She is a consultant medical oncologist and head of the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory[1] at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.
Her current research interests are focused on the development of noninvasive blood-based biomarkers ('liquid biopsies')[2] for clinical application, including early detection, risk stratification and disease monitoring in cancer management.
A major focus of her current research involves the study of cell-free circulating tumour DNA in patients with cancer.
Dawson's recent research has shown the application of circulating tumour DNA testing for disease monitoring in various cancer types.
[6] 2013 Dawson SJ, Tsui D, Murtaza M, Biggs, H, Rueda OM, Chin, SF, Dunning MJ, Gale, D, Forshew T, Mahler-Araujo B, Rajan S, Humphray S, Becq J, Halshall D, Wallis M, Bentley D, Caldas C, Rosenfeld N. Analysis of Circulating Tumor DNA to Monitor Metastatic Breast Cancer.