Prof Ron Firestein is a leading cancer researcher with passion for precision medicine.
Ron is the Head of the Centre for Cancer Research at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. He leads the Cancer Genetics and Functional Genomics research group, and is Head of the Next Generation Precision Medicine program. He also holds the role of Deputy Director of Hudson Institute. As a member of Brain Cancer Australia’s National Consortium, Ron is dedicated to a nationwide effort to address the urgent need for more effective brain cancer treatments.
“I meet the families of young kids who have brain cancers with near-zero survival and very little hope. Through our work, we hope to move the dial—maybe not from zero to 100%, but at least making some types of brain cancers more treatable. That’s why we do this work.”
A Path of Discovery
A curiosity as to how things work led Ron to a degree in biomedical science, but it was a dual MD-PhD program focused on childhood leukaemia at Stanford University that sparked Ron’s career in cancer research.
“It was the era of genomic discovery which was fascinating from a research perspective, but I was also working in the clinical wards and seeing the devastation of cancer in terms of human suffering. I felt that by becoming a cancer researcher, I would really have the opportunity to have a profound impact and make scientific discoveries that can save lives.”
After medical school, Ron completed his residency and postdoctoral research training in Boston at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute. There, he found a new gene linked to colon cancer. A move into the biotech industry meant Ron could focus on developing new drugs - one of them, a drug targeting that cancer gene, is now being tested in clinical trials.
"I felt that by becoming a cancer researcher, I would really have the opportunity to have a profound impact and make scientific discoveries that can save lives.”
Founding the Childhood Cancer Model Atlas
In 2015, Ron relocated to Australia to join the Hudson Institute. He saw critical gaps in the availability of cancer cell models for research into childhood cancer, alongside opportunities with the emerging technology for organoid development.
Ron and his team got to work establishing the Childhood Cancer Model Atlas, which now hosts the largest collection in the world of high-risk paediatric tumour cell models, and is one of the most valuable resources available for childhood cancer scientists globally.
“The collection, which features over 500 models, is particularly important for brain cancers which are very understudied and have a significant unmet need in terms of targeted therapies. We’ve merged this need with organoid culture technology to develop more sophisticated models.”
Accelerating Progress
Ron joined Brain Cancer Australia’s National Consortium in early 2025 to be part of a broad community of researchers and clinicians working on both adult and paediatric brain cancers. Ron believes the end benefit of linking paediatrics and adults in the brain cancer space is more precise medicine based on disease biology.
“We need many, many models to see what kind of therapies specifically work in the adult setting and in the paediatric setting. By analysing hundreds or even thousands of tumour models, researchers can identify predictive biomarkers that improve clinical trial success.”
Accelerating progress in brain cancer research is always front of mind for Ron, and collaboration is key to this.
“We're really looking forward to joining the BCA community to contribute our resources. Our biobanking and organoid work aligns with BCA’s efforts, and by working together, we can share models, share data, and participate at the national level.”
