Your mum. Your aunty. Your sister. Your daughter. Your wife. Most people know someone impacted by breast cancer. 

So it’s no surprise that breast cancer is the most common cancer for women in Aotearoa, with approximately 3,500 women diagnosed each year.

But thanks to innovative new treatments, a breast cancer diagnosis is no longer the death sentence it once was. Survival rates have rapidly improved in recent years, with 91% of women surviving five years and 86% surviving ten years after diagnosis.

Driving these advancements are brilliant researchers and clinicians passionate about improving breast cancer outcomes — including our very own Dr Sheridan Wilson. Supported early in her career by Cancer Research Trust New Zealand, Dr Wilson now leads the medical oncology breast team at Auckland Regional Cancer and Blood Service.

A trailblazer in her work to ensure Kiwi women with breast cancer have internationally endorsed treatment and trial opportunities, Dr Wilson leads a programme to promote the use of neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) in Aotearoa. This chemo-first approach has now become standard of care in high-risk breast cancer subtypes. Working with translational research collaborators across Aotearoa, Dr Wilson is a Board Director for Breast Cancer Trials Australia New Zealand, a crucial conduit for clinical trials in New Zealand.

Dr Wilson’s leadership has been instrumental in aligning New Zealand with global best practice and fostering research relationships locally and internationally. And none of this would have been possible without the support of a Cancer Research Trust New Zealand Fellowship in 2012. 

Laying the foundation for her successful career, Sheridan spent two years at the British Columbia Cancer Agency (BCCA) in Canada where she learned from world-class clinicians and breast cancer researchers. Dr Wilson also spent her fellowship further developing experience in translational research and clinical trials – work which helped pave the way for her success today.

How fortunate are we to have a clinician like Dr Wilson leading the breast cancer fight in Aotearoa?

Driven, brilliant, and passionate about bold, innovative research — doctors like Dr Wilson are exactly why we invest in bright minds. And we’re just as fortunate to have donors like you, who helped make her journey possible.

Thank you for your ongoing support.