of Australian health and medical science.