Dr Francis Hunter is a Research Fellow at the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, University of Auckland, and an Affiliate Investigator at the Maurice Wilkins Centre. His research focuses on employing cutting-edge genetic technologies to understanding mechanisms of drug and radiation responses in cancer, allowing treatments to become more precise and personalised. Dr Hunter has won a series of domestic and international awards for his work, which include academic and industry partnerships with collaborators in Australia, Canada, Germany and the United States. He is Executive Secretary for the New Zealand Society for Oncology and was recently the first New Zealander to be appointed to the Associate Member Council of the American Association for Cancer Research, the world’s largest such organisation.