Assoc Prof Dent Rebecca Alexandra

MSc (Canada), MD (Canada), FRCP (Canada)

Head ＆ Senior Consultant

Specialty: Medical Oncology

Sub-specialties: Breast

Conditions Treated by this Doctor:
Breast Cancer .

Clinical Appointments

Head ＆ Senior Consultant Division of Medical Oncology National Cancer Centre Singapore

Academic Appointments

Associate Professor

Profile

Professor Dent's primary research interest is in the field of breast cancer, with a focus on locally advanced breast cancer and triple negative/basal-like breast cancers. She has served as Chair of the locally advanced breast cancer program and Head, Breast Cancer Clinical Trials at the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Center in Toronto, Ontario Canada from 2008-2011. They were actively developing novel therapies and imaging strategies for these high risk patients and up to 75% of their locally advanced breast cancer patients were enrolled onto one or more trials. Recognized as a national leader in triple negative breast cancers with several publications in this area with over 4,000 citations including three citations in the New England Journal of Medicine, she has been invited to speak about her research at major cancer centers in Canada, US, Asia and Europe.

Since beginning her position in February 2011 as a consultant and now senior consultant at the National Cancer Center in Singapore, she has founded and co-chaired the 5th Asia Pacific Breast Cancer Summit. This is a multidisciplinary meeting for the treatment of breast cancer in which are able to attract almost 400 attendees from over 25 countries in the region and globally. She serves on a number of internal steering committees for clinical trials for breast cancer as well as the principal investigator for trials investigating novel therapies for patients with triple negative breast cancer. Finally she serves on a number of prominent international committees such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Scientific Committee (ER/HER2 track) and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Most recently, she was the only ex-US participant in the ASCO Leadership Development Program.

Education

Master of Science, Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics - Department of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto
Doctor of Medicine - Faculty of Medicine, McMaster University
Bachelor’s Degree, 1st Class Honours - Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Professional Appointments and Committee Memberships

Head, Breast Cancer Research, SingHealth/Duke-NUS, Singapore, 2012-present
Head, Breast Medical Oncology Team, National Cancer Centre Singapore, 2012-present
Co-Chair, Founder, Annual Asia-Pacific Breast Cancer Symposium, 2012-present
Co-Chair, Triple Negative Breast Cancer Symposium, 2011-present
Journal of Clinical Oncology Editorial Board, 2011-present
Translational Steering Committee for the OlympiA Trial (Olaparib as Adjuvant Treatment in Patients with Germline BRCA Mutated High Risk HER2 Negative Primary Breast Cancer), 2014-present
International Steering Committee for the ETNA Study, Michelangelo Foundation, 2012-present
International Steering Committee for BEATRICE Academic/Industry led intl. trial of Bevacizumab for Adjuvant Treatment of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, 2007-present
Member, Translational Committee for the BEATRICE trial, 2007-present

Awards

American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Leadership Development Programme (LDP), 2015
ECCO-AACR-EORTC-ESMO Workshop on Methods in Clinical Cancer Research - Flims, Switzerland - Supervised Dr. Vikaash Kumar, 2011
Merit Award, ASCO Breast Meeting San Francisco, USA - Supervised Dr. Saira Nasim, 2009
Outstanding Teaching Award, Medical Oncology Teaching Program - Toronto, Canada, 2008
Helen Marion Walker Women’s Health Research Award - Toronto, Canada, 2005
Best House staff Award, Department of Internal Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital - Toronto, Canada, 2002
First Prize, Division of Oncology Annual Research Day, University of Toronto - Toronto, Canada, 2001

Research Interests

Locally advanced breast cancer
Triple negative breast cancer
Clinical trials
New drug development
Biomarkers

