Vanessa Beesley
Associate Professor | Senior Research Officer
Population Health Department
Vanessa.Beesley@qimrberghofer.edu.au
CAREER HISTORY
Associate Professor Vanessa Beesley is a behavioural scientist and who holds a Bachelor of Public Health, a First Class Honours Degree in Epidemiology and a PhD in Psycho-Oncology. She has dedicated over a decade to working in the specialised field of ‘patient-reported outcomes’ in cancer research. She is passionate about person-centred care and meeting peoples supportive care needs. Her work spans across many tumour streams including patients and carers affected by ovarian, endometrial, pancreatic, colorectal cancer, neuroendocrine tumours and melanoma.
A/Prof Beesley is or has been a chief investigator of 13 patient-reported outcomes studies funded through major national grants or specialist agencies. She has published over 60 scientific articles, co-written a manual on methods of data analysis, given ~20 national or international conference presentations, workshops or symposiums and held multiple Cancer Australia contracts to provide recommendations to government.
A/Prof Beesley is a founding member of the Queensland Collaborative for Cancer Survivorship which focuses on developing and evaluating health innovations. Through this collaborative and a board approved partnership with Australia’s leading pancreatic cancer organisation, A/Prof Beesly has developed a translational program of work assessing real world implementation of a nation-wide support service for families faced with pancreatic cancer. Her other main focus is on women with ovarian cancer. In this endeavour, she leads the patient-reported outcomes arm of the national Ovarian Cancer Prognosis and Lifestyle (OPAL) Study. Her OPAL work has been translated into Cancer Council hosted educational webinars for health professionals and into a learning program for general practitioners.
CURRENT APPOINTMENTS
2015-current: Senior Research Officer, Population Health Department
2018-current: Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS
2008-2018: Honorary Fellow, School of Public Health and Social Work (SPHSW), QUT
2007-2015: Research Officer, Population Health Department, QIMR Berghofer
ORCID NUMBER
CURRENT AREA OF RESEARCH
Associate Professor Beesley is a chief investigator on the following studies and trials
- PRoCESS: Pancreatic cancer Relatives Counselling and Education Support Service trial
- OPAL– Ovarian cancer Prognosis And Lifestyle study
- PMP-QoL– Primary Melanoma Project – Quality of Life study
- ECHO– Exercise during CHemotherapy for Ovarian cancer trial
- CHANNEL – Care of Head And Neck cancer Needs EvaLuation study
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Associate Professor Vanessa Beesley has:
- Been awarded ~$800,000 of NHMRC funding as the lead investigator of a major national telehealth trial.
- Held multiple Cancer Australia contracts (totalling $150,000) as the lead investigator to provide recommendations to government about how to improve cancer care.
- Been awarded additional seed funding ($150,000) as the lead investigator of 2 pilot intervention trials and 1 methods study.
- Been a chief investigator of 10 other studies funded through major national grants or specialist agencies (4 NHMRC, 2 ARC, 2 Cancer Australia, 1 Cancer Council Queensland and 1 Christie NHS Foundation Trust) totalling awards of $6,650,000.
- Published over 60 scientific articles.
- Co-written a manual on methods of data analysis in longitudinal studies.
- Given ~20 national or international conference presentations, workshops or symposiums.
- Been a founding and elected executive member of the Queensland Collaborative for Cancer Survivorship.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group (PoCoG): since 2007
- Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA): since 2010
- Australian New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group (ANZGOG): since 2010
- Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC): since 2016
AWARDS RECOGNITION
2019: Winner of the Best of the Best Epidemiology Orals at the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting
2008-2013: NHMRC Early Career Award
2006: QUT Write-up Award
2003: Postgraduate Research Student Award for Outstanding Contribution
2002-2005: QUT Postgraduate Research Award
2000: QUT Honours Award
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
2007: PhD (Psycho-oncology), Queensland University of Technology, Australia
2000: B.A. (Health Science), Hons (First Class), Queensland University of Technology, Australia
1999: B.A. (Health Science), Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Australia