Rate My Professor Anna Brown

Dr Anna Brown is the Head of Molecular Oncology at SA Pathology, a position she has held since 2017. She also serves as an Affiliate Senior Lecturer in the School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health at Adelaide University since 2007 and as an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Cancer Biology, University of South Australia. Brown completed her Bachelor of Science with Honours at the University of Adelaide in 1994 and earned her PhD from the University of Queensland in 1999. Earlier in her career, she was a Senior Post-Doctoral Research Officer at SA Pathology from 2008 to 2015 and a Senior Research Fellow jointly at the University of South Australia and SA Pathology from 2015 to 2017. Her academic trajectory reflects a commitment to advancing molecular diagnostics and research in haematological malignancies.

Brown's research specializations encompass germline mutations predisposing individuals to familial haematopoietic malignancies, with a particular emphasis on myeloid neoplasms, acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), therapy-related myeloid neoplasms, and clonal hematopoiesis. She investigates pathogenic variants in key transcription factors such as RUNX1, GATA2, DDX41, and others, contributing to improved risk stratification and therapeutic strategies. Notable publications include: "RUNX1-mutated families show phenotype heterogeneity and a somatic mutation profile unique to germline predisposed AML" published in Blood Advances in 2020; "Secondary leukemia in patients with germline transcription factor mutations (RUNX1, GATA2, CEBPA)" in Blood, also 2020; "GATA2 deficiency syndrome: a decade of discovery" in Human Mutation, 2021; "The RUNX1 Database (RUNX1db): establishment of an expert curated RUNX1 registry and genomics database as a public resource for familial platelet disorder with myeloid malignancy" in Haematologica, 2021; and "Somatic mutational landscape of hereditary hematopoietic malignancies caused by germ line RUNX1, GATA2, and DDX41 variants" in Blood Advances, 2023. Her contributions have had a significant impact on the understanding of genetic predispositions to blood cancers, facilitating the development of precision medicine approaches in oncology. Recent work extends to TP53 and RAS mutations in myeloid neoplasms, enhancing prognostic models.