Personal Statement

Dr Thomas is a National Health and Medical Research Council L3 Investigator at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. As a clinician-scientist, he applies genomic technologies to the understanding and management of cancer. 

Dr Thomas founded the Australasian Sarcoma Study Group and Australia’s leading adolescent and young adult cancer unit at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.  Dr Thomas leads the International Sarcoma Kindred Study, now recruiting from 23 centres in 7 countries, and led the first international study of denosumab in Giant Cell Tumor of bone, leading to FDA approval and PBS reimbursement.  He co-led a meta-analysis of the use of whole-body MRI in Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, which has changed management guidelines internationally.

In 2019, he established the Australian Genomic Cancer Medicine Centre (Omico), a national precision medicine program for patients with rare and early onset cancers.  This program has enabled more than 7,000 Australians with advanced cancers to access genomic profiling, and matched therapies through clinical trials, leading to improved survival.  In 2018, he was President of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society, the peak international body in his field.

Contributions to Science and Medicine

Dr Thomas founded the Australasian Sarcoma Study Group, which has enrolled over 1,000 patients onto research studies since 2008 and provided over $1.1M of funding through 18 grants to young researchers. He founded and leads the International Sarcoma Kindred Study, the largest ever conducted study of genetic factors in sarcoma, now recruiting from 23 centres in the US, UK, France, India, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia. He led the first international study of denosumab in Giant Cell Tumor of bone, leading to FDA, EMA and TGA approval of this agent for the management of this disorder. He also co-led a meta-analysis of whole-body MRI screening for patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, changing clinical practice guidelines from the NCCN, AACR and EviQ in Australia.

He was the lead applicant for the recent listing on the MBS of WBMRI for this indication. He is the CEO of Omico, a Federally funded national precision oncology platform which focuses on using genomics to develop biomarker-dependent clinical trials infrastructure, and genetically stratified risk management. Omico has enabled more than 7,000 Australians with advanced cancer to access genomic profiling and matched targeted therapies. He has published over 230 papers, including first or last author papers in Science, Cancer Cell, Molecular Cell, JAMA Oncology, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Discovery, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Nature Communications. His work has been cited more than 10,000 times, with an H-index of 58 (Web of Science).

He has over 220 research publications, including lead or senior author papers in Science, Cancer Cell, Molecular Cell, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Lancet Oncology, JAMA Oncology, and Journal of Clinical Oncology. His H-index is 50 (Scopus).

Positions and Honors

• 2022-present Head of the Omico Clinical Trials Network (OCTN)

• 2020-present Expert advisor, Australian Unity Futures of Health Fund

• 2018-present Chief Executive Officer, Omico. Head Omics in Medicine, UNSW SPHERE

• 2018-2020 Deputy Chair, Sydney Catalyst Governing Council

• 2018 President, Connective Tissue Oncology Society

• 2017-present Chair, Canteen Clinical Trials Expert Advisory Group

• 2015-2016 Board Member, Cure Cancer Australia Foundation

• 2014-2019 Medical Oncologist, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse

• 2014-2016 Member, Medical Services Advisory Board, Department of Health and Ageing

• 2014-2021 Director, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre & Head of Cancer Theme, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

• 2013-2017 Member, National Research Advisory Group, Canteen

• 2013-2018 Member, International Advisory Board, Lancet Oncology

• 2011-2020 Board member, Connective Tissue Oncology Society

• 2010-2020 Member, Medical & Scientific Advisory Board, Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative

• 2009-present Founding member, World Sarcoma Network

• 2008-2014 Associate Professor with title of Principal Research Fellow, University of Melbourne

• 2007-2010 Member, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Livestrong Young Adult Alliance Science Task Force

• 2009-2010 Chair, CanTeen National Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Advisory Board

• 2007-2012 Founding Chair, Australasian Sarcoma Study Group.

• 2006-2008 Chair, Australian Sarcoma Group.

• 2005-2010 Director, onTrac@PeterMac, Adolescent and Young Adult cancer programme.

