Associate Professor Rishi Kotecha, a Consultant Paediatric Oncologist and Co-Head of Leukaemia Translational Research at The Kids Research Institute Australia, has been named Cancer Council WA's 2024 Cancer Researcher of the Year for his outstanding contribution to cancer research.
Cancer Council WA CEO, Ashley Reid, said Associate Professor Kotecha's work has had a huge impact on leukaemia research, resulting in enormously improved access to clinical trials and cutting-edge therapeutics for West Australian infants and children.
"We are very excited to announce the Cancer Council WA Cancer Researcher of the Year for 2024 is Associate Professor Rishi Kotecha," Mr Reid said.
"Associate Professor Kotecha's vision is to improve the poor outcomes for infants with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
"His work has led to important findings, some of which have impacted clinical practice, resulting in very real outcomes for this population.
"His dedication to advancing both scientific understanding and applications into leukaemia research is evidenced by his involvement with international clinical trials, a strong grant record, and the mentorship of early and mid-career researchers.
"We congratulate Associate Professor Kotecha on this outstanding achievement."
Associate Professor Kotecha said he was honoured to be named Cancer Council WA's 2024 Cancer Researcher of the Year.
"I would like to thank Cancer Council WA for this incredible honour," Associate Professor Kotecha said.
"Outcomes for infants under one year of age with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia have remained stagnant over decades, with five-year event-free survival rates less than 40 per cent.
"My vision has been to improve this grim outcome through the establishment of a research program to identify novel therapies and develop innovative models to rigorously assess promising candidates for translation into clinical trials.
We recently conducted a small pilot clinical study which improved outcomes by 30 per cent with the addition of an immunotherapy called blinatumomab, which we will now investigate further in larger international trials.
These findings indicate that we are on the cusp of changing the paradigm for infants with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
Cancer Council WA will recognise the achievements of WA's best and brightest cancer researchers through presentation of the 2024 Cancer Council WA Research Excellence Awards, today at The Westin Perth.
Mr Reid said the Research Excellence Awards were established in 2013 to recognise and celebrate the achievements of Western Australia's finest cancer researchers.
"This year we have invested more than $2.4 million to support our cancer research funding program, including supporting 92 cancer researchers across 41 projects," he said.
"Funding for cancer research was awarded to three WA universities and involves two WA research institutes, four WA hospitals.
"Thanks to the contributions of cancer research, nine in 10 people will survive beyond five years for the most common cancers including breast, melanoma and prostate cancer, and the overall five-year survival rate for all cancers is around 70 per cent.
"Our research program's robust, independent, peer-reviewed processes ensure that we direct funding to the most promising research conducted across a range of institutes and universities in WA.
"It is only through the generosity of the WA community that we can fund so many local cancer researchers to lead exciting and innovative research that has the potential to dramatically improve the way we prevent, detect and treat cancer.
"We congratulate our next generation of leading cancer researchers as we strive towards a cancer free future."
