Noel Castan Fellowship
ANNUAL
REPORT 2024
Noel Castan Fellowship
ANNUAL
REPORT 2024
ANNUAL REPORT 2024
Noel Castan Fellowship
Noel Castan Fellowship
The Noel Castan Fellowship was established by Anita Castan, in memory of her husband, who passed away from cancer two decades ago.
The aim of the Noel Castan Fellowship is to build ANZUP’s research capacity and increase the translation of information collected from our trials, which will contribute to better understanding of how to optimise patient care.
The Noel Castan Fellowship was awarded to ANZUP members: Hui-Ming Lin (2020) and Kath Schubach (2022).
‘Bioinformatics’ project is an analysis of the lipidomic and cytokine profiles from ANZUP’s ENZAMET study, which may identify novel biomarkers from the enzalutamide response, and provide new therapeutic targets to overcome enzalutamide resistance to improve the outcome of prostate cancer patients.
Kath Schubach’s ‘Quality of Life’ project will develop new questions in trials, using existing data innovatively enhancing and facilitating collaboration and thereby drawing attention and meaning to ‘the patient experience’ and aligning with the mission of ANZUP’s clinical research to improve outcomes.
Below is a progress report from Kath Schubach.
Kath Schubach
Kath Schubach is a GU Nurse Practitioner working in private practice in metropolitan Melbourne and rural Victoria. She has had 25 years of experience and qualifications working across two-core disciplines cancer and urology. Kath has expertise in managing sexual dysfunction in oncology/urology patients. She has a master’s in Nursing Science and postgraduate qualifications in oncology, urology, and continence, nursing. She is currently enrolled in her Ph.D.
Project title:
The supportive care needs of patients diagnosed and living with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer and the perceived impact on their health-related Quality of life: A Multi-method study.
This progress report outlines the activity from February 2021 to the present. I am in my third year of my doctorate studies and have moved to Flinders University. I now have two publications accepted into Q1 Journals. I am applying for ethics permission to commence work on the baseline health-related quality of life data from the ANZUP BCG/MM clinical trial.
I continue to work as a Urology Nurse Practitioner, providing clinical support to men and women with urological issues. The generosity of the Noel Castan Fellowship enables me to get financial support to provide time off in my clinical role to fully commit to my studies. It also gives me the financial resources to attend classes /courses that will assist my thesis completion. I intend to enrol in a qualitative research subject in the latter part of 2024.
This progress report outlines the activity from February 2023 to the present.
Milestones Achieved in 2023:
- Manuscript accepted for publication in March 2023.
- Presentation for the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Clinical Trials Group (ANZUP) Annual Scientific Meeting in July 2023- An update on my PhD progress.
- Confirmation seminar passed and completed in August 2023.
Milestones achieved in 2024:
- Manuscript 2 Accepted for Publication in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.
- Poster Presentation European Association of Urology Nurses Conference Paris 2024, awarded Best Scientific Poster.
- Poster presentation at the European Association of Urology Nurses Conference Paris 2024, awarded Best Scientific Poster.
- PhD update at ANZUP ASM 2024 Nurses Education Day.
- Invited speaker To New Zealand Urology Nurses Webinar, presenting my systematic review on Supportive Care needs of the NMIBC population in June 2024.
- Working on an ethics proposal for my third publication, focusing on baseline health-related quality of life for the high-risk NMIBC population using data from the ANZUP/NHMRC BCG/MM clinical trial.
- Preparing to submit this article for publication in December 2024.
I will continue to submit abstracts at relevant conferences locally and internationally throughout my candidature.
Kath Schubach PhD Candidate