Sarah Cao

Medical Student

I am a third-year medical student at UQ, a research lover, who is aspiring to be a clinician-scientist focusing on cancer in reproductive-aged women.

What inspired you to focus on pregnancy related breast cancer studies?

Since my late mum was diagnosed with cancer, I understood the emotional and physical hardships of being a cancer patient caregiver which further strengthened my passion to pursue oncology. When I was diagnosed with cancer 4 days postpartum at the age of 30, I was told that I would be lucky to make 35.

What are you currently focussing on?

We are studying women who experienced pregnancy from 2007 to 2022 and among them who had cancers. We are comparing the incidence rate, survival outcomes, pregnancy outcomes and patient characteristics of pregnancy associated cancers and non-pregnancy associated cancers.

What future directions do you hope to explore in your research?

We are looking at doing qualitative interviews with PAC consumers about their self-identified early symptoms, risk factors, impacts, and barriers in seeking a diagnosis. We are also looking at doing qualitative interviews with general practitioners and obstetricians about their self-identified knowledge gaps.