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Professor Andreas Obermair

NHMRC Leadership Fellow

UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Faculty of Medicine
a.obermair@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 66044

Overview

Professor Obermair is the Director of Queensland Centre for Gynaecological Cancer Research (QCGC Research). He is a Professor of Gynaecological Oncology since 2007, a Senior Medical Officer at Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital and a Visiting Medical Officer at St Andrews War Memorial Hospital and Buderim Private Hospital. He holds an Honorary title of Professor at UQ since 2006.

Professor Obermair is an internationally recognised leader in gynaecological oncology research and treatment and has lead the research team at QCGC Research since establishing it in 2003.

Research Interests

  • Quality of Life Research
    Cancer specialists are aware that not only the survival time but also the quality of life is a key factor in cancer treatment. This is especially important when two treatments are equally effective but cause different side-effects. My Quality-of-Life research focuses on ovarian, endometrial, cervical and vulval cancer. I wish to provide the best, most effective and modern treatment to my patients with least possible detriments to quality of life.
  • Minimally Invasive Surgery
    In Australia, around 30,000 hysterectomies are conducted annually to treat uterine cancer and various benign gynaecological conditions. While open abdominal surgery may be necessary in around 10% of cases, evidence shows that less-invasive approaches, such as total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) can achieve better outcomes for women at a lower overall cost to the health system. Yet, in Queensland, four of ten hysterectomies are still conducted by open abdominal surgery. Our own research has shown that many Australian surgeons are keen to adopt new techniques such as TLH, but that the lack of systematic training and mentoring opportunities is the main impediment to practice-change. Together with gynaecological surgical teams at hospitals and industry support we developed a prototype for system-level transformative practice change in gynaecological surgery.
  • Clinical Trials
    Decisions on cancer management ideally are based on the results of high-level evidence, obtained through clinical trials whenever possible. As a principle, a new (proposed better) intervention should be compared to the current standard treatment before being made available generally. Outside a clinical trial new treatments should not become available until evidence has become available to demonstrate superiority over the current standard treatment. Retrospective studies harbour the risk that biases influenced outcomes. At QCGC Research we engage in phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. In large phase trials, patients are allocated randomly to one of two or more interventions in order to minimise the risk of bias. Generally, patients treated within clinical trials have a better outcome compared to patients who are not treated in clinical trials. As the Director of Research Gynaecological Oncology I am currently involved in developing and managing clinical trials in gynaecological cancers.
  • Translational Research
    The focus of QCGC Research's translational research program is the application of new technology (molecular, biochemical, imaging and surgical) to prevention, detection and therapy for gynaecological cancers.

Research Impacts

Professor Obermair is an innovative and skilled gynaecologic oncologist, surgical teacher and consumer advocate. His international leadership and research impact was acknowledged in 2020 by the Australian community, when he was awarded an NHMRC Investigator Fellowship Level 2 (2021-25). The national impact of his research was recognised in 2017, when he was awarded Cancer Australia’s Jeannie Ferris Recognition Award (2017), for outstanding achievements in clinical practice and research. He is deeply engaged in consumer involvement and co-founded and serves on the Board of the Cherish Foundation, a consumer-focussed organisation that funds clinical research in better treatments for women with gynaecological cancers.

Qualifications

  • Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
  • Doctoral Diploma of Medicine, International University Vienna

Publications

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Grants

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Supervision

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Available Projects

  • feMMe: Uterus-preserving treatment of endometrial cancer

    In 2020 we completed the feMMe, phase 2 cliniccal trial which established anticancer activity of levonorgestrel intrauterrine device (LNG-IUD) to treat endometrial cancer. The next two steps towards estabnlioshing this treatment for larger groups of patients include:

    1. To determine factors that predict response to LNG-IUD

    2. To determine long-term patient outcomes including survival, fertility, and patient needs.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book Chapter

  • Management of acute and chronic complications of gynecologic cancer treatment

    Obermair, Andreas, Ibeanu, Okechukwu A., Jandial, Danielle D., Armstrong, Deborah K. and Bristow, Robert E. (2013). Management of acute and chronic complications of gynecologic cancer treatment. Principles and practice of gynecologic oncology: sixth edition. (pp. 988-1002) Philadelphia, PA USA: Wolters Kluwer Health.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

  • Learnings from implementing a surgical training program

    Obermair, Andreas, Gebski, Val, Hanna, George B., Coleman, Mark G., Graves, Nicholas, Tang, Amy, Garrett, Andrea, Walker, Graeme, Larwood, Kelvin and Janda, Monika (2024). Learnings from implementing a surgical training program. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/45c137b

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Diet quality and composition in Australian women with endometrial cancer

    Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • feMMe: Uterus-preserving treatment of endometrial cancer

    In 2020 we completed the feMMe, phase 2 cliniccal trial which established anticancer activity of levonorgestrel intrauterrine device (LNG-IUD) to treat endometrial cancer. The next two steps towards estabnlioshing this treatment for larger groups of patients include:

    1. To determine factors that predict response to LNG-IUD

    2. To determine long-term patient outcomes including survival, fertility, and patient needs.

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Links

ResearcherID: B-1175-2009

ORCID: 0000-0003-2199-1117

Scopus ID: 55403869400

Personal Profile: Link

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