Since 2016, Roche has been partnering with the New Zealand Society for Oncology (NZSO) to award the Roche Translational Cancer Research Fellowship.
Their generous contribution to this award is $40,000 in order to support translational cancer research to a fellowship winner.
Both Roche and NZSO recognise the importance of keeping up-to-date with international developments in cancer research and oncology clinical practice.
Translational research bridges the gap from basic science in the lab to clinical practice, in order to enhance human health and well-being. It’s sometimes referred to as bench to bedside to community. Research is most effective when clinicians and scientists work together and a key role of NZSO is to encourage collaboration between clinicians and scientists.
This award provides a unique opportunity for NZ cancer research teams to enable an integral team member (the Roche Fellow) and carry out novel, cutting-edge translational research, or access platforms and technology not available in NZ.
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Congratulations to the 2026 award winner
Dr Mahendra Naidoo
Auckland City Hospital, Health New Zealand
Dr Mahendra Naidoo, Consultant Medical Oncologist, Auckland City Hospital; Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Auckland.
Dr Mahendra Naidoo and his team working across oncology, pathology and genomics have won the 2026 Roche Translational Cancer Research Fellowship (RTCRF).
Their research project is a proof-of-concept feasibility and acceptability study that will use circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) to personalise adjuvant therapy in low-risk stage II colorectal cancer (CRC).
Dr Naidoo believes this to be bench-to-bedside-to-community in its most direct form: minimal residual disease detection from resected tumour and blood, informing each patient's adjuvant decision in real time. This would be Aotearoa's first prospective ctDNA-guided stage II CRC implementation, generating the feasibility, acceptability and cost data needed for national adoption.
Congratulations to Dr Naidoo and his team!