Rate My Professor Sharon Pattison

Associate Professor Sharon Pattison is an Honorary Associate Professor and Medical Oncologist in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Otago's Dunedin School of Medicine. She serves as an upper gastrointestinal and neuroendocrine cancer medical oncologist at Wellington Blood and Cancer Centre, with her laboratory based in the department. Pattison obtained her MBChB, BMedSc(Hons), PhD, and FRACP qualifications from the University of Otago and the University of Melbourne. Her career trajectory includes appointment as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medicine and medical oncologist at Southern District Health Board in 2016. She contributes to professional organizations as an Executive Committee Member of the New Zealand Society for Oncology and as an Executive Committee Member and Project Oversight Committee Member of the Commonwealth Neuroendocrine Tumour Collaboration.

Pattison's research specializations focus on gastrointestinal cancers such as gastric and colorectal cancers, neuroendocrine tumours, prognostic and predictive variables, and variability at clinical, histological, and genomic levels. Her investigations examine interactions between cancer cells and the immune system, particularly the immunoproteasome protein complex's role in cancer progression and survival, as well as fibroblast influences on the gastric cancer microenvironment. She received the Roche NZ Translational Cancer Research Fellowship in 2019 to study stomach cancer survival using lattice light sheet microscopy and holds a current HRC Clinical Practitioner Research Fellowship. In 2022, she was awarded a Health Research Council grant investigating fibroblast influence on the gastric cancer microenvironment. Key publications include 'Global quantitative dynamics and early warning signals of hepatocellular carcinoma: Integrating theoretical modeling with experimental validation' by Yu et al. (2026, Journal of Physical Chemistry B); 'Population-based trends in gastrointestinal cancer incidence and mortality in New Zealand: A 11-year analysis' by Shanika et al. (2026, Cancer Epidemiology); 'Effects of current smoking on treatment outcomes in metastatic and locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma' by Hayat et al. (2025, Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology); 'Deficient mismatch repair and BRAF mutations in metastatic colorectal cancer in the South Island of New Zealand' by Yap and Pattison (2025, Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology); and 'Development of a prognostic tool for identifying high-risk prostate cancer patients' by Shafaei Pishabad et al. (2025). Her clinical articles appear in peer-reviewed journals in Australasia and the United States, advancing understanding of cancer mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets.