Prof Claire Wakefield is a medical psychologist who leads research to improve quality of life for patients with medical illness, especially children with cancer and other life-limiting conditions. She is a Professor at the School of Clinical Medicine at UNSW. She is also Executive Director of the Behavioural Sciences Unit at Sydney Children’s Hospital. 

Prof Wakefield holds multiple international leadership roles, including being Continental President (Oceania) for the International Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). Specific responsibilities of the SIOP Continental President Oceania include advocating for children and adolescents with cancer across Oceania, promoting research to improve outcomes for childhood cancer patients across Oceania, facilitating and sharing education and training opportunities for SIOP Oceania members, increasing membership and engagement of SIOP Oceania members in SIOP activities and strengthening and expanding strategic partnerships of relevance to SIOP Oceania.  She works very closely with the World Health Organisation, supporting the work of the Global Childhood Cancer Initiative.

Prof Wakefield has published, or had accepted, more than 300 journal articles and is named as Chief Investigator on competitive research grants totalling more than $55M. She has received numerous awards for her work, including being named as the NSW Premier’s Outstanding Cancer Research Fellow of the Year.

Prof Wakefield holds an Investigator Grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and was a Diamond Jubilee International Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton, UK.

Research Interests:

Research interests include health psychology; palliative care; advance care planning; precision medicine; genomic sequencing; cancer predisposition syndromes; patient education; assisting families to make difficult medical decisions (e.g. deceased organ donation); and challenges faced by children with complex needs. Currently focussing on child health research, with projects ranging from newly diagnosed families, on-treatment families, long term survivors and bereaved caregivers.

Broad Research Areas:

Child Health, Cancer, Health Promotion, Quality of Life

Qualifications:

BPsych(Hons1), MPH, PhD

Specific Research Keywords:

Paediatrics, Childhood Cancer, Psychosocial Issues, Adolescence, Genetics, Mental Health, Psychology, Oncology