The Cancer Nursing Lead and Deputy Leads work together to provide leadership, strategic direction and expertise to support the development and delivery of programs of work that are clinically relevant, policy driven, and consumer focused.
Professor Mei Krishnasamy, Lead
Professor Krishnssamy is Professor of Nursing in the Department of Nursing at the University of Melbourne, the VCCC Alliance Cancer Nursing Lead, and honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Services Research in Cancer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Mei's career has been defined by a commitment to advancing equity of access to evidence-informed cancer care by developing the capability of nurses to develop and implement value-based health service innovation.
She has an established record of collaborative co-design research focusing on the development and evaluation of approaches of care and strategies targeted at improving patient and carer experiences of living with cancer, demands of treatment and symptom profiles, linking experience of care innovation to improved patient outcomes.
Dr Polly Dufton, Deputy Lead
Dr Dufton is an experienced oncology nurse leader and health services researcher who works closely with health services to design, implement and evaluate nurse-led models of care in cancer services. Her work focuses on the practical translation of evidence into routine practice, with careful attention to local context, advanced practice nursing roles, and the meaningful collection and use of data to support service improvement. She has a strong background in research capability building and postgraduate nursing education.
Dr Dufton is the Clinical Lead for Specialist Lung Cancer Nurses at Lung Foundation Australia, Chair of the ANZ Lung Cancer Nurses Forum, VCCC Alliance Cancer Nursing Deputy Lead, and holds an Honorary appointment at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Priscilla Gates, Deputy Lead
Dr Gates is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Services Research in Cancer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. She completed her PhD in 2022, at the University of Melbourne. Her thesis explored the nature and impact of cancer-related cognitive impairment in a cohort of patients with aggressive lymphoma. Recognising the value and innovation of her work, in 2022 she was awarded a prestigious Alfred Deakin Fellowship in the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at Deakin University.
Her current post-doctoral research examines cognitive rehabilitation interventions for people experiencing cognitive changes after treatment, and in 2024 was awarded a Melbourne Academic Centre for Health Future Leaders Fellowship (MacHSR). Dr Gates has extensive experience in haematology nursing focusing on autologous transplantation and survivorship. She is creator and lead of the Cancer Australia PoCoG cancer-related cognitive impairment special interest group and holds honorary roles at the University of Melbourne and the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at Deakin University.
The VCCC Alliance Cancer Nursing team includes Dr Sharon De Graves and Kathe Holmes who work in collaboration with the broader VCCC Alliance teams including the Health Equity, Education and Training, and Strategic Project programs.
Sharon De Graves, Program Manager
Sharon de Graves joined the VCCC Alliance team in April 2021 as the Program Manager for Nurse-Led Research. Sharon has a nursing career that spans over 25 years with a background in paediatric and adolescent oncology and cancer nursing more broadly. She has expertise in the fields of nursing research, education, leadership, and management and is recognised for her contribution to the development of services and standards of practice for children and adolescents with cancer.
In her role at the VCCC Alliance, Sharon works closely with Professor Mei Krishnasamy and Irene Moravski to coordinate, develop, evaluate, implement, and promote activities aimed at building research capacity and capability among nurses who work with people affected by cancer. Sharon believes that nurses are in a unique position to be able to recognise, ask, and respond to critical questions that are essential in driving quality, safe, and innovative cancer care. She is passionate about developing opportunities and supporting nurses to integrate research and inquiry into their everyday practice.
Sharon holds an appointment with the Department of Nursing at the University of Melbourne, co-leading the Nursing and Midwifery Research Collaborative with Mei.
Kathe Holmes, Project Manager
Kathe is an experienced nurse and health services researcher, having started her career in nursing at the Royal Children’s Hospital in 2002. In February 2025, she joined the VCCC Alliance as the project manager in nursing education, working closely with stakeholders and consumers to co-design and deliver key cancer nursing workforce projects focused on developing nursing workforce capability to deliver best-practice clinical care, and research literacy to implement evidence-based practices.
Prior to her current role, she worked as a Clinical Nurse Consultant in paediatric liver and intestinal transplant for over 15 years, leading major projects, and providing expert advice, consultation and leadership with a deep commitment to collaborative care and shared decision-making. After completing a Master of Health Management, she was awarded a Melbourne Academic Centre for Health Future Leaders Fellowship, supporting her to explore her professional passion in developing an evidence-based approach to practice change aimed at integrating patient-reported outcome measurement into routine care to assess and address wellbeing and support thriving. Kathe is passionate about integrating the consumer voice into care and focuses on creating patient-centred models that improve both care quality and system efficiency to positively affect patient outcomes.
