ADRI Newsletter March 2022
His Excellency General, The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Rtd), Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia & Her Excellency, Mrs Linda Hurley visit ADRI
Our Patrons, His Excellency General, The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Rtd), Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia and Her Excellency, Mrs Linda Hurley visited ADRI on Tuesday, 8 February to tour our labs and meet staff, patients and families. Please see the video for highlights.
ADRI WELCOMES NEW RESEARCH DIRECTOR
We are delighted to welcome our new Research Director, Associate Professor Sonja Klebe (featured in the above video).
Sonja joined ADRI in February replacing A/Professor Ken Takahashi who retired from the role late last year to return to Japan. We are very pleased Ken will stay connected to ADRI as our Honorary International Advisor.
Sonja Klebe brings to the role incredible credentials, skill and passion for mesothelioma treatments. Her interest over the last 16 years has concentrated on asbestos-related disorders, especially lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma, including their diagnosis and pathogenesis. She worked with Professor Henderson in SA and honed a special focus on lung disorders and is a practising Anatomical Pathologist with an extensive consultation practice, receiving around 300 referral cases a year. Her professional opinion is sought by the courts as well as her colleagues.
She is a current member of the International Mesothelioma Panel and a member of the Pathology Panel for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) and was one of the invited Pathology experts at the IASLC workshop on mesothelioma diagnosis in Lyon, 2018.
Other notable achievements include being an invited author for the new WHO classification of lung and pleural tumours; a member of the organising Committee of iMIG 2020 and IASLC world lung cancer conference 2020 (Mesothelioma) as well as the IAP. She is the current chair of the ICCR structured reporting committee for mesothelioma (2021).
Sonja has supervised to completion one PhD concerning molecular alterations in mesothelioma as well as several honours and MD projects related to malignant mesothelioma, leading to a clinical trial which is starting recruitment this month. Additionally she has authored more than 125 peer reviewed papers
We look forward to sharing Sonja’s vision for ADRI’s future Research and we are incredibly excited by the work we’ll be undertaking under her leadership.
Save the date:
Meso March & Education Day, 1 and 2 May 22
Our annual ‘Meso March in May” will take place on Sunday 1 May in Concord, NSW (Edward Park to Queen Elizabeth Park). Come walk with us as we recognise the challenges of those living with mesothelioma and acknowledge those who care for, or have lost a loved one, from the disease.
On Monday, 2 May we will also be hosting an online Education Day and program details will be shared soon along with registration links.
Please save the dates!