Publications and Research Trials

Eng LG, Dawood S, Sopik V, Haaland B, San Tan P, Bhoo-Pathy N, Warner E, Iqbal J, Narod SA, Dent R. Ten-year survival in women with primary stage IV breast cancer. Breast cancer research and treatment. 2016 Nov 1;160(1):145-52.
Sutiman N, Lim JS, Muerdter TE, Singh O, Cheung YB, Ng RC, Yap YS, Wong NS, Ang PC, Dent R, Schroth W. Pharmacogenetics of UGT1A4, UGT2B7 and UGT2B15 and their influence on tamoxifen disposition in Asian breast cancer patients. Clinical pharmacokinetics. 2016 Oct 1;55(10):1239-50.
Lee GE, Ow M, Lie D, Dent R. Barriers and facilitators for clinical trial participation among diverse Asian patients with breast cancer: a qualitative study. BMC Women's Health. 2016 Jul 22;16(1):43.
Chiu N, Zhang L, Gallo-Hershberg D, Dent R, Chiu L, Pasetka M, van Draanen J, Chow R, Lam H, Verma S, Stinson J. Which pain intensity scale from the Brief Pain Inventory correlates most highly with functional interference scores in patients experiencing taxane-induced arthralgia and myalgia?. Supportive Care in Cancer. 2016 Feb 11:1-0.
Ng T, Teo SM, Yeo HL, Shwe M, Gan YX, Cheung YT, Foo KM, Cham MT, Lee JA, Tan YP, Fan G, Yong WS, Preetha M, Loh WJ, Koo SL, Jain A, Lee GE, Wong M, Dent R, Yap YS, Ng R, Khor CC, Ho HK, Chan A. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor genetic polymorphism (rs6265) is protective against chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment in patients with early-stage breast cancer. Neuro-oncology. 2016 Feb 1;18(2):244-51.
Lim JS, Sutiman N, Muerdter TE, Singh O, Cheung YB, Ng RC, Yap YS, Wong NS, Siang PA, Dent R, Schroth W. Association of CYP2C19* 2 and Associated Haplotypes with Lower Norendoxifen Levels in Tamoxifen‐treated Asian Breast Cancer Patients. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2016 Jan 1.
Si-Lin K, Kiley L, Kamis S, Iqbal J, Dent R, Sim YY. Prognostic Value of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. Current Breast Cancer Reports. 2015 Dec 1;7(4):232-41. Trudeau ME, Chapman JA, Guo B, Clemons MJ, Dent RA, Jong RA, Kahn HJ, Pritchard KI, Han L, O’Brien P, Shepherd LE. A phase I/II trial of epirubicin and docetaxel in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) on 2-weekly or 3-weekly schedules: NCIC CTG MA. 22. SpringerPlus. 2015 Dec 1;4(1):1-1.
Bhoo-Pathy N, Verkooijen HM, Wong FY, Pignol JP, Kwong A, Tan EY, Aishah Taib N, Nei WL, Ho GF, Tan B, Chan P, Lee SC, Hartman M, Yip CH, Dent R. Prognostic role of adjuvant radiotherapy in triple‐negative breast cancer: A historical cohort study. International Journal of Cancer. 2015 Nov 15;137(10):2504-12.
Wong NS, Ang P, Dent R, Lee SC, Lim SE, Khoo KS, Ng R, Shih V, Tan SH, Wong K, Yap YS. Singapore Cancer Network (SCAN) Guidelines for Adjuvant Trastuzumab Use in Early Stage HER2 Positive Breast Cancer. ANNALS ACADEMY OF MEDICINE SINGAPORE. 2015 Oct 1;44(10):360-7.

Research Trials

A Phase III, Open Label, Randomized Trial of Pembrolizumab Monotheraphy versus Treatment of Physician's Choice in Subjects with Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer (mTNBC)
A Phase 1b Study to Evaluate Safety and Clinical Activity of Pembrolizumab (MK-3475) in Combination with Chemotherapy as Neoadjuvant Treatment for Triple Negative (KEYNOTE 173)
A Phase III, Multicenter, Randomized, Placebo-controlled study of ATEZOLIZUMAB (Anti−PD-L1 Antibody) in Combination with NAB PACLITAXEL compared with Placebo with NAB-Paclitaxel for patients with previously untreated metastatic (TNBC) (IMpassion130)