A/Prof Monique Watts is a heart failure cardiologist and specialist in women’s heart disease who works at Epworth Freemasons and the Alfred.

Dr Watts completed advanced training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital before undertaking a fellowship in advanced heart failure and transplantation at the Alfred Hospital. Dr Watts manages patients with all types of heart failure in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. In recent years Dr Watts has also established a cardiac clinic in North Central Victoria to improve access to specialist care for rural citizens. Dr Watts has also lead the development of the Women’s Heart Clinic at the Alfred Hospital which offers specialised care for patients suffering conditions more commonly seen in women such as the syndrome of MINOCA and contributory causes such as coronary artery vasospasm, spontaneous coronary artery dissection and microvascular dysfunction. Dr Watts is actively involved in clinical research, with multiple current projects in progress in the area of women’s heart disease. She also teaches for the University of Melbourne Clinical School.

Angela Ardi has been a nurse for over forty years and has been working at Epworth Freemasons since 2006. She has been a dedicated breast care nurse since 2011 after obtaining a post-graduate certificate in breast cancer care. Angela is passionate about holistic care throughout the entire patient journey. Her role includes education of patients and their families about their treatment (including managing symptoms and side effects) and also providing emotional support from time of diagnosis, through their hospital stay and beyond discharge. She recognises that ongoing community support is invaluable to patients' recovery and has facilitated a support group for young women with breast cancer, and on a larger scale been involved in the development of the Epworth Oncology Rehabilitation program.

Associate Professor Gary Crosthwaite is the Director of the General Surgery and Gastroenterology Clinical Institute at Epworth HealthCare.

As an Upper GI Surgeon with extensive experience in surgical oncology and laparoscopic surgery including oesophagogastrectomy, hiatus hernia repair, achalasia surgery and hernia surgery, he has a keen interest in evolving surgical techniques and developments.

He also has significant experience of PEOM for Achalasia and currently undertakes this procedure at Epworth.

Andrew is a specialist radiation oncologist who has expertise in the management of urological, breast, gastrointestinal, skin and general oncology and is a credentialed prostate brachytherapist. He is trained in stereotactic radiosurgery locally and internationally with a number of research initiatives exploring the merits of this advanced radiation technology.

Bob is a consultant radiologist, having completed his radiology training at The Alfred in 2023. He is currently undertaking a breast and abdominal imaging fellowship at Epworth Medical Imaging.

Mr Derek Neoh is a specialist plastic and reconstructive surgeon with appointments in major metropolitan hospitals in the public and private sectors. He is also the Director of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at The Austin Hospital. Derek has a strong interest in microsurgical cancer reconstruction and has undertaken further advanced training with overseas fellowships in Canada, UK, and the Netherlands. He is a college appointed surgical supervisor of training in Plastic Surgery, and is involved in the educational and academic sides of breast reconstruction in Plastic Surgery.

Dr Desiree Yap is a specialist gynaecologist with an interest in all kinds of gynaecological problems as well as in the wider issue of women’s health in general. In addition to a medical degree from Melbourne University, Desiree is a qualified specialist in both Australia and the United Kingdom. She also has a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine from James Cook University.

Dr James McCracken is a medical oncologist based at Epworth Freemasons and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. He has expertise in the management and care of patients with breast, gastrointestinal and lung cancers. Dr McCracken completed his training through the Victorian Medical Oncology Training Programme, before completing a 2 year fellowship in Breast and Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute at the Austin Hospital. He attends and presents regularly at national and international conferences, and has been involved in a number of practice changing clinical trials during his career. He is the Victorian representative to the Young Oncology Group of Australia, whilst also being a member of the Medical Oncology Group of Australia (MOGA), the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Dr Karyn Chan is a women’s imaging radiologist who has worked for over a decade at Epworth Medical Imaging (EMI) Freemasons. Dr Chan's subspecialty interests are in Breast Imaging, 3D and contrast enhanced mammography, ultrasound, MRI, Gynaecological MRI: Gynaeoncology, benign disease and endometriosis.

Dr Keelan Byrne is an experienced radiation oncologist who consults and treats patients at multiple Icon Cancer Centre locations across Melbourne’s inner and outer metropolitan areas including Epworth Richmond, Moreland and Epworth Freemasons.

Born and raised in Ireland, he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics at Trinity College Dublin and undertook specialist radiation oncology training at Andrew Love and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centres in Melbourne, Australia. Dr Byrne subsequently completed a radiation oncology fellowship at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, where he gained extensive experience in managing and treating a broad range of solid tumour malignancies, with a particular focus on breast and urological cancers. He was awarded fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (FRANZCR) in 2016.

