Annual Scientific Meeting

International Speakers

Gerhardt Attard

Prof Attard is a John Black Charitable Foundation Endowed Chair in Urological Cancer Research at University College London. He is Team Leader of the Treatment Resistance Group at the UCL Cancer Institute and a medical oncology consultant treating advanced prostate cancer at UCL Hospital. He graduated with a degree in Medicine from the University of Malta in June 1999 and obtained a PhD in Medicine from the University of London (Institute of Cancer Research) in 2010. He was awarded a Cancer Research UK clinician scientist fellowship in 2013 and a senior investigator award in 2017. His main research interests are dissecting treatment resistance, currently with a focus on plasma DNA analysis, in order to inform on the development of novel therapeutics and biomarkers for castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), and improving treatments for patients presenting with metastatic prostate cancer. He is an experienced clinical trialist and a co-author of more than 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including several important papers on advanced prostate cancer (H index, 77). Most notably his work led to the development of abiraterone acetate for prostate cancer and recently its approval for high-risk localized disease. Prof Attard’s awards over the years include the ASCO Foundation Annual Merit Award in 2007, Prostate Cancer Foundation Young Investigator Award in 2008, the AACR-GlaxoSmithKline Outstanding Clinical Scholar Award in 2009, the Medical Research Society/Academy of Medical Sciences Sue McCarthy Prize in 2010 and the McElwain award in 2010. He received the Cancer Research UK Future Leader Award in 2017 and the Agilent Future Thought Leaders award in 2022.  Prof Attard sits on a number of advisory boards and the editorial board of Annals of Oncology.

marianna kruithof-de julio

Marianna Kruithof-de Julio is Professor of Experimental Urology and Director of Clinical Translation Research at the University of Bern. She leads the Urology Research Laboratory and the Organoid Core Facility, developing patient-derived organoid and organ-on-chip models to better understand cancer and support therapy decisions. Her work focuses on prostate, bladder, and pancreatic cancers, combining advanced technologies such as spatial transcriptomics and AI-driven histopathology with functional drug screening. In addition to her research, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gene and is Founder of OnconiX, committed to translating science into practical solutions that improve patient care.

Darren Poon

Dr Darren Poon is the Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Honorary Consultant in Clinical Oncology at both the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong. He also appointed as Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He is the Associate Director of the Comprehensive Oncology Center, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. Currently, he is the vice-president of Hong Kong Society of Uro-Oncology (HKSUO). Dr. Poon’s main clinical interest is genitourinary (GU) cancer, with additional expertise in neuro-oncology, hepato-pancreatic cancer, and head and neck cancer. His research interests include image-guided radiotherapy, stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and the development of novel therapeutic strategies for genitourinary cancers. He pioneered the use of SBRT for prostate cancer in Hong Kong and is a leading figure in the introduction and clinical application of MRI-guided radiotherapy for prostate cancer in the Asia–Pacific region. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, reviews and abstracts, and is a co-author of the 10th & 11th edition of Fast Facts: Prostate Cancer. Over the past decade, he has convened and co-authored multiple local and regional multidisciplinary consensus statements across the spectrum of genitourinary malignancies, contributing to practice-changing guidance and advancing standards of care for prostate, bladder and kidney cancers in Hong Kong and the Asia–Pacific region. Dr Poon is an expert panel member of the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) and the Asia Pacific Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APAC-APCCC) and serves on the scientific committee for the genitourinary tumours track at ESMO Asia Congress 2024 and 2025. He sits on the editorial boards of BMC Oncology and Chinese Clinical Oncology and is a topic editor for Frontiers in Oncology.

Sarah Psutka

Dr. Sarah Psutka MD, MSc is an Associate Professor of Urology in the Department of Urology at the University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. She received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and completed urology residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital followed by a Society of Urologic Oncology Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, and concurrently obtained her Masters in Clinical and Translational Science. At UW, she specializes in bladder, kidney, and testis cancer care, leads the urologic oncology program at Harborview Medical Center and is the Program Director of the UW SUO Fellowship in Urologic Oncology. Dr. Psutka’s leads research integrating principles of aging research, comprehensive geriatric assessments, body composition, and resilience in patients with advanced GU malignancies with a focus on patient-centric outcomes. She is a clinical trialist, currently leading the UW GetMoving and the UW EMPOWER Randomized Controlled Trials which evaluate personalized home-based prehabilitation exercise intervention delivered via digital applications perioperatively and in survivorship settings. Her research has been funded by the National Institute on Aging (2022-2024 GEMSSTAR award), the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, and the Andy Hill Care Foundation. She was the 2022 Recipient of the Society of Urologic Oncology Young Investigator Award and the 2023 Kidney Cancer Association Christopher G. Wood Rising Star Award. She serves on the SUO Clinical Trials Consortium Board of Directors (Kidney), AUA Practice Guidelines Committee, and is the Cancer Control Committee Liaison for the SWOG Genitourinary Executive Committee. She co-founded the Society of Women in Urologic Oncology in 2019. Dr. Psutka served as the Senior Editor for the Oncology Section of the AUA Core Curriculum from 2019-2023 and is currently the Senior Consultant for Oncology and the Chair Elect for the AUA Core Curriculum 2026. She is an Associate Editor for European Urology.

Andrea Nixon

Andrea Nixon has been working as a Urology Clinical Nurse Manager in Whangarei, New Zealand for over twenty-five years. Andrea remains an active member of the New Zealand Urological Nursing Society, a committee member 2009-2025, Chairperson from 2013 - 2019. Andrea is passionate about urology nursing education. During her time in NZUNS she was involved in the development of several awards and scholarships as well as the establishment of the NZ Standards of Practice for Urological Nurses. Andrea was instrumental in creating the MOU between NZUNS and Urological Society of Australia - New Zealand Section, which has seen them combine their society’s annual conferences since 2015. Andrea was also an active member of the Australia and New Zealand Urological Nurses Society (ANZUNS) becoming its President from 2017-2019. One of her objectives during this time was to explore collaborative initiatives with other international urological nursing groups which culminated in an MOU being signed with BAUN and EAUN, ANZUNS and NZUNS in 2019 and the very first international working party tasked with developing an international Urological Nursing Curriculum and Educational Framework. Andrea was, until earlier this year, an active member of this international group and was very proud to be at the launch of the EFUNCore, at the BAUN Conference in Edinburgh in November last year. Andrea’s contribution to Urological Nursing was recognised in 2019 when she received not only life membership to NZUNS but the inaugural Urological Association of Australia and New Zealand Award for Contribution to New Zealand Urology by a Urological Nurse. These awards will remain two of the greatest highlights of her nursing career. On a personal note, Andrea is also a wife, mother and proud “Grammy” to eight beautiful grandchildren.