UTS Associate Professor of Pharmacy Mary Bebawy is no stranger to speaking about her research to her peers, but last month she had the opportunity to share her work with a very different audience. As an invited speaker at the NSW Cancer Council Relay for Life Summit, Assoc Prof Bebawy briefed Cancer Council volunteers and stakeholders on the research they make possible through their fundraising efforts.
"The Cancer Council raises a lot of funds through volunteer involvement and the Relay for Life Summit brings all these people together. I jumped at the opportunity to talk to the group about my research because I think it's important for the volunteers and their families to see what's being achieved with the money they work so hard to raise." She said.
Assoc Prof Bebawy is currently working on two Cancer Council funded projects that are made possible by volunteer fundraising. They focus on multi-drug resistance in cancer patients and understanding the genetic environment of brain cancer cells.
"Multi-drug resistance is a huge problem for cancer patients as it affects the success of their treatment. However it's not widely understood clinically or in the community." Assoc Prof Bebawy explains, "My research has the potential to identify alternative drug targets and therapeutics that bypass multidrug resistance and as a result, improve patient outcomes."
