KInG’S BIRtHDAY HONOURS

Innovation In Blood Cancer Treatment

Prof. Harshal Nandurkar, AM

For significant service to medicine, particularly as a haematologist

Melbourne haematologist Prof. Harshal Nandurkar has been appointed to the order of AM in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours.

Dr Nandurkar is currently Director of the Cancer Program at Alfred Health, Deputy Director of the Cancer and Medical Specialties Program, and Director of Clinical Haematology.

He is also Professor of Haematology at Monash University, and Director of its Australian Centre for Blood Diseases.

He also heads the university’s Nandurkar Group, conducting and guiding research in vascular biology.

“I’m elated that I’ve been recognised with the AM,” Dr Nandurkar told Indian Link with much modesty, given his many years of research and experience that see him top of his field today.

The Mumbai lad came to Australia in 1986 with a degree in medicine, and then undertook specialised study in haematology and pathology.

He then spent four years doing a PhD in blood cancer at Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia’s leading medical research institute.

A post doctorate at Monash Uni took another four years.

“I worked through this at St. Vincents Hospital as a haematologist but also had my own research labs,” he described.

After fifteen years at the University of Melbourne as Prof and Head of Department of Haematology until 2015, he moved to The Alfred.

“Clinical work is an important part of what I do, including seeing patients twice a month at a Mildura outreach,” Dr Nandurkar described. “And my own research continues alongside – I’m currently researching the design of new drugs for blood clotting.”

He speaks passionately about haematology and the advances we can expect to see in the coming decade.

Describing his field of specialisation, he says, “We study blood diseases - cancers, clotting, DVT, bleeding disorders like haemophilia - a wide variety of diseases, really. Pathologies and biopsies are also part of what we do. We also diagnose and treat patients, with treatment options changing so fast that it is really a great time to be a haematologist.”

Haematology is at the forefront of innovation, according to Dr Nandurkar. Biological therapeutics, referred to simply as ‘biologicals’, are set to impact treatment procedures in a major way. These are medicines that are proteins purified from living culture systems or from blood and plasma, and could include vaccines, immune modulators or monoclonal antibodies.

In his own work, Dr Nandurkar is excited about the advent of antibodies designed to identify blood cancers and eliminate them.

“Progress in blood cancer research is expanding at logarithmic scale. A big growth area is a new treatment procedure called CAR T-cell therapy.”

CAR T-cell therapies are a specialised kind of immunotherapy in which the patient’s own immune system is “retrained” to identify and attack cancer

Putting Awesome Into Autism

Jaishri Patricia Falcetta, OAM

For service to the community through social welfare organisations

Jaishri Patricia Falcetta was 50 when she was diagnosed with ADHD – a condition that results in attention difficulty and challenges in learning.

“When I found out, I could put things together and finally make sense of why I struggled to study and struggled to focus on finishing tasks when I was young,” recalled Falcetta, now 53.

Good thing is Falcetta was already working as a neurodivergent expert, and so, she could use her own experiences to educate people in order to create a safe space for others like her. Her vision is simple but the journey is a long one – she wants a world where people with neurodivergent conditions (such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, etc.) are accepted, integrated and recognised as valuable members of society.

Falcetta’s herculean efforts towards creating this inclusive environment have won her the OAM in this year’s King’s cells. In use since 2017, CAR T-cell therapies have been successfully employed in the treatment of blood cancers such as lymphomas, leukemia, and multiple myeloma.

Dr Nandurkar is grateful for the research and clinical opportunities that have come to him in Australia.

“Moving to Australia was the best thing I’ve done,” he observed. “Of course, I have a deep sense of gratitude for India and the grounding it gave, no question about it. But I’ve felt enormously supported here.”

He acknowledged however, “The US and Europe have a great tradition of research, as well as greater funding, but Australia is catching up. I like to advise younger doctors to go spend a couple of years outside of Australia to get experience.” AM honours like his, he feels, can stimulate them further. “Hopefully this will encourage young medical students, and young doctors especially those that have come from other countries, to do great things, and to recognise that Australia is a fair and equitable place to work, with the infrastructure to support you. If you apply yourself and work hard, success will come. Australia is a wonderful place to be a doctor.”

Rajni Anand Luthra

Birthday Honours.

“I am thoroughly honoured,” the Canberra resident smiled. “After this recognition, I really do want to publish a book. I have written 20,000 words of it, and there is still a lot more to go.”

Falcetta’s paternal family’s roots are from Kerala. “My great great grandparents were taken to Fiji as indentured labourers by the British from India; my father was born there. My mother is half Polish, half Irish. Her mother was born in Australia but grew up in New Zealand. In the late ‘60s, my father too moved to New Zealand to attend university and that is where my parents met. I was also born in New Zealand, but we moved to Australia in