Surgeons

Dr Michael Quinn

Dr Michael Quinn is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Dr Michael Quinn was the first Plastic Surgeon appointed to the Sydney Melanoma Unit (1989), thereby recognising the role for a reconstructive surgeon to restore function and appearance in melanoma surgery.

Dr Quinn's current special interests, include subungual melanoma (arising under the fingernail), and desmoplastic melanoma (a melanoma that is associated with a scar reaction that can sometimes involve nerves).

Dr Kerwin Shannon

Dr Kerwin Shannon specialises in Head and Neck surgery and received his first clinical appointment to the Sydney Melanoma Unit in 1996. He subsequently undertook a 12-month Fellowship in Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Hong Kong, followed by a 2 year Fellowship in Head and Neck Oncology at the University of Tennessee, under the auspices of the American Head and Neck Society. Returning in mid 1999, Dr Shannon was appointed to the Department of Head and Neck Surgery of the Central Sydney Area Health Service and also resumed his association with the Sydney Melanoma Unit.

Research interests include organ preservation protocols, the use of regional chemotherapy for advanced head and neck cancers and sentinel node biopsy for melanoma of the head and neck.

Associate Professor Andrew Spillane MD FRACS BM BS

Associate Professor Andrew Spillane has been a visiting Surgical Oncologist to Melanoma Institute Australia since 2000. He has had extensive training and experience with the management of advanced melanoma and soft tissue tumours gained while completing an international fellowship at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London. From research completed during this time he was awarded a Doctor of Medicine degree.

Associate Professor Spillane specialises in complex surgery related to melanoma, breast cancer and soft tissue tumours. For melanoma and sarcoma surgery, he performs head and neck surgery, regional lymph node dissections and a range of reconstructive techniques for defect closure after major resections. 

Associate Professor Spillane has over 60 peer reviewed scientific publications. His research interests include translational research as part of Melanoma Institute Australia program grants, quality assurance in melanoma surgery, clinical audit, investigation of the role of sentinel node biopsy and outcomes of regional lymph node dissections. 

Associate Professor Jonathan Stretch D.Phil (Oxon) FRACS

Associate Professor Jonathan Stretch is a Plastic Surgeon and Surgical Oncologist. Associate Professor Stretch undertook his surgical training in Sydney becoming a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (Plastic Surgery) in 1987. Thereafter he was Overseas Fellow at the Radcliffe Infirmary and Research Fellow in the Nuffield Department of Surgery, Oxford. His doctoral research investigated the local dissemination of melanoma.

Associate Professor Stretch was appointed to Royal North Shore Hospital in 1991 and the Sydney Melanoma Unit and the surgical staff at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in 2002. Associate Professor Stretch is the current Deputy Director of Melanoma Institute Australia.

Professor John Thompson MBBS BSc(Med) MD FRACS FACS

Professor John Thompson is the Executive Director of the Melanoma Institute Australia and Professor of Melanoma and Surgical Oncology of the University of Sydney. Professor Thompson author of over 500 peer-reviewed articles and has held positions on the editorial boards of several international journals. Professor Thompson is a past President of the International Sentinel Node Society, Chairman of the Australian and New Zealand Melanoma Trials Group, and Chairman of the NSW Melanoma Network. He is a member of the Melanoma Staging Committee of the American Joint Committee on Cancer.  He was Chairman of the Working Party that produced the current Australian and New Zealand Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Cutaneous Melanoma.

Professor Thompson’s particular clinical interests are in the management of advanced and recurrent limb melanoma by isolated limb infusion with cytotoxic drugs, and in sentinel lymph node biopsy for melanoma.

Associate Professor T. Michael D. Hughes MBBS (Hons I) (Syd) FRACS

Associate Professor Hughes is a surgical oncologist associated with Melanoma Institute Australia. His practice is based at the Sydney Adventist Hospital with admitting rights also to Hornsby Hospital. Associate Professor Hughes graduated from The University of Sydney in 1989 with First Class Honours and is currently an Associate Professor in Surgery at the Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney.

Associate Professor Hughes developed his interest in surgical oncology while collaborating with Professor Rick Kefford at Westmead and the Sydney Melanoma Unit (now Melanoma Institute Australia) at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. In 1998-99, Associate Professor Hughes was a fellow in Surgical Oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London where he was involved in the clinical management of patients with melanoma, sarcoma and breast cancer, and completed a major research project assessing the role of pelvic lymphadenectomy in the management of melanoma metastatic to the groin. Associate Professor Hughes is Chairman of the NSW Cancer Institute Melanoma Group and Deputy Chair of the NSW Melanoma Network Advisory Board.

Dr Julie Howle MBBS (Hons I) MS FRACS

 

Dr Julie Howle is a surgical oncologist based at Westmead Hospital where she is the head of both Melanoma and Sarcoma Multidisciplinary Groups and is a Clinical Lecturer at The University of Sydney. She studied medicine at The
University of Sydney graduating with First Class Honours and completed her surgical training in NSW.

 

Dr Howle has been affiliated with Melanoma Institute Australia since 2008 and is involved in clinical trials in melanoma and Merkel cell carcinoma, the subject of her Master of Surgery. Her clinical interests include the management of melanoma and advanced non-melanoma skin cancers, soft tissue tumours and thyroid disease.