Dr Anthony Dowling

Dr. Anthony Dowling completed Medical Oncology training with a fellowship at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Canada, working under Professor Ian Tannock. Whilst there he completed a certificate in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto. Since 1999 Dr Dowling has had a full time appointment as a Medical Oncologist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. He also is Visiting Medical Officer for several city private hospitals; St Vincents and Mercy Private, Freemasons Hospital, Epworth Eastern, Werribee Mercy Hospital and the regional centre Goulburn Valley Health.

Dr Dowling has a special interest in breast and urogenital cancers, and neuro-oncological tumours. He has been actively involved in clinical trials throughout his career and currently is either the principal or associate investigator in many clinical trials. Through the Clinical Drug Trial Subcommittee of the Human Research Ethics Committee and the Human Research Ethics Committee – Drugs of St. Vincent’s Hospital (1999-2005), he has had an active role critiquing drug trials that have been submitted to St. Vincent’s Hospital.

Dr Dowling is involved in many breast cancer studies, including neo-adjuvant studies looking at molecular markers and correlates with chemo-responsiveness, adjuvant and metastatic studies. He works with a number of colleagues that have access to a large number of breast cancer patients, who are potential participants in clinical trials. Since 1999 Dr Dowling has also been a lecturer at The University of Melbourne, giving lectures to medical students. He is also involved in resident teaching as well as postgraduate training of physician trainees with short and long case preparation, trial exams and mentoring. He has been an examiner for the clinical physician exam since 2003. He is also a writer and editor for several modules of the distant-learning program for registered nurses with The Cancer Council Victoria and Latrobe University, and the Patient Information Booklets distributed by The Cancer Council Victoria. Since 2007, Dr Dowling is the Medical Oncology representative from Australia and New Zealand on the Written Examination Committee – Adult Medicine for The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which write the exam questions for the annual FRACP written examination. He is a regular speaker at cancer support groups, to volunteers of the Cancer Council Victoria and a participant in ‘Cancer Call-In’ sessions.

In 2011 he was the recipient of a Victorian Travelling Fellowship from the Victorian Quality Council. He undertook a three months sabbatical on the management of high grade gliomas at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York.

In the EMPathy BCN program he co-ordinates the Clinical Trial Theme, is involved in the Clinical Validation Theme and in the recruitment of patients with operable breast cancer to sample blood and bone marrow for the isolation and characterization of circulating and disseminated tumour cells.