Rate My Professor Joshua Casan

Dr. Joshua Casan is a dual-qualified clinical haematologist and haematopathologist, serving as an Adjunct Lecturer in Medicine at Monash University within the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health. He earned his MBBS (Hons) and BMedSci (Hons) from Monash University in 2010, and holds fellowships from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (FRCPA). Casan completed his PhD in the Trapani Cancer Immunology and Johnstone Gene Regulation Laboratories at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, developing CRISPR-based mRNA therapeutics for blood cancers. His career includes appointments as a Consultant Haematologist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he manages patients across myeloproliferative neoplasms, classical haematology, acute leukaemia, CLL, lymphoma, and the Aggressive Lymphoma Service. He also serves as a visiting consultant at Monash Health and was appointed as an adjunct lecturer at Monash University in 2018. As Genomics Innovation Fellow in Molecular Haematology and the Wilson Centre for Blood Cancer Genomics, he advances research in RNA-targeting technologies and has been an investigator on over 50 clinical trials evaluating novel therapies for haematological malignancies.

Casan's research focuses on RNA-targeting and CRISPR-based therapeutics for cancer and infectious diseases, including mRNA engineering for selective silencing of oncogenic RNA and reversal of HIV latency. Key publications include 'Principles of CRISPR-Cas13 mismatch intolerance enable selective silencing of point-mutated oncogenic RNA with single-base precision' (Science Advances, 2024), 'Efficient mRNA delivery to resting T cells to reverse HIV latency' (Nature Communications, 2025), 'Tranexamic acid versus placebo to prevent bleeding in patients with haematological malignancies and severe thrombocytopenia (TREATT)' (The Lancet Haematology, 2025), and 'Improving outcomes for patients with lymphoma: design and development of the Australian and New Zealand Lymphoma and Related Diseases Registry' (BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2022). He has received major awards such as the Emerging Researcher Fellowship from Monash Health, NHMRC Dora Lush postgraduate scholarship, RACP NHMRC JJ Billings Scholarship, Alison Street Prize in Haematology Research, Alfred Hospital Advanced Trainee Research Prize, and Rosie Lew Postgraduate award from the Peter MacCallum Foundation. Casan contributes to the field as a member of the CLL working group of the Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group and the data management committee of the Lymphoma and Related Diseases Registry.