Associate Professor Christine Giles, Executive Director, today presented awards to the 2014 recipients of the Jeannie Ferris Cancer Recognition Award, Ms Kath Mazzella OAM and Professor David Bowtell.
The Award was launched in 2013 to recognise exceptional efforts made by individual Australians to improve outcomes for women with gynaecological cancers.
Ms Mazzella won Category One of the Award, open to those with personal experience of gynaecological cancer either as a woman with a diagnosis of gynaecological cancer, as a community member, or as a family member or carer directly involved in supporting a woman with gynaecological cancer. Ms Mazzella has now dedicated 20 years to advocating for greater recognition of gynaecological health and women’s sexual needs. Her commitment to improving outcomes for women led her to establish the Gynaecological Awareness Information Network Inc (GAIN) and in 2009, her work was recognised through the award of an OAM for service to the community through raising awareness of gynaecological health issues.
Professor Bowtell won Category Two of the Award, which was open to health professionals or researchers working in the area of gynaecological cancer. Professor Bowtell, head of the Cancer Genetics and Genomics (Bowtell) Laboratory, at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, is a leading ovarian cancer and human molecular genetics researcher. He is the Principal Investigator for the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study (AOCS), which recruited over 2,500 women and brought together over 100 research nurses, clinicians and scientists.
This Award is named in honour of the late Jeannie Ferris, former Senator for South Australia who was passionately committed to raising awareness about gynaecological cancer in Australia. Senator Ferris was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 2005 and passed away in April 2007.
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