Professor Caroline Ford leads the Gynaecological Cancer Research Group (GCRG) at the University of New South Wales. She established her laboratory at the Lowy Cancer Research Group in 2010 after international postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto, Canada and Lund University, Sweden. She has successfully led her research group for over 13 years maintaining consistent competitive research funding and collaborating closely with clinicians and women with gynaecological cancers.
...Professor Caroline Ford leads the Gynaecological Cancer Research Group (GCRG) at the University of New South Wales. She established her laboratory at the Lowy Cancer Research Group in 2010 after international postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto, Canada and Lund University, Sweden. She has successfully led her research group for over 13 years maintaining consistent competitive research funding and collaborating closely with clinicians and women with gynaecological cancers.
The Gynaecological Cancer Research Group (GCRG) aims to understand why gynaecological cancers develop, how and why they spread throughout the body, and how best to treat them. “Gynaecological cancer” encompasses all cancers of the female reproductive system, though current research focuses on ovarian and endometrial cancer. The GCRG works closely with clinical staff at the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney and has a number of studies involving biospecimen collection (tissue, blood and ascites) from women with gynaecological cancer. Major projects include the development of an early detection test for ovarian cancer, and the identification of key targets for anti-metastatic therapies in ovarian and endometrial cancer. The GCRG is also actively investigating biological properties of ovarian cancer-associated ascites, and further developing innovative in vitro organotypic model of ovarian and endometrial cancer for pre-clinical drug testing. They also investigate cell-free DNA and its fluctuation in women, particularly in benign gynaecological diseases including endometriosis.
Prof Ford is an experienced university lecturer, convening courses on medical research, cancer pathology and personalised medicine, including Australia's first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on Personalised Medicine. She has completed a Graduate Certificate in University Learning & Teaching, and is passionate about science communication and enhancing the health literacy of the wider community. In 2017 she was named as an inaugural ‘Superstar of STEM’ by Science & Technology Australia. In 2018 she received the Women's Agenda Award for Female Leader in Science, Medicine & Health.
Keywords: gynaecological cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, endometriosis, metastasis, ascites, early detection, cell-free DNA, Wnt, EMT, ROR1, ROR2, MOOC
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Learn more about the "Ovaries. Talk About Them" campaign here.
Looking for another way to support the development of an early detection test for ovarian cancer? Please consider donating your blood for research. A/Prof Ford’s team needs large numbers of blood donations from diverse women to assist in the development of their test. If you are >18 and located in Sydney please contact earlydetection@unsw.edu.au for more information.
Founder, STEMMinist Book Club
Chair, ANZGOG Uterine Tumour Type Working Group
Research Chair, Cure Cancer Australia
Centre for Ideas Podcast with author Angela Saini
My Research Supervision
Primary supervision:
- PhD student Kate Gunther
- PhD student Bonnie Werner
Co-supervision
- PhD student Zoe Phan (Primary supervisor A/Prof Liz Caldon)
My Teaching
Dr Ford developed and currently convenes the UNSW General Education course, Personalised Medicine (GENM0295).
Dr Ford developed and convened the Myths and Realities of Personalised Medicine MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) previously offered on the Coursera and Future Learn platforms in 2016 and 2017.