Cancer Australia congratulates Lisa Briggs, Margaret Heffernan OAM, PhD, Professor Gail Garvey AM and Associate Professor Mei Ling Yap, recipients of the 2025 Jeannie Ferris Award in recognition of their outstanding achievements in increasing equity of outcomes for people affected by cancer in Australia.
Category 1: Members of the Community
Two joint recipients have been awarded for Category 1: Members of the Community.
Lisa Briggs
Lisa is a nationally recognised lung cancer advocate who has spent the past decade campaigning for dignity, equity, and visibility for people living with metastatic lung cancer. Diagnosed with Stage IV, incurable lung cancer at age 32, just a few months after giving birth to her second child, Lisa has turned her lived experience into a powerful force for change.
Thanks to clinical trials and advances in personalised medicine, Lisa is now more than 10 years post-diagnosis. She continues to live with lung cancer and has become a leading voice in advocacy, drawing attention to the often-overlooked barriers patients face; from access to services to systemic gaps in care.
Lisa’s advocacy is grounded in compassion, inclusion, and action. She has held multiple national and international leadership roles in lung cancer research and policy, including with the Thoracic Oncology Group of Australasia (TOGA), Lung Foundation Australia, Rare Cancers Australia, and ALK Positive Australia. She has helped shape major research efforts, such as the TRACKER Lung Cancer Biobank, and the DYNAMALK and ASPiRATION-2L studies, playing a pivotal role in patient-led trial design and development.
Recognised by political leaders and honoured, including in Victoria’s Local Hero as a Top 4 Finalist in the 2020 Australian of the Year Awards, Lisa has used her voice to elevate the needs of the lung cancer community. Her advocacy highlights the quiet injustices patients face and pushes for meaningful, lasting change.
While navigating ongoing treatment and raising a young family, Lisa has continued to lead with courage and purpose. Her efforts have helped reframe how Australia sees lung cancer and has brought real hope to those facing this disease today.
Margaret Heffernan OAM, PhD
Margaret Heffernan OAM has made a significant contribution to the gynaecological cancer sector over the past 33 years. Her extensive work in a probono capacity as a survivor, consumer, advocate, educator and behavioural researcher has had sustained impact. It has helped reduce disparities and inequities and empowering health professionals, patients, carers, and survivors across all community sectors, particularly vulnerable populations.
These efforts have also impacted hospital and treatment centre infrastructure, policy, social justice and equity. In 2006 Margaret initiated a petition which led to a Senate inquiry (with Senator Jeannie Ferris), and $1million seed funding for the establishment of the National Centre for Gynaecological Cancers (Hansard Parliament of Australia. The Senate, October 2006 Breaking the Silence: A National Voice for Gynaecological Cancers).
Margaret was recognised in a 2006 Order of Australia Medal, and subsequently nationally and internationally.
Category 2: Health Professionals and Researchers
Two joint recipients have been awarded for Category 2: Health Professionals and Researchers, with both nominees being of exceptional calibre and representing different areas of practice and strength.
Professor Gail Garvey AM
Professor Gail Garvey is a distinguished health services researcher and proud Kamilaroi woman. Professor Garvey is a NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Professor of Indigenous Health Research in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland.
Gail has established a broad and targeted research program focused on cancer and the wellbeing of Australia’s First Nations peoples and communities. Her dedication to improving cancer outcomes for First Nations peoples is evident in her extensive research and leadership, both nationally and globally.
Over the past 30 years, Gail has advocated for improving health and cancer outcomes through collaborative efforts to develop culturally safe cancer care and policy and clinical practice reform and supporting the career development of the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers.
Associate Professor Mei Ling Yap
Associate Professor Mei Ling Yap MBBS BSc FRANZCR PhD is a radiation oncologist clinician researcher based in South-Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD). She is the Head of the Cancer Program at the George Institute for Global Health, UNSW Sydney and lead of the Collaboration for Cancer Outcomes, Research and Evaluation (CCORE), the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research.
Mei Ling’s clinical, research and educational work is focused on a vision to achieve equity in cancer control locally and globally. In her current clinical role as a Staff Specialist Radiation Oncologist in SWSLHD, she cares for people with cancer from diverse backgrounds and she values working closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and multicultural communities. A/Prof Yap holds a National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leader Fellowship investigating cancer control in refugee and recent migrant populations in Australia. In 2024, she was awarded the NSW Premier’s Award for Outstanding Cancer Research for “Improving Equitable Outcomes”.
Mei Ling leads projects supporting cancer services capacity building in low-and middle-income countries in the Asia-Pacific as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific Special Interest Group of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) and executive member of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) Global Oncology group. This work has included the leading of DFAT-funded programs supporting oncology training for Cambodian clinicians.
