Prof Anna Nowak has again been recognised  by her peers, this time for her work in medical oncology by the Medical Oncology Group of Australia (MOGA). On 5 August 2021 Anna will be announced as the winner of the inaugural Professor Martin H. Tattersall AO Heroes Award in an online ceremony. Anna will also give a presentation entitled “Inspire, Shape and Push”, talking about her own career’s “heroes”.

Nominated by Dr Piyush Grover, Medical Oncology Advanced Trainee Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Piyush’s praise was genuine and thoughtful:

“Professor Nowak’s research has meaning and purpose. She has led transformative research in mesothelioma with profound far-reaching impacts on people with this fatal condition…Her approach to patient care embodies respect, transparency and inclusiveness. This has allowed her to engage constructively with patients and their families and earn their trust. She is also a skilled lay language communicator with the ability to inspire consumers about medical research and clinical trials….Professor Nowak has been a stand-out mentor for me and I have been inspired by her commitment to our profession and patients.”

Professor Tattersall, who died in August 2020, was widely considered “the father of Australian medical oncology” as this obituary written by one of his three sons, Mark Tattersall, observes.

Deeply admired by his colleagues in the cancer community, this comment from Cure Cancer resonates: “Martin.. witnessed great advances in cancer research, and a shift away from the belief that the goal should be an outright cure. “Cancer is increasingly becoming a chronic disease as opposed to ‘it will kill you if you don’t kill it’. The answer may lie in a drug to turn a cancer off so you die with it rather than of it.””

Our warm congratulations to Anna for this wonderful and worthy recognition of her work.