• 2003-2014 Head Sarcoma Genetics laboratory, Peter MacCallum Cancer Center. Consultant medical oncologist, Sarcoma Service, St Vincent’s Hospital and Peter Mac

• 2001-2003 Consultant physician in medical oncology, St Vincent’s Hospital; NHMRC post-doctoral research fellow at University of Melbourne, Department of Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

• 1998-2000 Consultant physician in medical oncology; NHMRC post-doctoral research Fellow at Department of Pathology, Harvard University, Boston MA USA

Professional Memberships and Affiliation

1. Member, American Association for Cancer Research

2. Member, American Society of Clinical Oncology

3. Member, Connective Tissue Oncology Society

Honors & Awards

• 2022 and 2021 PWC Pearls Series: Emerging leaders in Sydney’s business community

• 2020 21st Herman Suit lecture, Connective Tissue Oncology Society

• 2018 Named Honor: Desai Thomas Award for Excellence in Sarcoma Research

• 2016-present NHMRC Principal Research Fellow

• 2014-present Raine Visiting Professorship, University of Western Australia

• 2014-present Honorary Professor, Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne

• 2013-present Conjoint Professor, University of NSW

• 2012-2015 NHMRC Senior Research Fellow Level B

• 2011 National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship; Visiting Fellow, Western Australian Cancer Council

• 2009 National Health and Medical Research Council 10 of the Best

• 2008 Sam Sciacca Visiting Fellow, Queensland Cancer Council; Associate Professor with title of Principal Research Fellow, University of Melbourne

• 2007 Founding chair, Australasian Sarcoma Study Group; Victorian Cancer Agency Clinician Researcher Fellowship

• 2006-2008 Chair, Australian Sarcoma Group

• 2003-2008 RD Wright NHMRC Fellowship

• 2002 Arnott Fellowship, Royal Australasian College of Physicians; AACR travel grant; EV Puzey Fellowship (University of Melbourne)

• 2000 John Taplin Fellow, Harvard Medical School

• 1999 AACR travel grant

• 1998-2002 Neil Hamilton-Fairley National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowship

10 best senior or lead author research publications

1. Ballinger, M.L., Pattnaik, S., Mundra, P., …Thomas, D.M. 2023 Heritable defects in telomere and mitotic function selectively predispose to sarcomas. Science, 379:253-60.

2. Pinese, M., Lacaze, P., Rath, E.M., … Thomas, D.M. 2020 The Medical Genome Reference Bank contains whole genome and phenotype data of 2570 healthy elderly. Nature Communications, 11: 435.

3. Cipponi, A., Goode, D.L., Bedo, J., McCabe, M., … Thomas, D.M. 2020 MTOR signaling orchestrates stress-induced mutagenesis, facilitating adaptive evolution in cancer. Science, 368: 1127-31.

4. Kansara, M., Thomson, K., Pang, P., …Thomas, D.M. 2019 Infiltrating myeloid cells drive osteosarcoma progression via GRM4 regulation of IL23. Cancer Discovery, 9: 1511-1519.

5. Ballinger, M.L.*, Best, A.*, Mai, P.L., Khincha, P.P., … Thomas, D.M*., Savage, S.A*. 2017 Baseline surveillance in Li-Fraumeni Syndrome using whole body magnetic resonance imaging: A Meta-Analysis. JAMA Oncology, 3: 1634-1639.  * Equal last authors

6. Ballinger, M.L., Ferris, N.J., Moodie, K., … Thomas, D.M. 2017 Surveillance in germline TP53 mutation carriers utilizing whole body magnetic resonance imaging. JAMA Oncology, 3: 1735-1736.

7. Ballinger, M.L., Goode, D.L., Ray-Coquard, I., … Thomas, D.M. 2016 Monogenic and polygenic determinants of sarcoma risk: an international genetic study. Lancet Oncology, 17: 1261-1271.

8. Garsed, D.W., Marshall, O.J., Corbin, V.D.A., Hsu, … Thomas, D.M. 2014 The architecture and evolution of cancer neochromosomes. Cancer Cell, 26:653-667.

9. Collins, M., Wilhelm, M., Conyers, R., … Thomas, D.M. 2013 Benefits and adverse events in younger versus older patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for osteosarcoma: findings from a meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 31: 2303-2312.

10. Kansara, M., Leong, H.S., Lin, D.M., … Thomas, D.M. 2013 Immune response to RB1-regulated senescence radiation-induced osteosarcoma formation. J Clinical Investigation, 123: 5351-5360.

11. Thomas, D.M., Henshaw, R., Skubitz, K., Chawla, S., Staddon, A., Roudier, M., Smith, J., Ye, Z., Sohn, W., Dansey, R., Jun, S. 2010 Denosumab in patients with giant-cell tumor of bone: an open-label phase 2 study. Lancet Oncology, 11:275-280.

Research Support

Since 2010, Dr Thomas has been a chief investigator on 37 peer-reviewed grants or fellowships, totaling in excess of $160M AUD. He has been the principal investigator on 27 of these grants/fellowships, including 2 NHMRC fellowships, 3 program grants from Federal and State governments, 9 National Health and Medical Research Council or Cancer Australia project grants, and 3 Victorian Cancer Agency grants.

Ongoing Research

Completed Research