Dr Kylie Mason from WEHI has been honoured with a coveted Young Tall Poppy award.
The Tall Poppy Campaign was created by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science to recognise and celebrate Australian scientific and intellectual excellence and to encourage younger Australians to follow in the footsteps of outstanding achievers.
Dr Mason, a Victorian Cancer Agency Clinician Fellow, is both a research scientist and a treating doctor, being active at the laboratory bench at WEHI and in caring for cancer patients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Previous WEHI Tall Poppy award winners have been Dr Ben Croker, Dr Benjamin Kile and Professors Brendan Crabb, Simon Foote and Doug Hilton.
Dr Mason is deeply involved in researching disorders of the blood, particularly leukaemia and lymphoma. She has been working with WEHI colleagues to investigate the qualities of novel anti-cancer compounds that act to induce cell death. Her work suggests that this class of new drugs may be a major advance in the fight against some blood cancer. In the course of this research, Dr Mason also discovered that blood platelets have a built-in timer that determines their natural life span.
This was a highly significant discovery, because an undesirable side effect of cancer chemotherapy is extensive bruising and potentially life-threatening bleeding. This is caused by the unintended depletion of platelets, which are essential for blood clotting and wound healing. The well being of some patients depends upon platelet transfusions, particularly during the vulnerable period that follow anti-cancer treatment. The significant demand for high quality platelets, coupled with their short shelf life of only five days, presents major logistical challenges in clinical practice. The discovery opens the way to devising techniques to prolong the life span of blood bank platelets, increasing their availability to patients receiving cancer treatment.
Reflecting upon the award to Dr Mason, the Director of WEHI, Professor Suzanne Cory, said, "Dr Mason is a young doctor and medical researcher of impressive talent and drive. She is one of those rare individuals who have combined an outstanding commitment to clinical medicine and patient care with a longer term vision for improving patient outcomes through research."
From the early 1990s, Kylie has been a high achiever and a committed community participant, being the winner of the WEHI Student Seminar Prize, the Albert Baikie Memorial Medal of the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand, Young Victorian Achiever of the Year, Young Australian of the Year – Community Service Division and a member of the Victorian Cancer Agency Early Careers Innovators Network.