Dr Ashley Ng is a clinical haematologist with expertise in treating a range of benign and malignant haematological conditions and bone marrow transplant. His specific clinical interest at the VCCC is in the treatment of acute leukemia. He graduated first in class with honours for his medical degree (MBBS), and completing a Bachelor of Medical Science (BMedSci) during his undergraduate training. He undertook haematology training while conducting clinical research projects in the areas of thrombosis, infectious diseases, lymphoma, positron-emission tomography scanning and haemato-pathology, and participating in the design of the Australia Lymphoma and Leukemia Group Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma NHL21 clinical trial. Following completion of dual fellowships in haematology (FRACP) and haemato-pathology (FRCPA Haem), he trained in molecular and cellular biology undertaking a PhD with Professor Warren Alexander and Associate Professor Benjamin Kile at WEHI (2007-2010), elucidating the role of the transcription factor Erg in haematopoietic stem cell function. His research provided the first definitive evidence that trisomy of Erg was required for the malignant myeloproliferation in Down syndrome and provided a mechanism by which ERG trisomy predisposes to abnormal haematopoiesis in human disease. His laboratory established the importance of genetic co-operativity between increased Erg expression with signaling molecules and epigenetic modifiers in leukaemogenesis of erythro-megakaryocytic leukaemia. He initiated collaborative projects examining megakaryocytic lineage specification from haemopoietic stem cells, identified thrombopoietin dependent bi-potential erythroid-megakaryocytic progenitors and definitively demonstrated the importance of the Mpl receptor on megakaryocytes in mitigating thrombopoietin signaling on haemopoietic stem and progenitor cells to prevent myeloproliferation, a mechanism which may contribute to the pathogenesis of essential thrombocytosis. This research demonstrated a biological mechanism of action for Eltrombopag in refractory aplastic anaemia. He has published 27 peer reviewed primary research articles, 14 over the last 5 years, with contributions in high impact journals including Immunity, Blood, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Oncogene, Haematologica, plus an invited review for Leukemia and Lymphoma. His work has been cited over 900 times, with an H-index of 11 over the last 5 years. Four publications have received editorial commentaries, and others cited by the British Committee for Standards in Haematology/UK Myeloma Forum Guidelines (2010) and the Infectious Diseases Working Party (AGIHO) of the German Society of Hematology and Oncology (DGHO) (2013) establishing that his research has impacted directly on patient clinical outcomes.   

CLINICAL HAEMATOLOGY AND BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT