Donations at work
By RW Bro Ted Simmons OAM This includes T cells that occur naturally in very low numbers that can be isolated and enriched in the laboratory.
Lorna Milgate goes on giving Sometimes when a person donates money to a special cause or offers assistance in a practical gift they may wonder whether their gesture has been put to good effect.
I
‘The scholarship made a huge difference in getting me to the starting line of a career in medicine. Twenty years have passed and I am now well settled in my specialty as a bone marrow transplant doctor at Westmead Hospital and as a researcher at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research and an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney,’ she said.
The award recognises her research on cellular therapies for cancer – driving better treatments for people with blood cancers. One stream of her research involves the development and clinical implementation of adoptive T cell therapies for blood cancers such as leukaemia.
10
March 2022
Together, these two complications account for the majority of deaths that may occur after blood stem cell transplant. In addition to her fellowship with the Cancer Institute NSW, A/Prof Blyth is a Senior Staff Specialist Haematologist at Westmead Hospital, a recognised Immune Effector Cell Therapies Translation Centre. She leads the Clinical Immune Effector Cell Service at Westmead Hospital and is a Research Lead at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research. ‘Working with a great team has been a real privilege, and the Cancer Institute fellowship has been instrumental in supporting the whole research group’s work. Having dedicated time for research has enhanced the links between the clinical side of my work and research,’ A/Prof Blyth says.
n March 2021, the NSW Freemason published an article by Associate Professor Emily Blyth on the start of her career in the 1990s and the unexpected but very welcome assistance she received from the Lorna Milgate Scholarship Fund.
In the year that has followed the article, it is pleasing to note that A/Prof Blyth has now progressed to further honours and has been announced as the winner of the 2021 NSW Premier’s Award for the Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow – Early Career Fellow.
She has led a clinical trial of this technology that has recently completed recruitment. This clinical trial combines standard transplantation with T cell therapies to protect patients from serious infection, as well as to prevent relapse of their cancer.
‘I’d like to thank the team for their support in my training as a physician scientist, in particular my mentor and supervisor Professor Gottlieb and the head of the clinical haematology department, Clinical A/Prof Jennifer Curnow.’
Associate Professor Emily Blyth
T cell therapies are a type of immunotherapy, which is a treatment that uses the body’s own immune cells to fight cancer cells. The immune system is made up of cells and organs that normally protect the body from disease and infection. T cells are immune cells that can be altered to locate and destroy abnormal cells such as cancer cells. A/Prof Blyth has specifically researched manufacturing T cells to target acute myeloid leukaemia.
The $10,000 fellowship from the Premier will support A/Prof Blyth to advance her research. Following this fellowship, A/Prof Blyth will receive a NSW Ministry of Health Early/Mid Career Fellowship in Cell and Gene Therapy to further support her work. ‘I’m really excited about the future of these technologies. Building the skill base to develop and manufacture these products in Australia will help our patients to get access to them earlier,’ she says. The Lorna Milgate Trust is one of many charities supported by Freemasonry as well as those suburban organisations which benefit from the assistance given by lodges and districts.
Humility – Kindness – Generosity
Freemason
