Ovarian cancer and high-risk obstetrics

Project researcher: Dr Sundy Papalois, Academic Specialised Foundation Programme

During her ASFP's Year 2, Sundy worked on two projects in the area of women's health.

Ovarian cancer

For her main project, Sundy joined the Ovarian Cancer Lab, led by the pioneering work of Professor Ahmed Ahmed and his team at the Wetherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, which she feels was a privilege.

Sundy supported the Lab with validating transcriptomic data from high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) samples at a protein level. This involved analysing multiplex immunohistochemistry slides and studying the tumour microenvironment of HGSOC. The work was included in ‘Oxford Classic-defined EMT risk stratification of high-grade serous ovarian cancer for guiding treatment decisions’, published in Clinical Cancer Research. 

Sundy aims to continue her collaboration with the Lab. She aims to further investigate the Oxford Classic (the Oxford Classification of Carcinoma of the Ovary), through her MRes in Women’s Health, and integrate the use of the Oxford Classic in clinical practice. 

High-risk obstetrics

Sundy also worked on a project which involved creating a qualitative questionnaire. This was based on a systematic review she had done, electively, on high-risk obstetrics, and which focused on the psychology and quality of life of pregnant women who had previously undergone an organ transplant. The questionnaire enabled her to gain first-hand data from patients’ experience on the themes she identified in her review.

From Sundy’s perspective, it was a privilege to work to optimise the questionnaire alongside leading obstetric-medicine specialist and transplant nephrologist Dr Siôn Williams, and the wider multidisciplinary team (MDT), including psychologists, obstetricians and midwives.

It was also a privilege to work in the transplant department in Oxford, as one of the leading centres for uterine transplants in the UK. Sundy was truly humbled to meet such an inspiring cohort of patients.

Sundy is grateful to OUCAGS for supporting her in presenting this work at the RCOG Congress 2024, in Muscat, Oman. Indeed, it was a unique opportunity to travel and present her research at an international level, which she had never done before.

June 2025