Michael Walsh

BSc, PhD, FFSc (Research) (RCPA)
Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology,
Brisbane, Australia

Special Practice Responsibilities
Consultant overseeing Immunohistochemistry Laboratory

Special interests
Gastrointestinal and gynaecological cancers, familial cancer syndromes

Bio:
Dr Michael Walsh is a postdoctoral scientist based at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Brisbane. A graduate of The University of Queensland, he has spent the majority of his working career as a research scientist with the University of Queensland and The QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. He gained Fellowship of the Faculty of Science (Research) of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in 2013 on the strength of his contribution to research in the field of histopathology, having published nearly 120 peer-reviewed articles.
In 2010, Dr Walsh took up a scientific consultant position at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology tasked with overseeing the restructuring and expansion of the immunohistochemistry/Special Stains laboratory within the Histopathology Department. This included leading the external quality assurance programmes, staff training, continuing education and mentoring, as well as acting as the liaison between Histopathology and the Molecular Pathology and Cytogenetics departments. Recently, he has overseen the evaluation of whole-slide imaging/digital pathology platforms and the subsequent roll-out of the technology. SNP has now moved to digitised IHC and special stain preparations to improve turnaround times for regional pathologists. The technology is also being used to enhance case presentations at multi-
disciplinary team meetings.
Prior to taking up his appointment at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Dr Walsh was for 15 years an investigator on the Australian Colorectal Cancer Family Registry, one of the centres in the multinational Colon Cancer Family Registry (Colon CFR) funded by the National Institute of Health (USA). The Colon CFR was initially primarily focused on Lynch syndrome, and latterly on the so-called type X familial colorectal cancer families. He retains a strong research interest and is a Principle Investigator on an NHMRC funded study into sebaceous cutaneous neoplasms associated with a variant of Lynch syndrome known as Muir Torre syndrome, collaborating with researchers and clinicians at the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital. He also collaborates with researchers at QIMR Berghofer and pathologists at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology investigating changes in tumour biology in thyroid carcinomas associated with somatic V600E BRAF mutations.