We are proud to announce that a team from Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) received the Wildfire Highly Cited Publication Award at the Cancer Institute NSW 2022 Premier’s Awards.
Congratulations to the research team, including MIA authors Dr Tuba Nur Gide, Dr Camelia Quek, A/Prof Alex Menzies, Ping Shang, Rebecca Velickovic, A/Prof Serigne Lo, A/Prof Matt Carlino, A/Prof Robyn Saw, A/Prof Umaimainthan Palendira, Prof John Thompson AO, Prof Helen Rizos, Dr Ines Pires da Silva, Prof Richard Scolyer AO, Prof Georgina Long AO and Dr James Wilmott. Their paper ‘Distinct Immune Cell Populations Define Response to Anti-PD-1 Monotherapy and Anti-PD-1/Anti-CTLA-4 Combined Therapy’ investigated immunotherapy response & resistance in melanoma and is improving treatments for people with melanoma.
Each year the Cancer Institute NSW presents five awards, celebrating the best and brightest researchers from across the state.
Incredibly, Melanoma Institute Australia has won the Wildfire Award 7 out of the last 10 years since its inception:
2013 The Impact of In Vivo Reflectance Confocal Microscopy on the Diagnostic Accuracy of Lentigo Maligna and Equivocal Pigmented and Nonpigmented Macules of the Face Guitera et al JID 2010
2014 Prognostic and clinicopathologic associations of oncogenic BRAF in metastatic melanoma Long et al J Clin Oncol 2011
2016 Immunohistochemistry is highly sensitive and specific for the detection of V600E BRAF mutation in melanoma. Long & Wilmott et al Am J Surg Pathol 2013
2017 BRAF Inhibitor Resistance Mechanisms in Metastatic Melanoma: Spectrum and Clinical Impact. Helen Rizos et al Clin Cancer Res 2014
2020 Whole-genome landscapes of major melanoma subtypes. Nick Hayward, James Wilmott et al Nature 2017
2021 Combination nivolumab and ipilimumab or nivolumab alone in melanoma brain metastases: a multicentre randomised phase 2 study. Georgina Long et al Lancet Oncol 2018
2022 Distinct Immune Cell Populations Define Response to Anti-PD-1 Monotherapy and Anti-PD-1/Anti-CTLA-4 Combined Therapy. Tuba dur Gide et al Cancer Cell 2019
The Wildfire Award is the best single metric of a research institution’s impact, and MIA is leading the way in NSW. It also demonstrates in a very tangible way the impact of our research to the scientific community across the globe.
In addition to the Wildfire Award there have been many other individual honours bestowed at the NSW Premiers Awards including:
• Four Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year Awards – Prof John Thompson AO, Prof Rick Kefford AM, Prof Georgina Long AO and Prof Richard Scolyer AO
• Many Outstanding Fellow Awards – including Prof Georgina Long AO, Prof Richard Scolyer AO, A/Prof Alex Menzies and Prof Anne Cust
• Rob Sutherland Award – Prof Richard Scolyer AO
• Two Outstanding Translational Research Awards
Congratulations to you all and thank you for your research and expertise in helping us.