Associate Professor Lara Lipton a medical oncologist working both in translational research at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and as a medical oncologist at the Royal Melbourne and Western Hospitals. After completing a PhD in familial colorectal cancer genetics at the University of London, A/Prof Lipton returned to Australia taking up appointments at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Western Hospital in the Familial Cancer Clinic and in gastrointestinal oncology. She has co-ordinated the Cabrini Familial Cancer Clinic since 2004. In 2006 she joined the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research as a Clinical Research Fellow and has been jointly responsible for the establishment of the Ludwig Colon Cancer Initiative Biomarker Laboratory in 2007. This laboratory has a highly translational focus with key goals including discovery and development of prognostic and predictive biomarkers in colorectal cancer.