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Professor Owen Ung

Mayne Chair and Head, Mayne Ac

Medical School (Office & AME)
Faculty of Medicine
o.ung@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 65184

Overview

Owen Ung is a breast and endocrine surgeon, Director of the Metro North Comprehensive Breast Cancer Institute (CBCI) and Program lead for the Breast Reconstruction at the Herston Biofabrication Institute (HBI). He is a committed clinician, researcher and educator.

Affiliations:

Professor of Surgery, University of Queensland

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH)

Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS)

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Professional representations:

Vice President Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS).

President of Breast Surgery International (BSI), and executive member of the International Surgical Society (ISS).

Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD).

Director Medical Insurance Group Australia (MIGA)

Drector Specialist Services Medical Group

Owen has obtained extensive administrative and management experience through his various clinical leadership roles and representations at numerous state, national and international levels. He has over 90 peer reviewed publications and is a lead investigator for a number of significant trials of international significance.

Research Interests

  • Multidisciplinary breast cancer care
    3D printing and biofabrication tissue engineering reconstruction surgery breast cancer quality of life breast cancer care pathways breast cancer new technologies

Research Impacts

Refer to my Google Scholar profile

My recent clinical research interests involve improving pathways of care for women diagnosed with breast cancer. Through my clinical and research advocacy as Director of the CBCI we have introduced clinical innovation within a research framework, not existing in many institutions worldwide and some so novel as to be exclusive. RBWH introduced the One Step Nucleic Acid (OSNA) technique for the intraoperative evaluation of sentinel nodes. This work has been published by our team. The technique considerably improves accuracy of node assessment from 50% to nearly 99%. RBWH was the first hospital in Australia to establish an OSNA service, to the significant benefit of women diagnosed and undergoing treatment for breast cancer. We were also the first site in Queensland to establish ROLLIS a radioactive seed placement technique for localizing and removing screen detected breast cancer in place of the widely established and accepted hookwire technique which has been the standard of care for many years. It is now recognised that the advantages of seed technology surpasses hookwires and will gradually lead to its widespread adoption. Also, the first intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) service in Queensland, one of only 3 in Australia has been commenced at our STARs hospital and is likewise being evaluated within a research framework. The combination of these 3 novel procedures has enormous potential for quality-of-life improvement by shortening the pathway of care. The public health research we will be embarking upon will be unique, entirely novel, and will hopefully, significantly influence practice and the lives of our patients undergoing breast cancer treatment.

In 2021 the CBCI successfully obtained MNHHS funding to establish the breast reconstruction program within the Herston Biofabrication Institute. A longstanding research collaboration with QUTs Prof Dietmar Hutmacher and support from sponsors Bella Seno based in Leipzig, Germany facilitated the commencement of the first in-human trials using 3D printed biofabricated absorbable PCL scaffolds for breast reconstruction. This clinical translational research is gaining international interest. Each participant will have 2 years of follow up and we have successfully conducted 13 procedures aiming for 15 – 20 to complete this world-first Phase 1 study. My TEDxBrisbane presentation drew over 20,000 views in the week when it posted on You Tube TEDx Global https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTOKlnfbUXU&t=391s

We hope to report an interim analysis soon and are preparing to launch an international multicentre trial with RBWH the reference site and myself as CIA. This innovation will be the springboard for a number of funding applications for investigator-led trials and importantly impact outcomes for women worldwide. UQ will be the administrator and sponsor for the first of these should our recent MRFF grant application be successful. I anticipate significant student growth in this area of research.

I have had multiple co-supervisor roles and am currently actively seeking and evaluating HDRs for both my Institutes.

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery and Medical Science, The University of Queensland

Publications

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Grants

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Available Projects

  • Quality of life after breast cancer treatment through improved pathways of care

    Breast cancer survival has improved incrementally at about 1% per annum for the last 30 years and in highly developed health systems, five-year survival has reached 94%. This is due to advances in screening, diagnosis and treatment. Complexity is necessary but we must have more focus on improving pathways of care and lowering the impacts of therapy.

    Excellent treatment outcomes result in the overwhelming majority of women surviving their breast cancer diagnosis and living for longer, sometimes with the late effects of our treatment.

    It is essential that we put more effort into improving the qualityof life for the growing number of long-term survivors. Wherever the opportunity exists to lower morbidity whilst maintaining clinical outcomes, novel technologies should be seriously considered. The patients must be the prime focus and beneficiary but there is also a strong economic argument. Fewer outpatient visits, returns to theatre and shorter less intense treatments that provide equivalent outcomes create less cost for the health system and have flow on effects for family and employers who are supporting affected individuals.

    The research, development and innovation through technology will impact clinical outcomes, long-term recovery and quality of life. Patient centred care includes engaging our community and primary providers, along with collaboration across our network, which is seen as an absolute priority.

    The new treatment innovations that have been established in our health service exist in combination in very few centres globally and the opportunities that our biofabrication research presents for our future patients is world leading. The public health benefits through measurement of clinical outcomes, PROMs, PREMs and financial impacts is a critical and exiting area of research for a motivated HDR.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Book Chapter

  • Breast tissue engineering

    Cheng, M., Chhaya, M., Hintz, M., Piper, S., Visscher, L., Schantz, J. T., Wong, C., Ung, O., Wagels, M. and Hutmacher, D. W. (2017). Breast tissue engineering. Comprehensive Biomaterials II. (pp. 435-454) edited by Paul Ducheyne. London, United Kingdom: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-803581-8.09302-4

Journal Article

Conference Publication

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.

  • Quality of life after breast cancer treatment through improved pathways of care

    Breast cancer survival has improved incrementally at about 1% per annum for the last 30 years and in highly developed health systems, five-year survival has reached 94%. This is due to advances in screening, diagnosis and treatment. Complexity is necessary but we must have more focus on improving pathways of care and lowering the impacts of therapy.

    Excellent treatment outcomes result in the overwhelming majority of women surviving their breast cancer diagnosis and living for longer, sometimes with the late effects of our treatment.

    It is essential that we put more effort into improving the qualityof life for the growing number of long-term survivors. Wherever the opportunity exists to lower morbidity whilst maintaining clinical outcomes, novel technologies should be seriously considered. The patients must be the prime focus and beneficiary but there is also a strong economic argument. Fewer outpatient visits, returns to theatre and shorter less intense treatments that provide equivalent outcomes create less cost for the health system and have flow on effects for family and employers who are supporting affected individuals.

    The research, development and innovation through technology will impact clinical outcomes, long-term recovery and quality of life. Patient centred care includes engaging our community and primary providers, along with collaboration across our network, which is seen as an absolute priority.

    The new treatment innovations that have been established in our health service exist in combination in very few centres globally and the opportunities that our biofabrication research presents for our future patients is world leading. The public health benefits through measurement of clinical outcomes, PROMs, PREMs and financial impacts is a critical and exiting area of research for a motivated HDR.

This staff member is a UQ Expert for media in the following fields:

Breast reconstruction, Breast conservation, Comprehensive breast cancer care, Breast cancer, Breast surgery, Breast scaffolds, Biofabrication

They are happy to lend their expertise to your articles or broadcasts and share their research discoveries and insights with the community via media channels.

For additional assistance with story ideas, general advice and information or help with seeking further experts, please email the UQ Media Team or telephone (07) 3365 1120.

Links

ResearcherID: H-4698-2011

ORCID: 0000-0002-5308-5605

Scopus ID: 6701738037

Google Scholar ID:

Personal Profile: Link

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