2023 Rhonda’s Award Winner

Targeting the Mucinous Ovarian Cancer Environment

The Mucinous Ovarian Cancer Coalition (MOCC) is pleased to announce that the 2023 winner of Rhonda’s Award is Associate Professor, Dr. Kylie Gorringe. In funding Dr. Gorringe’s proposal, Targeting the Mucinous Ovarian Cancer Environment, MOCC sees hope on the horizon for advancing treatment options for this most difficult disease.

Dr. Gorringe is the Group Leader of The Gorringe lab at the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology at the University of Melbourne, based in the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Dr. Gorringe earned a PhD in cancer genetics from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. She also obtained both a bachelor of science in molecular biology and a master of science in human genetics from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

Co-investigators for this project are Dr. Mohammad Haskali (radiopharmaceutical scientist) and Dr. Suad Abdirahman (post-doctoral scientist), Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

The Gorringe lab focuses on cancer precision medicine and applying genomics to clinical questions in breast and ovarian cancers. Dr. Gorringe and her team represents one of the leading voices in mucinous ovarian cancer on a global scale.

As MOCC Board President Shelley Laurell explains:

"We are tired of watching women, many in their thirties and forties, lose their lives to this disease. That’s why we are so thrilled to be able to support Dr. Gorringe’s work. She is as passionately committed as we are to discovering treatment options and a cure for this rare form of ovarian cancer.

Mucinous ovarian cancer is stubbornly resistant to treatments used with some success in other types of this disease. For women who are diagnosed at an advanced stage, like my late sister, the prognosis is poor. At MOCC, we are working hard every day to change that. We believe Dr. Gorringe will play a role in achieving that goal."

In supporting Dr. Gorringe and the Gorringe lab as the winner of Rhonda’s Award for 2023, MOCC’s Physician Advisory Committee Chair, Dr. Michael Frumovitz of MD Anderson Cancer Center, reinforced the organization’s belief in this work: “Dr. Gorringe is a well-established investigator with multiple high- impact publications, including many on primary mucinous ovarian cancer. The proposed project has potential for eventual development of novel therapeutics for treating women with this disease.”