Kylie Bryant

Kylie is a long-term public servant, with most of her career spent in the federal government. She has a Commerce degree in Banking and Finance and Masters in Strategic Studies. Her roles have included the Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defence, and head of the Cabinet Secretariat and the National Security Division in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Kylie was also the Chief Operating Officer for the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, and is currently head of the Ministerial and Parliamentary Services Division in the Department of Finance.

Kylie is married to James, happily settled in Canberra, and has two adult children. She is also great-aunt to 2 beautiful girls, Vivi and Sylvie, and it is through them – and their mum Naomi – that Kylie first came into contact with sarcoma and CRBF. Dr Matthew Fisher was Daddy to Vivi and Sylvie, and he fought an aggressive form of sarcoma for nearly a year.

“There is a real sense of grace when you spend time with someone who is fighting a cruel disease and then in their final days, and I will be forever grateful that we were able to support Matt and Naomi during this time. Matt’s cancer was so rare and aggressive it was hard to wrap our head it sometimes. I now understand that how many types of sarcoma there are, and that they are all unique, so each journey is different. It also makes treatment difficult and outcomes so precarious.

I would love to see some of the new treatments and research that Matt was so interested in, and couldn’t benefit from, have some impact on treatments and outcomes for those who will be diagnosed in the future.

I sadly never got to meet Cooper but to continue his work, and see Matt’s legacy have a positive impact, I feel I can honour the lives they led, and contribute to the work of CRBF in making sarcoma history.”

Julie Robb

JULIE ROBB

Julie Robb is recognised for her expertise and skills as a leading intellectual property lawyer, disputes practitioner and board member in the not for profit sector. She headed the disputes group at leading Sydney IP and media firm Banki Haddock Fiora for 18 years.  Julie is a member of the Litigation Law and Practice, and Ethics, Committees of the Law Society of New South Wales.

Heide Robson

HEIDE ROBSON, BCom, MBA, CA

Heide is the principal of chartered accountancy firm NUMBA as well as the host of TAX TALKS, a podcast for Australian tax professionals, both based in Sydney.  In a previous life Heide was part of KPMG, BHP and Siemens in Melbourne. Heide takes care of all our tax and financial issues among her other responsibilities and contributions as a board member. 

The first time I ‘met’ Cooper was when I read his school magazine article about having had cancer. He would have mentioned Sarcoma but I had never heard that word and so glanced straight over it. The main thing was that Cooper was well again. A year later my son whispered that Cooper died. The school sent a note the next day. Sarcoma. I went to  Cooper’s website and realised that Cooper had spent the last two years of his life trying to spare others from what he faced. He identified sarcoma is on the rise and targeting our young, and most of all that the survival rates are low with no improvement in sight due to the lack of research. How can we let our young die like this? CRBF is Cooper’s legacy. He worked tirelessly to the very end trying to save patients with sarcoma, after him. We need to help Cooper and continue where he was stopped. To save our children experiencing what he was forced to.”

2015-07-10 Keith Cox

Keith Cox, OAM

KEITH COX, OAM, JP, NP, RN Onc Cert 

Keith was the Oncology/ Chemotherapy Nurse Practitioner at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse unil the end of 2017, after some 38 years in cancer nursing.  He now remains involved in a consultant role. He is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Sydney, and is an Accreditation Assessor for the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC)

As a Nurse Practitioner, Keith bore a greater responsibility than a regular nurse, prescribing medicine, ordering tests and screenings,  and the referral of patients to other medical professionals.

Keith is a Board member of Cancer Institute, Board member of the Biaggio Signorelli Foundation, for Research into Mesothelioma, Member of the Chris O’Brien partnership Advisory council, and committee member of the Foundation. He was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2007 Queen’s Birthday honours list for his services to Cancer Nursing, his work with youth and his volunteer work.  Keith has a wide range of research experience and numerous publications.

I first met Cooper and his parents, when he first visited the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse to discuss chemotherapy. We connected from that first meeting as we talked about chemotherapy and its side effects. As he continued on his Cancer journey, we became very close, Cooper and I would be able to communicate on all levels.  It was a privilege to have cared for Cooper.

Publications in peer-reviewed journals

Cox KM, Goel S, O’Connell RL, Boyer M, Beale PJ, Simes RJ & Stockler MR. (2011 epub). Randomized cross – over trial comparing inpatient and outpatient administration of high dose cisplatin, Internal Medicine Journal

McKenzie H, Hayes L, White K, Cox K, Fethney J, Boughton M & Dunn J. (2010 Epub). Chemotherapy outpatients’ unplanned presentations to hospital: a retrospective study, Supportive Care in Cancer

Presentations

Keynote, Plenary and Invited Conference Presentations, Workshops and Panel Discussions

Cox KM (2010) Leadership in Australian Cancer Nursing. Cancer Nurses Society of Australia 13th Winter Congress, Perth, July

Cox K (2010) Treatment Developments. Session Chair, 16th International Conference on Cancer Nursing, Atlanta, USA, March
Cox KM (2009) Recent advances and practical solutions in managing chemotherapy side effects. COSA Annual Scientific Meeting, Gold Coast, November

Cox KM (2009) Cancer Information Update and its relevance to Enrolled Nurses, Enrolled Nurses Conference, Bomaderry, September

Cox K (co-facilitator) (2009) Venous Access Device Workshop. 12th CNSA Winter Congress, Newcastle, June

Cox KM (2009) Management of Tumour Lysis Syndrome. 12th CNSA Winter Congress, Newcastle, 3–4 June

Cox KM, Stirling A, Baychek K, Sister Act: CERS in Chemotherapy ambulatory unit. 6th conference of The Australian College of Nurse Practitioners, Adelaide, 6–8 October 2011