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| University of Newcastle Research Fellow, Dr Nikola Bowden |
University of Newcastle bioscientist, Dr Nikola Bowden is the proud recipient of an unprecedented 10-year Hunter Medical Research Institute Fellowship dedicated to ovarian cancer study.
The fellowship is jointly funded by the university and well-known Hunter winemakers Brian and Fay McGuigan, and honours their daughter Vanessa who tragically lost her battle with the disease in 1990.
Dr Bowden also has a personal connection with ovarian cancer after losing a hockey teammate in 2012 which spurred her study of the mechanisms causing chemotherapy resistance.
"I hadn't actually done any ovarian cancer research before Judy fell ill," she said.
"After a few conversations with her, she asked me why I wasn't working on ovarian cancer and I realised there was actually no reason why I couldn't start."
Dr Bowden is grateful for the fellowship and says it will help accelerate the results of her work by removing the need to apply for lengthy funding applications.
The end goal for Dr Bowden is seeing ovarian cancer diagnosed much earlier and to develop chemotherapy treatments that cater to the specific needs of each patient.
She said she would like to thank the McGuigan family and the HMRI for getting onboard.
