Conversations in Cancer Survivorship

Daniel Johnstone

Consumer

After being diagnosed with an oral cancer in 2016, Daniel has dedicated himself to educating healthcare professionals and students through regular presentations, collaboration on pedagogy and facilitating the sharing of cancer stories in the Cancer Voices SA Survivors as Teachers program. Daniel is involved in various cancer advocacy and advisory groups, and is currently pursuing a PhD on how the lived experience of those impacted by cancer can use their stories to teach healthcare students about patient-centred care.

Natasha Keir

Nurse Practitioner

Natasha is a highly experienced career nurse with over 30 years of experience. As one of only four nurse practitioners in Breast Oncology in Australia, she has demonstrated unwavering commitment to improving care for individuals with breast cancer. Her efforts led to the establishment of the first nurse practitioner-led breast clinic at a private hospital in Brisbane. Passionate about survivorship, Natasha also founded a Breast Cancer Wellness Clinic at GenesisCare in Queensland, focusing on enhancing patients' quality of life, health, and overall well-being.

Dr Jenny Liu

Medical Oncologist, Senior Research Officer, Clinical Lecturer

Dr Jia (Jenny) Liu (MD PhD) is a medical oncology staff specialist and translational lead of the early phase unit at The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent's Hospital (Darlinghurst, Sydney Australia). Her research spans early phase clinical trials, biomarkers, cancer survivorship and clinician mentorship. In collaboration with the Psycho-Oncology Group, she developed, piloted and successfully tested implementation of a brief clinician-intervention to address fear of cancer recurrence (CIFeR) in breast cancer survivors. She has been involved in stepped care framework to embed FCR screening and management into clinical care across tumour types, and the CIFeR study has attracted international funding and a cluster RCT to assess efficacy across multiple tumor types.  

Chelsey Upston

13 11 20 Cancer Nurse, Cancer Council Victoria, Cancer Council Victoria

Chelsey has worked in Oncology Nursing since graduating, commencing her career with Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Chelsey has worked in the Supportive Care Nursing setting since 2012, the first five years was spent as a Cancer Support Nurse with Cancer Council NT. Chelsey moved back to Victoria in 2017 where she commenced as a Clinical Nurse Specialist with 13 11 20, Cancer Council Victoria’s Cancer Information and Support Line, and where she continues her work now as a Team Leader for this service.
Chelsey also works with the Effective Cancer Communications team at Cancer Council Victoria, facilitating workshops for Health Professionals in the oncology setting and has a particular interest in communication skills and supportive care.
 

Dr Matthew Wallen

Academic Lead and Deputy Lead of Survivorship Program, Flinders University

Dr Matthew Wallen PhD, AES, AEP is a Senior Research Fellow in Cancer Survivorship, the Deputy Lead of the Cancer Survivorship Program, and a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Physiology within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University.

His clinical interest focuses on improving outcomes for people living with and beyond cancer, specifically (1) lifestyle interventions, including exercise, nutritional, and psychological support to improve the health and wellbeing of people prior to treatment, termed ‘prehabilitation’, (2) novel physical function assessments aimed at identifying people at risk of treatment-related complications, and (3) implementation of new models of care in cancer.

Since graduating from his PhD in 2017, Dr Wallen has published over 65 peer-reviewed articles, including international guidelines and position statements in cancer care and lifestyle-related conditions, in high-impact international journals such as CA: a Journal for Clinicians and The Lancet’s eClinicalMedicine. He has also attracted > $11 million AUD in research income. Dr Wallen is the Academic Lead for the Exercise and Sport Science and Clinical Exercise Physiology discipline at Flinders University and currently advises for the Exercise and Sport Science Australia Research Committee.