Caroline Ford (medical researcher)

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Caroline Ford
Alma mater University of New South Wales (Ph.D.)
Known forSTEMMinist Bookclub
Scientific career
FieldsCancer research
InstitutionsUniversity of New South Wales

Caroline E. Ford is an Australian scientist at the University of New South Wales and advocate for women in science. Her research aims to understand why gynaecological cancers develop, how they spread and how best to treat them, [1] and she leads the Gynaecological Cancer Research Group at the University of New South Wales, which was established in 2010. [2]

Contents

Education

Ford completed her Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales in oncogenic viruses, particularly related to breast cancer. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] She also has completed a Graduate Certificate in University Learning & Teaching. She completed her first postdoctoral research appointment at the University of Toronto [5] and her second position was at Lund University [5] [9] where she investigated MMTV sequences in breast tumour samples from women and men. [9]

Career

Late in 2009, she came back to work at her alma mater, the University of New South Wales. [10] Ford leads the Gynaecological Cancer Research Group at the University of New South Wales. [1] [2] [11] [12] Her team has a particular focus in the Wnt signalling pathway, which is involved in cancer metastasis, the role of ROR1 and ROR2 receptor molecules in spreading cancer, and how they can be blocked to stop metastasis. [12]

Ford convened Australia's first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on 'Personalised Medicine'. [13]

STEMMinist Bookclub

Ford started the global STEMMinist Bookclub in early 2018, bringing together three of her great loves — science, feminism and reading. [14] This has evolved into a bimonthly bookclub and forum for discussing feminism, inclusion and diversity in STEMM. [15] Since its establishment it had 4,000 members from 25 different countries in 2018, with online discussions on Twitter. Members meet up physically in cities around the world, including Sydney, New York, Atlanta, Dublin, Istanbul, Montreal, Vancouver, Cambridge and Oxford (often in a pub). [16] Ford was interviewed about the STEMMinist Bookclub by Jane Caro and Catherine Fox for an episode of their "Women With Clout" podcast in July 2019. [17]

Awards and honors

In 2003, Ford received a Fresh Science award, for young Australian scientists whose published, peer-reviewed research had not been featured in the news, and who demonstrated a strong ability to explain their work. [8] Ford won a national Australian award in 2003 "for her ability to communicate her results to the public in an engaging, easily understood manner," [5] leading to media attention from around the world on her Ph.D. results about viruses causing breast cancer. [8] In 2017, she was selected as an inaugural Superstar of STEM, a program delivered through Science and Technology Australia, to increase the public visibility of women in STEM. [18] In 2018, she received the Women's Agenda Award for Emerging Leader in Science, Medicine & Health. [19] Due to her research contributions, Ford was recognized as a leading Australian in the field of ovarian cancer by the Witchery White Shirt Campaign in 2018. [20] The campaign has raised $12m Australian dollars to fund ovarian cancer research. [21] [20] [1]

Selected works

Journal articles

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Evans, Mel (18 April 2015). "White Shirt Campaign: Aussie celebrities support the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation". Daily Telegraph. News Limited. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Associate Professor Caroline Ford | Medicine". med.unsw.edu.au. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  3. ↑ "Vaccine possible for virus-related breast cancer". The Province. Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Agence France-Presse. 18 August 2003. p. 12. Retrieved 9 August 2019– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Evenson, Brad (19 August 2003). "Virus linked to breast cancer. Australian Research". National Post. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. p. 13. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 McQuarrie, Vanessa (2006). Going Global. Jobs that take you around the world. Career FAQs. pp. 82–83. ISBN   9781921106538 . Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  6. ↑ Salter, Christopher (18 August 2003). "Breast cancer vaccine closer". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia. p. 7.
  7. ↑ Robotham, Julie (18 August 2003). "Virus may be linked to breast cancer, study suggests". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. p. 6.
  8. 1 2 3 Cooper, Dani (8 October 2003). "Goliath challenges student prize". The Australian. Australia. p. 24.
  9. 1 2 Jones, Dan (2 June 2007). "Blame the mouse?". New Scientist. 194 (2606): 38–41. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(07)61380-3. ISSN   0262-4079.
  10. ↑ "Associate Professor Caroline Ford". research.unsw.edu.au. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  11. ↑ Pretorius, Dion (21 August 2018). "Superstars of STEM: Trying to crack the cancer code". Cosmos. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  12. 1 2 Dunlevy, Sue (23 October 2015). "Help to halt ovarian cancer". The Advertiser. Adelaide, South Australia. p. 11.
  13. ↑ "UNSW MOOC: Delving into your own DNA – are the benefits worth the risks? | Medicine". med.unsw.edu.au. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "Women With Clout on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  15. ↑ "STEMMinist Book Club". Goodreads. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  16. ↑ "The book clubs that are uniting 'Stemminists' around the world". Positive News. 15 March 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  17. ↑ "Women With Clout: Caroline Ford on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  18. ↑ "Dr Caroline Ford". Science and Technology Australia. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  19. ↑ "Winners of the 2018 Women's Agenda Leadership Awards". Women's Agenda. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  20. 1 2 "Witchery: Shop Women's Fashion & Clothing Online". www.witchery.com. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  21. ↑ "Why the white shirt matters". www.dailytelegraph.com.au. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
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