Kate Drummond

Professor Kate Drummond AM, MD, MBBS, FRACS, serves as a Professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Melbourne within the Melbourne Medical School and as Director of Neurosurgery at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. She graduated from the University of Sydney with an MBBS in 1988 and completed her neurosurgical training in Sydney and Melbourne. She pursued clinical and research fellowships in neuro-oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University in Boston. In 2008, she earned an MD from the University of Melbourne for her research into brain tumours. Her career encompasses expertise in awake craniotomy, intraoperative MRI, and fluorescence-assisted brain tumour resection.

Professor Drummond's research specializations include the biology and clinical management of brain tumours, with projects on circulating micro-RNA as biomarkers in glioma, molecular mechanisms of tumour resistance, brain tumour-associated epilepsy, health-related quality of life in brain tumour patients, phase 0 clinical trials in glioma, and organoids for novel therapies. Additional interests cover neuroimaging standardization for improved patient outcomes and neurotrauma, including the NHMRC-funded BONANZA trial on brain oxygen neuromonitoring in severe head injury and the Epibio Study on post-traumatic epilepsy. She has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles, including highly cited publications such as 'Timing of surgery following SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international prospective cohort study' (2021), 'The incidence of medulloblastomas and primitive neurectodermal tumours in adults and children' (2012), 'KRAS Mutation Is Associated with Lung Metastasis in Patients with Curatively Resected Colorectal Cancer' (2011), and 'Motor neuroprosthesis implanted with neurointerventional surgery improves capacity for activities of daily living tasks in severe paralysis' (2021). She holds leadership roles as Head of Central Nervous System Tumours for the VCCC Parkville Precinct, Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, and Editorial Board member of the Journal of Neurosurgery. Previously, she served as Chief Examiner in Neurosurgery for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and currently chairs PANGEA Global Health Education. Awards include the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2019 for services to medicine in neuro-oncology and the RACS Medal for Services to RACS. She is President of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia and the Asian Australasian Society of Neurological Surgeons.

Professional Email: kjd@unimelb.edu.au