Cancer Council NSW are bringing a new era of cancer prevention and detection to Australia through the appointment of internationally recognised cancer prevention leader Professor Martin Widschwendter as Director of the Daffodil Centre at Cancer Council NSW, our partnership with the University of Sydney. This marks a major step forward in making cancer prevention more personal, proactive and precise for Australians and beyond.
Under Professor Widschwendter's leadership, the Daffodil Centre will accelerate its focus on precision cancer prevention, an emerging approach that uses a person's individual signals from the body, including epigenetic information, chemical signals that affects genes, that records how lifestyle and environment shape gene activity, helping prevent cancer before it starts.
Precision cancer prevention moves beyond a one‑size‑fits‑all model, recognising the individual needs of the person. Integrating signals between molecules that reflect lifestyle, environment and behaviours with genetic information enables more precise identification of cancer risk and supports more tailored prevention, screening and early detection strategies.
More than half a million Australians are expected to be diagnosed with cancer over the next three years. While treatment outcomes continue to improve, cancer remains one of the leading causes of illness and death, placing significant strain on individuals, families and the health system.
Precision cancer prevention is a game changer. It offers a new way forward by enabling earlier risk identification, smarter screening, tailored prevention strategies and better use of health resources, particularly for communities that experience higher cancer risk and poorer outcomes. This new era of cancer prevention allows people to take action earlier, based on their individual risk, rather than waiting until cancer develops.
"Cancer survival has improved significantly over the past few decades, but the next frontier is prevention," Professor Widschwendter said. "Precision cancer prevention gives us the tools to predict risk earlier and intervene sooner, helping more people avoid a cancer diagnosis and ensure they never have to hear the words 'you have cancer'."
Professor Widschwendter's past work includes the introduction of the WID-easy Test, a major advancement in the detection of endometrial cancer. The test, currently available in the UK, Austria, Switzerland and Germany, is accurate and minimally invasive, offering a safer and more efficient diagnostic procedure for endometrial cancer. This test leverages epigenetic signals to identify women presenting with abnormal uterine bleeding who are at very high risk and require urgent medical assessment.
"This is about changing the future of cancer," Professor Hosking said. "By understanding risk earlier and acting sooner, cancer risk could be managed in the same way heart disease is managed, by optimising lifestyle factors to reduce risk before getting to the point of a diagnosis. Precision prevention has the power to reduce cancer diagnoses, lessen inequities and improve health outcomes across the community."
Under Professor Widschwendter's leadership, the Daffodil Centre will continue to connect biological discovery with population‑level data, behavioural science and policy‑focused research, ensuring scientific advances translate into real‑world change.
Professor Widschwendter is internationally recognised for his work in women's cancer prevention and translational epigenetics being, the study of how chemical modifications regulate gene activity, capturing the cumulative imprint of biology, lifestyle and environment , and how these signals can be translated in tools that predict, prevent and detect cancer earlier. A trained cancer surgeon, his career spans senior clinical and research leadership roles across Europe, the United States and the United Kingdom, including the University College London and the University of Innsbruck, where he founded the European Translational Oncology Prevention and Screening (EUTOPS) Institute.
He will lead the Daffodil Centre alongside Professor Anne Cust, University of Sydney Director of the Daffodil Centre, strengthening collaboration between research, public health, policy and real‑world implementation.
"By making prevention more personal, we can empower individuals, inform smarter policy and build a future where fewer people face a cancer diagnosis." Professor Widschwendter concluded.
*The Daffodil Center is a partnership between Cancer Council NSW and the University of Sydney
If you have any questions about cancer, call Cancer Council on 13 11 20
