Gong for Professor Pablo Fernández-Peñas

The head of dermatology at Westmead and his team of researchers have picked up one of Australia’s highest science awards.

Westmead Hospital’s head of dermatology Professor Pablo Fernández-Peñas and his team of researchers at the Australian Cancer Research Foundation & Australian Centre of Excellence in Melanoma Imaging and Diagnosis have won the Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research.

The Eureka Prizes are affectionately known as the “Oscars” of Science in Australia.

Professor Fernández-Peñas, who is also a Dermatology Republic editorial board member, is the project’s NSW lead and won the award with his team for their work which aims to revolutionise the early detection of melanoma using 3D Photography.

Melanoma, which is still one of the most frequent cancers affecting young adults, can be controlled with primary prevention and early detection.

“We are at the end of the beginning,” said Professor Fernández-Peñas.

“ACEMID is on the cusp of a breakthrough in melanoma early detection, paving the way for a comprehensive national 3D Photography screening program and significantly reducing mortality rates.

“The number of partners working together to implement the 3D Photography systems, and the number of new partners we are recruiting to manage and analyse the information we are generating is staggering.”

Westmead Hospital is home to one of 15 of the state-of-the-art machines in Australia, which undertakes full body mapping in 3D – allowing researchers to investigate and track moles and skin spots over time. The team has more than 6000 subjects already enrolled in the research program and more than 13,000 screenings have been completed.

“Our research repository is taking shape now: pathology slides are getting scanned and uploaded, clinical photos are still waiting for quality control checks in the transfer and demographic data is already accessible,” said Professor Fernández-Peñas.

The ACRF ACEMID partnership brings together three leading Australian universities in skin research, including the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney, and Monash University in Victoria.

For more information see here.