CRT Board of Directors
The Cancer Research Trust’s Board of Directors are committed to the highest standards of corporate governance and ethics. The Board comprises the following four members:
Peter Mansell (Chairman) BComm, LLB, FAICD
Mr Peter Mansell practised as a corporate and resources lawyer for over 35 years before he retired from practice in 2006. In Australia he was a corporate and resources partner of legal firm Freehills, the predecessor firm to Herbert Smith Freehills, and at various times was the Managing Partner of the Perth office, a member of the firm’s National Board and the Chair of the firm’s National Board.
He has extensive experience as a non-executive director and as a Board Chair. In addition to his current directorships, Peter has previously held positions on West Australian Newspapers Holdings Ltd (Chair), Zinifex Ltd (Chair), Foodland Associates Ltd, BWP Ltd and OZ Minerals Ltd. He also served as the Chair of Western Power.
Peter’s current listed company directorships are Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (Chair), Ora Banda Mining Ltd (Chair) and DRA Global Ltd (Chair).
His only other current unlisted directorship is Foodbank of Western Australia Inc (Chair).
Peter Leonhardt FCA, FAICD (Life)
Mr Peter Leonhardt has been a non-executive director and business adviser for over 20 years.
His prior experience encompassed thirty-five years in professional practice as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, including over twenty years as a partner of the firm and positions in four offices in Australia and overseas.
Peter held appointments as Managing Partner of Coopers & Lybrand in Western Australia and as a member of the firm’s National Board for six years, roles that carried responsibility for the strategic direction and management of the firm.
From 1991 to 1999 he was a Member of the State Council of the AICD and is a Life Fellow.
Currently he is a director of CTI Logistics Limited.
Peter is also a long-standing member of the Western Australian Yachting Foundation. He was formerly a founding director of the Perkins Institute of Medical Research, which he served for 17 years, Chairman of St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls, a member of the advisory board of the Perth International Arts Festival and a director of the organising company for the 2011 Perth ISAF World Sailing Championships held in Fremantle.
Professor Ruth Ganss BSc, PhD
Ruth Ganss is the Head of the Cancer Microenvironment Laboratory at the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical research, former Head of the Perkins Cancer Division (2014-2021), and holds a professorial appointment at the University of Western Australia.
Ruth obtained her PhD at the University of Heidelberg/Germany in 1994 and, over the last 30 years, has conducted internationally competitive cancer research in Germany, the US and since 2006 in Australia. Her current research activities focus on translational anti-cancer aspects of stromal remodelling and immunotherapy.
In 2014, Ruth received the inaugural Cancer Council WA “Cancer Researcher of the Year” Award and has been a CCWA Board Director since 2019. She has held leadership positions in national and international research and scientific advisory committees. She has served on the CRT Board since 2018.
Dr Joost Lesterhuis MD, PhD
Dr (Willem) Joost Lesterhuis is Program Head Cancer Research at Telethon Kids Institute, where he also leads the Sarcoma Translational Research team. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at The University of Western Australia and has a background as a dual-trained medical oncologist and basic researcher in tumour immunology and cancer biology.
Joost obtained his MD at the Free University in Amsterdam 2001, and completed his medical oncology specialisation and his PhD in cancer immunology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands in 2010. From 2011-2012 he was a visiting post-doc at the University of Western Australia. Since 2013, when he and his family moved permanently to Australia, he has been a fulltime researcher. His research focuses on identifying new effective treatment combinations in sarcoma and other cancers, focusing on immunotherapy.
Joost is a Simon Lee Fellow and NHMRC Investigator, he published over 70 peer-reviewed publications, and translated several of his laboratory findings into clinical trials. He was awarded an NHMRC Excellence Award in 2017.