QUT medical scientist Professor Pamela Russell AM has added another accolade to her outstanding career by being named a fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
Professor Russell is head of Biomedical Imaging and Prostate Cancer Models in the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre - Queensland in QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, based at the Translational Research Institute.
She is developing new methods for targeted imaging of prostate specific-membrane antigen (PSMA) expressed on prostate cancers, using theranostic agents, which can be used for MRI and PET. She is also part of a team performing PSMA-PET and functional MR imaging on patients with early prostate cancer.
Professor Russell's work includes studying new biomarkers in exosomes, which may predict the response of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) chemotherapy.
Her current research is funded by NHMRC and the Movember Global Action Plan program and she has served on the latter's Global Action Plan scientific and research advisory committees. She is corecipient of an NHMRC Development grant to study diagnosis imaging and therapy of prostate cancer.
Professor Russell was the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia's Prostate (PCFA) Cancer Researcher of the Year in 2010. She was made a life member of the Australasian Gene Therapy Society in 2009 and received the prize for outstanding research alumnus of Sydney's Kolling Institute of Medical Research in 2006. Her research on bladder and prostate cancer saw her awarded membership of the Order of Australia in 2003.
She was Professor of Medicine, University of New South Wales (UNSW), and director of the Oncology Research Centre at the UNSW School of Medicine at Prince of Wales Hospital from 1992 to 2008.
A co-founder of the Genitourinary Oncology Group Australasia, Professor Russell also contributed to the establishment of the PCFA of which she was an inaugural director and now holds life membership.
She has gained more than $37 million in research grants and published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as several reviews and book chapters.
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT media, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au.
