Prof Apte is NSW Woman of the Year

Pune-born, Sydney-based internationally-renowned pancreatic cancer researcher, Professor Minoti Apte, is conducting pre-clinical studies with the aim to create a new combination therapy that will stop cancer cells working with normal cells. This will help improve treatment outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients, who currently have a five year survival rate of just six percent.

Professor Apte was awarded one of Australia’s highest honours, the Order of Australia Medal [OAM], last year for her service to medical research, tertiary education and the Diaspora and this year she has added another prestigious award to her bouquet of accolades – the Premier’s 2015 New South Wales Woman of the Year.

"I am delighted and humbled by the recognition. The Australian Government is fair and unbiased when it comes to recognising talent. Everyone who comes here has the opportunity to excel", says Prof Apte, who is Professor of Medicine, Director of the Pancreatic Research Group at South Western Sydney Clinical School, University of New South Wales [UNSW] and the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research at Liverpool Hospital.

She has the distinction of being the first in the world to develop a method to isolate pancreatic stellate cells [PSCs], the key cell responsible for producing scar tissue in the pancreas. Her group, including her mentors Professor Jeremy Wilson and Professor Ron Pirola, established that PSCs were responsible for producing the prominent scar tissue in pancreatic cancer and that there was a close communication between PSCs and cancer cells. This important finding proved that cancer cells recruit normal pancreatic cells from their micro-environment and turn them into co-conspirators to help the cancer grow and spread to distant parts of the body.

Until her pioneering finding, most of the research was focused on the cancer cells alone. She explains, "There are two kinds of inflammation of the pancreas - acute, which is caused by gallstones or alcohol abuse, and chronic, mostly commonly caused by alcohol abuse, which is a major risk factor for pancreatic cancer.

Prof. Apte completed her MBBS and internship from B J Medical College in Pune. She was inspired to take up medicine by her grand aunt, who was a successful gynaecologist in Mumbai during her growing up years. She was keen on becoming an ophthalmologist and had no desire of moving overseas. But in 1982 when her husband came to Australia on a scholarship to pursue his doctorate in chemical engineering, she followed as the "trailing spouse".

She was surprised to find few senior women specialists in Australia at the time. "India was way ahead with many leading women physicians and surgeons heading departments", says Prof Apte, who on a spouse visa had restrictions on gaining employment. So she began volunteering for a professor of pathology, who was researching alcohol-related liver diseases, at the Royal Newcastle Hospital.

"It was all very new and exciting as in India learning was by rote or patient-centric. I won the Commonwealth scholarship and did a Masters in Medical Science [Research]. We moved to Sydney soon after our son was born. I decided to be a stay-at- home mother as we had no family support in Australia and I didn’t want to send an infant to childcare, which was also unaffordable at the time", says Prof. Apte, who began looking for a job when her son turned two.

"I was introduced to a group researching alcohol related pancreatic diseases at UNSW. While my Masters was in liver diseases, I had the same skill sets that the UNSW team was looking for. They sponsored my work permit and in the last year of my PhD, I had the major breakthrough which put us on the world map. I was able to isolate PSCs. This opened the avenue for pursuing postdoctoral studies," Prof. Apte, who is a member of the International Association of Pancreatology and founding member of the Asian Oceanic Pancreatic Association, told The Indian Diaspora.

She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Pancreatology and has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She has supervised several higher degree research students and mentors numerous medical and science students.

She calls pancreatic cancer as the "orphan cancer" as it has only been the focus of research funding in the past seven years or so. It took four years for her research grant to come through. "We are getting better at treating other cancers, but have been neglecting pancreatic cancer which by 2020 will become the second leading cause of cancer deaths. It is an aggressive form of cancer, where the patient dies in a few months", says Prof. Apte, who is urging the government to increase research funding "lest we lose our best and brightest to other countries".

Australia has punched above its weight in medical research, but that may change. Last year, out of 3000 research applications, only 15 percent received funding.

Research can be very demanding with long hours, constant deadline pressures and lot of travelling. She says, "If it hadn’t been for my understanding and supportive husband, I would not have been able to achieve what I have today".

Amidst her busy schedule, she has squeezed time to pursue her other passion – dancing – learning Kathak after arriving in Australia. She is an active member of the Marathi Association in Sydney.

Her message to young people is, "Be flexible as circumstances can change. Take every opportunity when it presents itself. Love what you do and work hard".

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