From left: Professor Lai-Ming Ching, Mr Sean Xiaojing Lin, Associate Professor Adam Patterson, Dr Cho Rong Hong, Mrs Susan Pullen and Associate Professor Michael Hay
I am delighted to announce the winners of two awards from the Keith and Meida Hepburn Foundation which were presented at the Cancer Society Auckland/Northland AGM this morning.
Dr Cho Hong was the recipient of the Keith and Meida Hepburn Foundation Young Cancer Researcher of the Year Award for 2023. Cho attained a BSc and MSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science from the University of Auckland before completing a PhD with Professor Bill Wilson in the ACSRC. She was awarded a Cancer Society NZ Training Fellowship to complete her PhD using novel 3D cell cultures.
After a brief stint with the Centre for Brain Research, she re-joined the ACSRC with a Cancer Society New Zealand Postdoctoral Fellowship to develop a novel mechanistic radiobiology model that incorporates inhibition of DNA damage response pathways. Cho has a strong interest in radiation biology and developing new drugs that can sensitise cancer cells to radiation treatment.
Mr Sean Lin was the recipient of the Hepburn Cancer Research and Mary Manning Memorial Fellowship. Sean joined the Centre in 2018 as a Research Technician after completing an MSc with First Class Honours from the University of Auckland. He has contributed to a series of important projects within the Translational Therapeutics Team led by Associate Professors Adam Patterson and Associate Professor Jeff Smaill. His research projects have explored irreversible kinase inhibitors and hypoxia-activated prodrugs of several classes of compounds. Sean also makes a valuable contribution to the research environment in the Centre.
Please join me in congratulating Cho and Sean for all their excellent work.
From left: Ms Olivia Manning, Mr Sean Xiaojing Lin, Dr Cho Rong Hong and Mr David Manning