NEWCASTLE scientist Dr Nikola Bowden can dedicate the next decade to researching ovarian cancer without worrying about her next paycheck thanks to the generosity of Hunter Valley wine-making identities, Brian and Fay McGuigan.
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The McGuigans have funded an unprecedented 10-year Hunter Medical Research Institute Fellowship dedicated to ovarian cancer research in memory of their daughter, Vanessa, who died shortly after her 21st birthday in 1990.
Dr Bowden, a cancer researcher at the University of Newcastle, said about three-to-four months a year were spent applying for funding, but now she could invest that “big chunk of time” back into helping people with ovarian cancer have better outcomes.
“It has given me some security for the next 10 years to do my research, instead of chasing my salary all the time,” she said.
The anguish and the pain their daughter had gone through during ovarian cancer treatment had motivated the McGuigans to do everything in their power to help other sufferers.
Mr McGuigan said the “substantial” financial support would mean Dr Bowden could focus on developing her “groundbreaking research” to help “remove the scourge of ovarian cancer from the face of the earth.”
“So much time is wasted, and so much dedication to the job is therefore eroded because the person who is doing the research is also concerned about what happens at the end of their grant,” he said. “We needed to do whatever we could to ensure that she felt stable and could adopt a plan for the next decade. During that time she knows she has stability, she has funds, and all she has to do is work at turning out the solutions.”
Dr Bowden said she hoped to develop a test that would help oncologists know whether or not a patient was responding to chemotherapy earlier. In the long term, she wanted to help every person respond to treatment.
“I’ve hit the mid-career phase where most females leave research,” she said.
“Once you get to a senior level, it’s about 80 per cent males. It’s 50-50 when we graduate. But the field gets too hard, particularly when you start having kids and a family.
“Brian and Fay’s funding has also helped keep me in Newcastle. Without this, I would have been leaving at the end of the year because you are more likely to get funded in Sydney or Melbourne or a major centre.”
Dr Bowden will collaborate with researchers in Texas to access a larger source of ovarian cancer samples for the next stage of her research.
The Vanessa McGuigan HMRI Research Fellowship is also supported by the University of Newcastle.
