Rate My Professor Nick Pavlakis

Professor Nick Pavlakis is a Conjoint Professor of Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, appointed to full professor status in 2021. He serves as Senior Staff Specialist in the Department of Medical Oncology at Royal North Shore Hospital and as Clinical Trials Director and Clinical Services Director at GenesisCare, St Leonards, Sydney, since 2012. Pavlakis earned his BSc and MBBS from the University of New South Wales in 1991, followed by an MMed in Clinical Epidemiology, a PhD evaluating new cancer treatments, and FRACP fellowship. He began clinical practice as a medical oncologist in 1998, accumulating over 25 years of experience across public and private settings, including rural outreach clinics at Lismore and Armidale Hospitals since 2001. He participates in and chairs multidisciplinary team meetings for lung cancer, upper gastrointestinal cancers, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, hepatobiliary cancer, and neuroendocrine tumours (NETs).

Pavlakis has demonstrated significant leadership in oncology, serving as Past President of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) and the Australasian Lung Cancer Trials Group (ALTG), current Board Chair of the Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia (TOGA), member of the Australasian Gastrointestinal Trials Group Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Working Party, and committee member of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. In 2020, he led the team awarded the International Centre of Excellence by the European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society for the NETs service at Royal North Shore Hospital and GenesisCare. His research portfolio includes 525 publications amassing over 17,000 citations, focusing on clinical trials in lung cancer, mesothelioma, gastrointestinal cancers, and NETs. He has supervised seven medical PhD candidates in these areas and over 35 Royal Australasian College of Physicians advanced trainees since 2002, while contributing to clinical guidelines, national and international meetings, and examining for specialist qualifications. Key works include 'Immunotherapy in Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer: Hallelujah!—But Salvation Is Still Awaited by Many' (JCO Oncology Practice, 2021) and guidelines for malignant mesothelioma (2013).