Dr Lucy Corke

Medical Oncologist, Calvary Mater Newcastle 

Dr Lucy Corke is a consultant medical oncologist at Calvary Mater Newcastle with an interest in thoracic malignancies. She graduated from the University of Queensland and completed physician and oncology training primarily at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. She went on to complete a two-year clinical and research fellowship in Thoracic Oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada, under the mentorship of Professor Natasha Leighl.  She was involved in research focused on the use of liquid biopsies to guide personalised treatment in lung cancer, and the investigation of breath analysis as a diagnostic and monitoring tool.

Returning to Australia in 2023, she joined the team at Newcastle where she treats thoracic, brain and genitourinary cancers. She is passionate about equitable access to therapies and is a member of the MOGA Oncology Drugs Working Group. Lucy also enjoys teaching and education of medical students and supervision of physician trainees.

A/Prof Susan Harden

Consultant in Radiation Oncology, DRO Lead for Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Associate Professor Susan Harden works as a Consultant Radiation Oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She is Research Lead for the Department of Radiation Oncology and is an honorary Associate Professor for the Cancer Registries Research Programme at Monash University. She qualified in medicine from Oxford University and completed her specialist training in Cambridge, UK, where she worked as a consultant from 2006-2019.

She was awarded a Doctorate in Medicine for her 2 years of translational research undertaken at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, USA, focusing on the low-level molecular detection of lung, prostate and head and neck cancers 2000-2002. She was clinical lead for Public Health England’s National Disease Registry (Radiotherapy Dataset) 2017-2019 and the UK National Lung Cancer Audit and UK National Mesothelioma Audit from 2016-2020. She was a clinical oncology examiner for the UK Royal College of Radiologists 2017-2019.

Her current research interests are translational and radiotherapy trials for lung cancer, stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR), combined modality therapy and utilising national quality cancer registry datasets to highlight and address variation in clinical outcome for lung cancer and mesothelioma. She is a current member of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) Global Multidisciplinary Practice Standards Committee and their Staging and Prognostic Factors Group. She joined the RANZCR Quality Improvement Committee 2023-2024 and is a current member of the Trans Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG), Thoracic Oncology Group Australia (TOGA), International Mesothelioma Interest Group (iMig), International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG), European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) and American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Prof Nick Pavlakis

Senior Staff Specialist, Royal North Shore Hospital
TOGA Board Director

Prof Nick Pavlakis is a Senior Staff Specialist in the Department of Medical Oncology at Royal North Shore Hospital. He has nearly 20 years’ experience in the treatment and research of thoracic and gastrointestinal cancers.

Nick is the former Chair of the TOGA Board and has previously served on the Boards of Northern Cancer Institute and COSA, where he was President from 2019-2020.

His training and research background includes new drug development, biomarker research, clinical trials, including TOGA’s ASPiRATION study, and clinical practice guidelines development.

Nick has served on the leadership committees of numerous national/international collaborative group trials in lung cancer, mesothelioma and gastrointestinal cancers. He was involved in the development of Australian clinical practice guidelines in lung cancer and mesothelioma. He has served as faculty of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) World Conference on Lung Cancer, its Mesothelioma task force and is current co-chair of the IASLC Continuing Medical Education Committee; and is a faculty member of the MOGA/ASCO/ACCR Australia and Asia Pacific Clinical Oncology Research Development Workshop (ACORD).

Dr Chinthaka Samaranayake

Respiratory Physician and Interventional Pulmonologist, Westmead Hospital

Dr Chinthaka Samaranayake is an early career respiratory physician, currently working as a staff specialist in Lung Cancer and Interventional Pulmonology at Westmead Hospital, Sydney. He completed Thoracic Medicine training in Brisbane and subsequent fellowship training and PhD at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK.

Dr Samaranayake leads the lung nodule programme and lung cancer diagnostics at Westmead Hospital.

Dr Samaranayake operates an active research program in lung cancer and minimally invasive bronchoscopic and interventional pulmonology techniques through The University of Sydney. He has several competitive grants supporting his research, and has received multiple international research awards including European Respiratory Society Young Investigator of the Year Award. 

Dr Bibhusal Thapa

Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Northern Health / Austin Hospital

Dr Bibhusal Thapa is a cardiothoracic surgeon practising in Melbourne, working within the Thoracic Surgery Unit at Northern Health and Austin Hospital.

He completed his medical degree in 2002 and went on to specialist training in general surgery and thoracic surgery, including fellowship training at Austin Hospital. Dr Thapa also holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where his research focused on mesothelioma.

Dr Thapa’s clinical practice involves the assessment and surgical management of conditions affecting the chest, with a particular focus on lung cancer, mesothelioma and mediastinal disease. He performs a range of procedures, including minimally invasive thoracic surgery (VATS), interventional bronchoscopy and airway surgery.

He remains actively involved in research and is a member of several professional organisations related to lung cancer and cardiothoracic surgery. Dr Thapa practises in both public and private hospital settings.