Duke-NUS alumnus Dr Marjorie Hoang (Class of 2023) and her mentor, Professor Pierce Chow, have brought clarity to the complex decision-making process patients diagnosed with intermediate-stage liver cancer and their doctors face by creating an algorithm that can accurately calculate the likely overall survival and recurrence-free survival following surgery. Dr Hoang, whose interest in the liver stems from her first year at Duke-NUS, undertook a transformative third-year research project under the guidance of Prof Chow, a senior consultant specialising in liver cancer surgery at the National Cancer Centre Singapore, from which emerged this latest collaboration that lasted well-beyond Dr Hoang's medical school years. "It was during the Body and Disease course at the end of my first year that I became fascinated with the liver.
Knowing how prevalent HCC is in Asia-;particularly in Singapore, and Vietnam, where I'm from-;has given me added purpose as I set out to become a clinician," said Dr Hoang, who hopes to join General Surgery Residency and plans to continue pursuing research in this field. Together, they set about how to better predict which patients diagnosed with intermediate-stage liver cancer would benefit from a partial surgical removal of the part of liver affected by the cancer. Marjorie's work addresses an urgent need that doctors and patients face once a diagnosis of HCC is made: the need for an accurate way to determine if surgical resection is the best treatment .