#AskTheExperts Webcast

Ricardo Goncalves is a presenter, and finance editor for SBS World News and fronts Small Business Secrets. He has covered news globally, filing stories from the Middle East, LA and New York’s Ground Zero. He started his television career in 1998, as a regional reporter at WIN News Wollongong and has appeared on Today Tonight Sydney, Seven News Sydney, Sunrise, Nine News Melbourne, Sky News and Sky News Business.

His most memorable pieces of work include interviews with Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva and Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson. He’s a keen public speaker, holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Economics, and has a Portuguese background.

Dr Ada Cheung completed her Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery at The University of Melbourne and graduated in 2003 as the top medical student at the Austin Hospital Clinical School. She continued her medical training and specialty training at Austin Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Northern Hospital and Bendigo Hospitals and obtained her Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in Endocrinology. She has General and Specialist Registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency.

Dr Cheung holds a prestigious Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowship to support her medical research at The University of Melbourne, striving to advance health outcomes for individuals with hormone conditions. She is also an Endocrinologist in the Department of Endocrinology at Austin Hospital and the Australian Prostate Centre. Dr Cheung has research interests in understanding the effects of testosterone on the body, in particular preventing side-effects of androgen deprivation therapy for men with prostate cancer.

Professor Steve Ellen is a clinician researcher in the psychosocial aspects of cancer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Steve is the director of the Psychosocial Oncology Program, which provides clinical psychiatry, psychology and social work services to patients of Peter Mac, and the director of the Department of Cancer Experiences Research, which includes research in the fields of psychiatry, behavioural science, allied health, nursing, survivorship and health services.

In addition to that Steve is a professor of psychiatry at Melbourne University, and completed a doctorate in medicine by research in 2015. Steves most recent challenge has been converting his medical and scientific writing into more accessible popular writing, is a frequent contributor to The Conversation and has written a number of books.

Sonia Strachan is a Prostate Cancer Specialist Nurse with Goulburn Valley Health (GV) in Shepparton, her role provides an essential local resource for men and their families who are undergoing treatment for prostate cancer and also focuses on education and awareness of early detection and treatment. In 2016 Sonia received a Victorian Public Healthcare Award for Excellence in Cancer Care through her prostate cancer service at GV.

Sonia completed a Graduate Diploma Palliative Care in 2001 and worked as a clinical nurse co-ordinator with community based palliative care service in Shepparton for 13 years. Sonia continues to stay involved with palliative care by continuing to work on a casual basis in community based service.

Sonia is extremely passionate about mens health, and in particular promoting prostate cancer awareness in rural regions. Her position allows Sonia to work in conjunction with the patients’ medical team to provide the best patient outcomes, and to link men into other services to ensure their support needs are met.

Associate Professor Andrew Weickhardt is a Medical Oncologist and Senior Clinical Research Fellow at Olivia Newton John Cancer Centre, Austin Hospital. His main areas of clinical responsibility are the management of patients with genitourinary cancer and involvement in clinical trials in this patient population.

A/Prof Weickhardt's translational cancer research interests involve the optimisation of immunotherapy and precision medicine. This involves the identification of novel targets, refinement of biomarker assays, monitoring and evaluation of therapeutic response to therapy, and identification of resistance mechanisms to therapy. He designs clinical trials – aiming to improve on standard therapies with new drugs. His work has appeared in publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer, Clinical Cancer Research and the British Journal of Cancer.