Sarah Cao

Medical Student

I am a final-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. When I was diagnosed with pregnancy-associated cancer 4 days postpartum at the age of 30, my lived experience as a patient and survivor further strengthened my passion to provide cancer care to women in reproductive ages.

What are you currently focusing on?

We are studying Queensland women who experienced cancer and/or pregnancy from 2007 to 2022. We are comparing the tumor pathological and genomic characteristics, 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?

Working with charities, 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. Additionally, we are collaborating with basic science researchers to understand pregnancy-associated cancer biology.