Public Health: Aung Ko Win

Where do you currently work and what is your role?

I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne. I also lead a research team at Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre and am the PhD coordinator of Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

What does your role entail?

As a research-focused fellow, I am currently working towards achieving personalised risk assessment of bowel cancer to enable targeted risk-based screening and treatment (precision health). My main research areas include identifying people with a high-risk of bowel cancer, determining cancer risk for a person who has inherited genetic mutations, how these people can reduce their cancer risk, and if a person has cancer, what the best treatment option is based on their diagnosis.

What are some of your professional highlights since graduating?

Since graduating, I have been awarded an Early Career Fellowship from the National Health and Medical Research Council. I also received a Hugh Rogers Fellowship and have established collaborations with Harvard University. I am now leading many research programs together with large international consortiums from Asia, Europe and North America.

I have been invited to give a talk at several international conferences and institutions, review grants and journal articles, and develop clinical practice guidelines. Over the last five years, I have published more than 100 research papers and four book chapters. My research team has been awarded excellence in research achievements.

What are some highlights from your life as a student at The University of Melbourne?

For my PhD, I completed a thesis with 14 first-authored research publications. For this, I received multiple awards including Chancellor’s Prize, Dean’s Award as well as the Head of School’s Award. I was named the Winner of the prestigious Premier’s Award for Health and Medical Research in 2013. I am also the inaugural winner of the Picchi Award for Excellence in Cancer Research.