22 January 2025
Institute news
A couple of years after the idea to apply was flagged, it’s now official — Dr Joshua Wong is a Fulbright Scholar.
A cardiologist and PhD candidate working out of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Josh, a Bright Spark alumni, has committed his work and studies to cardio-oncology and heart failure.
Cardio-oncology focusses on the heart health of cancer patients and is a new and developing field of cardiac research and therapy. There is an increasing number of cancer patients who are dealt a second challenge — cardiac dysfunction associated with their cancer treatments, which can be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in this vulnerable population.
At the forefront of cardio-oncology care and research is New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) — one of the world’s premier cancer hospitals — and Josh set his sights on finding an avenue there, to learn from some of the world’s leading authorities and to work in the Center’s cardio-oncology department.
Josh saw there were clear opportunities to collaborate and establish long-term links between the Center and the Baker Institute, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Encouraged by his PhD supervisor, the Baker Institute’s Professor Tom Marwick, Josh identified a potential avenue and applied for a Fulbright Scholarship.
The Fulbright Program is the USA’s flagship educational exchange scholarship program, and the largest in the world. It is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and competitive international exchange programs. Aimed at increasing international research collaboration and cultural understanding, scholars are selected based on academic excellence, leadership potential, and the ability to foster cross-cultural understanding. Scholarships are awarded across all academic disciplines, with up to five Australians awarded a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship, each year.
“It was an arduous application process, but I had a really clear vision of what I wanted to do,” Josh said. “Cardio-oncology has only really emerged as a defined subspecialty in the past decade, so there’s a need for more people trained in this space, and there’s a lot of research that still needs to be done. The USA has really led in this discipline, so collaboration between our countries would be invaluable and, I hope, lead to meaningful progress.
“This Fulbright means I’ll be fully funded to travel to New York and work with the Memorial Sloan Kettering team for up to eight months, during which time I aim to learn from their experienced cardio-oncology team and collaborate with their researchers. Their unit is renowned for its research and utilisation of large patient databases. In Australia, we don’t yet have such established long-term cardio-oncology registries, so collaborating provides an incredible opportunity for us.
“Our team at the Baker Institute, meanwhile, has developed some exciting ideas on how to predict which cancer survivors will be at the highest risk of developing heart dysfunction. Applying our research to the large patient cohort at Memorial Sloan Kettering will be invaluable. I’ll be able to bring back so much of what I learn over there and implement them back here at home.”
In February, Josh will attend a special event at Canberra’s Parliament House, where he’ll meet Australian Fulbright alumni and other Australian 2025 awardees, before heading to New York later in the year.
“Fulbright was established to foster ongoing collaboration, to bring minds together, and to exchange ideas,” Josh said. “I’m deeply humbled to be given the chance to be a part of this incredible program, and I plan to use this opportunity to do all I can to improve the health outcomes for people who live with the double blow of cancer and cardiovascular disease.”