Dr Laura Chin-Lenn is a Melbourne born and bred surgeon. She obtained her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Melbourne in 2001. She trained in General Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS) in General Surgery in 2010.

Following General Surgery training, Dr Laura dedicated three years to subspecialty fellowship training. She was the first Endocrine and General Surgery fellow at the Western Hospital in Melbourne. She then spent two years at the University of Calgary, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Canada as an accredited fellow of Surgical Oncology (Society of Surgical Oncology program) where she focussed on Breast Surgery. She simultaneously undertook an Endocrine Surgery fellowship in Canada's only accredited program with the American Association of Endocrine Surgery, working with one of the most prominent endocrine surgeons in Canada.

She has public hospital appointments at Western Health, Royal Melbourne Hospital and Breastscreen Victoria and operates privately at Epworth Freemason's Hospital.

Narine is a senior specialist breast surgeon, managing both benign and malignant breast conditions, including higher risk surveillance, exclusively now in private practice, based at Epworth Freemasons. She trained in Melbourne and worked in both public and private, including establishing the Familial Breast Cancer Clinic at Royal Melbourne Hospital. She has a long experience and interest in oncoplastic techniques, and personalized cancer management.

Dr Richard De Boer is a medical oncologist with primary interests in breast and lung cancer. His breast cancer interest focus is on endocrine therapy and mechanisms of resistance, and treatment-induced bone loss and bone metastases. His lung cancer interests are targeted therapies, predictors of response/survival, and small cell lung cancer.

Richard completed his general medical training and then medical oncology training at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. In 1997 he undertook a three year breast and lung cancer clinical research Fellowship at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. He returned to Melbourne in 2000 and since then has been a consultant medical oncologist working in both public and private practice.

His special interests include management of patients with breast cancer - early stage and metastatic, management of patients with lung cancer and mesothelioma and management of patients with biliary tract cancers, in particular pancreatic cancer.

Sophie is a specialist breast surgeon who manages all breast conditions – benign and malignant, in patients of all ages.  Her private patients are treated at Epworth Richmond.  She has public appointments at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Western Health and an honorary appointment at Royal Children’s Hospital. She undertook General Surgical training in New Zealand and Australia and then completed a Fellowship in Surgical Oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer centre. 

Sophie has an interest in oncoplastic breast surgery and works with female reconstructive plastic surgeons to offer women the best possible cosmetic outcomes without compromising cancer care. She attends the Familial Cancer Centre at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre caring for women at high risk of breast cancer. She is involved in research as an associate investigator for many trials.

Kirsten Pilatti was appointed CEO in March 2018.

She has an exceptional understanding of the cancer sector having spent over a decade at BCNA and five years at Cancer Council Victoria where she was responsible for delivering communications and campaigns around prevention messages.

Professor Christobel Saunders  s the James Stewart Chair of Surgery, the Head of the Department of Surgery at the University of Melbourne (Royal Melbourne Hospital precinct), Director of Medical Research at Melbourne Medical School,   and consultant surgeon in the Department of General Surgery at Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. Christobel is internationally recognised as one of Australia’s most prominent research-orientated cancer surgeons. She has substantially contributed to breast cancer research, including clinical trials of new treatments, and psychosocial, translational and health services research.
 
In recognition of her sustained career excellence and innovation, Christobel has been publicly acknowledged through numerous awards and honours including the Order of Australia 2018, the Uccio Querci della Rovere Award (2018), WA Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee (2018),  WA Scientist of the Year (2017), Cancer Council WA Career Achievement Award (2021) and was elected to the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science in 2016.

Professor Ingrid Winship is a clinician scientist in Clinical Genetics and Cancer Genetics. In 2006 she became the Inaugural Chair of Adult Clinical Genetics at the University of Melbourne, a position she combines with Director of Genomic Medicine at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She was also at this time appointed as Melbourne Health’s Executive Director of Research and during her 12-year tenure launched the Clinical Trials Research Centre in the city campus.

Her substantive research is in familial cancer, with a focus on prevention through genomics.

Ingrid is currently a Director of the Boards of the Australasian College of Dermatologists, the Australian Genome Research Facility and Global Variome. She is Chair of the Australian Health Ethics Committee and a member of the Council of the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Ingrid is the Group Director of Research and Development at Epworth.