Board Members
The Australian Animal Cancer Foundation board contains Australia's leading scientists in the field of veterinary oncology and cancer research.
Rod Straw
Dr Rod Straw has 21 years experience in veterinary oncology. He has specialized in studying spontaneous animal tumour models since 1986 and was a member of renowned cancer research groups at Colorado State University which has had a close association with world renowned human and veterinary oncologists and scientists over many years. Dr Straw worked closely with Dr Withrow at Colorado for 9 years developing many of the limb sparing techniques which are now mainstream standard of care for people with bone cancer.
Since he established Animal Cancer Care as Australia’s first veterinary oncology service in 1997, Rod has developed strong relationships with radiation oncologists, radiation therapists, physicists and research scientists throughout the nation. He has also cemented positive relationships with Premion (The Wesley Hospital), Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Queensland, Peplin and Engeneic which have led to important and promising collaborative research endeavours.
A world-leading vet with a passion for both animal care and oncology, Rod is also the director of Brisbane Veterinary Specialist Centre and has built and equipped this iconic, purpose built small animal referral hospital.
As the Chairman of the research committee of the Veterinary Society for Surgical Oncology, Rod is at the cutting-edge of advances in animal oncology. This esteemed international society brings together surgical specialists throughout the world who are trained and involved in surgical oncology at clinical and research levels.
Since he established Animal Cancer Care as Australia’s first veterinary oncology service in 1997, Rod has developed strong relationships with radiation oncologists, radiation therapists, physicists and research scientists throughout the nation. He has also cemented positive relationships with Premion (The Wesley Hospital), Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Queensland, Peplin and Engeneic which have led to important and promising collaborative research endeavours.
A world-leading vet with a passion for both animal care and oncology, Rod is also the director of Brisbane Veterinary Specialist Centre and has built and equipped this iconic, purpose built small animal referral hospital.
As the Chairman of the research committee of the Veterinary Society for Surgical Oncology, Rod is at the cutting-edge of advances in animal oncology. This esteemed international society brings together surgical specialists throughout the world who are trained and involved in surgical oncology at clinical and research levels.
Damian & Julie O'Carrigan
Kum Kum Khanna
Dr Khanna is a Principal Research Fellow who has been working in the field of DNA damage repair and cancer susceptibility for 15 years. Having studied in India and researched at The Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Kum Kum's career passion is to understand cellular and molecular basis of cancer and develop novel cancer therapeutics which cause less side effects.
Dr Kum Kum Khanna, Heads the Signal Transduction Laboratory at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. The group is interested in understanding how cells respond to DNA and to study mechanism of action of proteins that help us overcome damage to our genetic material. This work has implications for both mechanisms of cancer development and development of novel approaches to cancer therapy through sensitisation of tumor cells to irradiation and chemotherapy.