Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina, Division of Gynecologic Oncology

Dr Emma Rossi originates from Brisbane, Australia where she completed her undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Queensland. She graduated from an OBGYN residency at Northwestern University in Chicago, followed by a fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. Following fellowship, Dr Rossi served as Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Indiana University where she was an Interim Fellowship Program Director in Gynecologic Oncology. In 2015 she returned to the University of North Carolina where she is faculty and Assistant Professor with the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr Rossi has research and clinical interest and expertise in the minimally invasive surgical management of gynecologic cancers, with particular focus on robotic surgery and the development of novel techniques in sentinel lymph node mapping for endometrial and cervical cancers. She has published original articles in this subject matter, and serves as the principle investigator of the FIRES trial, which is a multi-institutional study, the largest of its kind, measuring the accuracy of sentinel node biopsy in diagnosing metastatic endometrial and cervical cancer. Dr Rossi has served as an invited speaker and surgeon nationally and internationally in robotic surgery and novel surgical techniques and has a passion for educating others regarding novel surgical techniques and minimally invasive surgery.

Director of the Charing Cross/ Imperial College Trophoblastic Disease Service and Supraregional Tumour Marker Assay Service

Michael trained at University College London obtaining a BSc in Immunology in 1983 and his MBBS in 1986. He did his general professional and specialist medical oncology training on the London circuit becoming initially a member and then a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He obtained his PhD in biochemistry in 1995 from the London Research Institute/University College London and was that year appointed as a Senior Lecturer/honorary consultant in medical oncology at Charing Cross Hospital which subsequently became part of Imperial College London. He then established his own research groups working on cell signalling in cancer and trophoblastic disease supported by grants from Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Wellbeing, Industry and others. He was promoted to Reader in 2002 and the Professor of Molecular Oncology in 2004 when he also took on the directorship of the Charing Cross Gestational Trophoblastic Disease Centre and the supraregional Tumour Marker Assay Service. In 2007 he initiated a process to develop a new national service for malignant ovarian germ cell tumours and in 2012 became head of this service. Professor Seckl also leads the Imperial College Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, runs the London Lung Cancer Alliance, is on the editorial board of several journals, chairs and sits on several grants committees, is the president elect of the European Organisation for the Treatment of Trophoblastic Disease, treasurer of the International Society for the Study of Trophoblastic Disease and holds an honorary professorship with the Peking Union Medical College. Educationally, he is Director of Postgraduate Studies for the department of Surgery and Cancer with overall responsibility for 200 MSc/MRes and 400 PhD students. Within his own research group, he and his team have received several international prizes for their work and in the past 5 years have raised over £18M of grant income. He remains committed to teaching, research and his patients.

Principal Research Fellow, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania

Eureka Prize Awarded Researcher, Professor Greg Woods completed his undergraduate degree in 1978, a BSc (Hons) at Monash University, PhD at the University of Tasmania, in 1984 and was awarded a founding Fellowship of the Faculty of Science, Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in 2011.

He has worked as a research scientist in Toronto, London, and Edinburgh. Current Appointments with the University include; Principal Research Fellow, Menzies Research Institute and Professor of Immunology, School of Medicine.

He teaches immunology to medical and medical research students and supervises postgraduate and research students. His research interests have included, Photoimmunology, specifically the effect of sunlight on the developing skin's immune system and the influence of vitamin D.

Today, most of his research is now on Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) where progress has been made in understanding the immune system of the Tasmanian devil and how this cancer escapes immune recognition. This research is paving the way towards a vaccine against DFTD. In 2011 as part of the five-member team 'The Devil's Advocates' he was awarded the Sherman Eureka Award for Environmental Science.

In the past ten years, Professor Woods has been awarded more than $2 million in research funding, including NHMRC and ARC grants. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers and has supervised approximately 20 PhD students to completion.

In 2015 his life-long contribution to research was recognised by the Australian Society for Medical Research when he was awarded their 'Certificate in Recognition of the Distinguished Service to Medicine, Science and Community.'