Kate Vines

Background

About Kate Vines

Kate was born and educated in New Zealand and moved to Australia at age 17. She worked in various roles including retail and banking in her early twenties and then spent the next 10 years in sales and marketing roles successfully organising trade show events and product advertising campaigns for a major automotive repair supplier. Kate married during this time and had a son, Paul. In 1991 Kate was diagnosed with a rare cancer – metastatic Medullary thyroid cancer and was forced to take extended leave during which time she underwent several surgeries. In Kate established her own event company promoting motivational speakers in Australia. Kate successfully ran this business until 2006. In the following years, Kate worked at the Australian Retailers Association and also at Progressive Business. In 2012, Kate together with husband Richard Vines, formed Rare Cancers Australia. As Founder and Head of Patient Care, Kate’s main role is to provide support, guidance and information for patients and their families. Kate works diligently with government, clinicians and industry to ensure that rare cancer patients voices are heard. Kate is an Associate Investigator on a number of clinical trials and research studies: • Phase II Trial of Ipilimumab and Nivolumab for the Treatment of Rare Cancers (NCT02923934 • NOMINATOR: GENOmic MatchINg treATment fOr Rare cancers • The PiGeOn Project: two inter-related longitudinal studies examining psychosocial, behavioural and ethical issues and outcomes in cancer genomic testing • Patient support and advocacy leader - The Cancer Molecular Screening and Therapeutics (MoST) Program • Member COSA Rare Cancer Executive Committee • Member COSA Tele-trial Consortium