WEHI’s Professor Peter Gibbs has been elected Fellow of The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) for his pioneering contributions to cancer research.

Each year, the AAHMS Fellowship elects the best and brightest minds in Australia to join the Academy in recognition of their outstanding achievements and ongoing contributions in the field of medical and health sciences.

With over 20 years of experience in clinical research and translational medicine, Prof Gibbs has made significant contributions towards developing personalised treatments for patients with bowel cancer.

He is one of 29 Fellows to be inducted this year.

What inspired you to pursue a career in science?

Growing up on a farm, I was regularly exposed to new life and death. I used to constantly wonder about the miracle of life and how the body worked from a very young age.

We used to process our own sheep and I remember helping dad with that, being fascinated by all the bits inside that made a sheep work. That fascination even saw me take a sheep organ to school one day for ‘show and tell’. Not sure my teacher was quite as fascinated (or impressed) as I was!

My mum was a nurse, and through her I heard many stories of what happened in hospitals. She had a lot of respect for doctors and made it seem like a really important job, with lots of potential to help people.

A career in medicine seemed a natural pathway forward for me, inspired by my innate interests, childhood experiences and influences.

Why did you choose your specific field?

As a medical student, the fear and taboo around cancer quickly became apparent to me. But through this, I also realised the challenging yet rewarding opportunity this field presented to unravel the complexities of the disease and make advances in treatment.

The things we can learn in cancer research seem endless, and that’s probably the biggest reason that drew me in to cancer as a clinical speciality, along with the opportunity to make a difference to people confronting very challenging scenarios.

Bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is the second-deadliest cancer in Australia, with more than 5000 deaths every year. Once considered an old person’s disease, the disease is now hitting younger Australians at alarming rates.

I hope to create a future where, through research, we continually progress in our understanding of this disease. This will drive better outcomes for those that are diagnosed while also providing opportunities to reduce the prevalence of this cancer.

What has been your proudest scientific achievement?

Working with one of the world’s greatest scientists Bert Vogelstein and Jeanne Tie from my laboratory, we co-designed a blood test that uses circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) to identify which stage 2 bowel cancer patients will benefit from chemotherapy after colon surgery.

Before this research, every patient with stage 2 bowel cancer was considered a candidate for chemotherapy, despite only a minority of patients benefitting: those with micrometastases. These are tiny residual cancer cells that remain despite ‘successful’ surgery, which can go on to trigger cancer recurrence.

The challenge was the inability to identify these patients from the majority who were going to be fine without treatment, meaning tens of thousands of patients around the world likely had undergone unnecessary chemo treatment.

World-first clinical trials led by my team have now found ctDNA liquid biopsies can successfully guide colon cancer treatment – globally significant results that will allow thousands of patients to safely avoid chemotherapy altogether.

We’re now looking to see if these exciting results can be used for other stages of bowel cancer and other cancer types, including pancreas and ovarian cancer.

What are some of the biggest advancements you’ve witnessed in your field over the years?

The biggest change has been the shift towards personalised medicines. We now understand that every cancer is unique and requires a tailored and multidisciplinary treatment approach for the best possible outcome to be achieved.

Learning more about how to individualise treatment plans has allowed incredibly innovative therapies and technology to come to the forefront as gamechangers in personalised treatments.

A major focus of ongoing research is understanding ways to more accurately predict the outcomes from specific treatments – before they’re given to patients. One very promising way of doing this is by drug testing on tumour organoids – mini cancers grown in the lab that mimic a patient’s cancer.

My team is currently assessing whether organoids can be used to predict what treatments are most likely to work for bowel cancer patients, an exciting body of work that could revolutionise the way this disease is treated.

Another big change over the course of my career has been the increased focus on consumer engagement in all aspects of research and clinical care. I’m grateful to work alongside WEHI’s Consumer Program, which is the first and largest in Australian fundamental medical research.

Programs like this help unveil what is most important to patients including ways to improve their quality of life, and how patients can best be supported through their cancer journey.

What does the recognition of an AAHMS Fellowship mean to you?

Peer acknowledgement is always the highest accolade to me, so this is an incredible honour for me personally.

However, this Fellowship is also recognition of the collective hard work and perseverance of my laboratory team.

Any research output is always due to the work of many people working collaboratively – that is where the true power and the impact comes from. I am very fortunate to be working with great people who make the magic happen.

What’s a piece of advice you can offer early-career researchers?

Don’t put limits on what you think you can achieve.

In science, there rarely are any guarantees with results. But with persistence, hard work and collaborations, everyone has the potential to make a big impact – often in ways that you never thought possible when you first started.

–

Header image: Professor Peter Gibbs was appointed Head of Clinical Discovery and Translation at WEHI in April this year – recognition of his 20-plus years of experience in clinical research and translational medicine.