03 March 2022

Vale Emeritus Professor Pamela Russell AM, who passed away in late February.

Throughout her distinguished career, Emeritus Professor Russell (PhD, Dip Ed) made a remarkable contribution to our mission, and to the field of prostate cancer research and therapy.

Among her esteemed accomplishments, in 2010 she was awarded the Inaugural Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) Prize and Lecture for Outstanding Excellence and PCFA's Researcher of the year.

Professor Russell established an international reputation for her work in urological cancers - in particular bladder and prostate cancers. In 2003, she was awarded Membership of the Order of Australia (AM) for her research on bladder and prostate cancer and, in 2015, she was made a fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, Limited.

Among her many accomplishments, Professor Russell helped to pioneer the establishment of cell lines and rare xenografts from primary human tumours to generate urological cancer models, collaborating widely within Australia and overseas in the USA and Europe. Her research was also the forerunner to current imaging modalities utilising prostate specific-membrane antigen (PSMA) targeted imaging, and also focused on investigating new biomarkers in exosomes, to determine whether they might indicate or predict patient responsiveness to chemotherapy.

Professor Russell was Professor of Medicine, University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Director of the Oncology Research Centre at the UNSW School of Medicine at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney from 1992-2008.

From 2007 to 2010 she served as an inaugural Director/Secretary of the Australasian Urological and Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Group (ANZUP) and was also an Australian editor for Urological Research, helping to initiate the Australian Genitourinary Oncology Group.

In 2006 she received a prize for outstanding research alumnus of Sydney’s Kolling Institute of Medical Research, was made a life member of the Australasian Gene Therapy Society in 2009, and served on various high-level International Research Advisory Committees.

Emeritus Professor Russell was instrumental in the establishment of PCFA and will be fondly remembered as a pioneer and Honorary Life Member.

Vale.

 

Pictured: Professor John Mills, Dr Grant Buchanan, Emeritus Professor Pam Russell AM, and Mr Graeme Johnson.