Professor Richard Kefford
Professor of Medicine and Director, Westmead Institute for Cancer Research

Richard Kefford is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Westmead Institute for Cancer Research (WICR) in the University of Sydney at Westmead Millennium Institute, Westmead, NSW. He is also Head of the University of Sydney Department of Medicine at Western Clinical School, and Chairman of the Division of Medicine, Westmead Hospital.

He is an active founding member of the International Melanoma Genetics Consortium and Chair of the Australian Cancer Network Familial Cancer Working Group which prepared the recently ratified NHMRC Guidelines on Familial Cancer. He is a member of the Clinical Council of the NSW Health Department, Chair of the NHMRC Project Grants Committee, and Member of the NSW Ministerial Advisory Committee on Biotechnology.

He has written extensively on the genetics and treatment of melanoma and breast cancer. His major clinical interests are the medical management of advanced breast cancer and melanoma. He is a consultant medical oncologist at Westmead Hospital and the Sydney Melanoma Unit.

Research Interest

Together with the Melanoma Research Group of WICR he has been investigating the molecular genetics of melanoma since 1986. This work is conducted in collaboration with the Sydney Melanoma Unit and the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Research Institute, of which he is a Director. His research group played a major role in the mapping of the melanoma susceptibility gene p16 and in characterising hereditary mutations in this gene, which predisposes individuals to a very high risk of melanoma.

Recent Publications

Becker, T.M., Rizos, H., Kefford, R.F. & Mann, G.J. (2001). Functional Impairment of Melanoma-associated p16(INK4a) Mutants in Melanoma Cells despite Retention of Cyclin-dependent Kinase 4 Binding. Clinical Cancer Research, 7, 3282-3288.

Indsto, J.O., Cachia, A.R., Kefford, R.F. & Mann, G.J. (2001). X-inactivation, DNA deletion, and microsatellite instability in common acquired melanocytic nevi. Clinical Cancer Research, 7, 4054-4059.

Rizos, H., Darmanian, A.P., Holland, E.A., Mann, G.J. & Kefford, R.F. (2001). Mutations in the INK4a/ARF melanoma susceptibility locus functionally impair p14ARF*. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 276, 41424-41434.
Rizos, H., Puig, S., Badenas, C., Malvehy, J., Darmanian, A.P., Jimenez, L., Mila, M. & Kefford, R.F. (2001). A melanoma-associated germline mutation in exon 1ß inactivates p14ARF. Oncogene, 20, 5543-5547.

Shannon, J.A., Kefford, R.F. & Mann, G.J. (2001). Responses to ultraviolet-B in cell lines from hereditary melanoma kindreds. Melanoma Research, 11, 1 - 9.

Associate Professor Graham Mann
Research Group Leader, Institute for Cancer Research
Graham Mann graduated in medicine and trained as a cancer specialist in Sydney before embarking on a full-time research career in 1983. After working for three years with a team in Sweden, he joined the Westmead Institute for Cancer Research Melanoma Group and now helps lead national collaborative projects directed at understanding the causes of melanoma and breast cancer.

Dr Helen Rizos
Research Group Leader, Westmead Institute for Cancer Research
Helen Rizos embarked on a medical research career after her PhD studies in plant biotechnology. She joined the Westmead Institute for Cancer Research in 1994, and was awarded the Cure Cancer Foundation’s Young investigator of the Year award in 1998, for her research into the genetics and biology of melanoma.

Dr Therese Becker
Research Fellow, Westmead Institute for Cancer Research
After finishing her science degree in Germany, Therese Becker came to Australia more than ten years ago because of her interest in cancer research. She did her PhD in the Melanoma Research Group and has continued there as a postdoctoral researcher. She is currently investigating the melanoma susceptibility gene “p16”.

Ms Helen Schmid
Genetic Epidemiology Project Manager, Institute for Cancer Research
Helen Schmid has a background in nursing and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Sydney. She has previously worked in Boston and New York on HIV and AIDS clinical trials, before joining the Melanoma Research Group in 1997.