Children's Cancer Institute has today announced that, following an extensive international search, the new Executive Director for the Institute will be Prof Louis Chesler with effect from 1 December 2025.
Prof. Chesler will succeed Prof Michelle Haber AM who has led Children's Cancer Institute for more than 25 years. Prof Chesler is an internationally, highly regarded clinician researcher who has committed his life’s work to discovering new treatments and translating them into clinical practice for children with cancer.
Since Louis achieved his post-doctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, USA his career has spanned several prestigious appointments at some of the world’s leading childhood cancer research institutes and hospitals.
Initially working as a paediatric oncology consultant whilst leading his neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma research program which focused on targeting the oncogene MYCN at the University of California, San Francisco. Louis is today a Fellow of The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UK, and for the past nearly 20 years has led the Paediatric Oncology Experimental Medicine (POEM) Centre at the prestigious Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, which is internationally renowned for its breakthroughs in first-in-child therapeutics, its dedication to genomic driven precision medicine trials, and which hosts several flagship research and clinical programmes in the UK including the UK’s national child cancer personalised medicine program known as SM Paeds.
Louis also leads the ICR paediatric Cancer Modelling and Preclinical Therapeutics Hospital, and the Cancer Modelling Programme of the MRC National Mouse Genomics Network, and has an extremely strong interest in immune oncology, with a major focus on developing novel CAR T cells that are moving into clinical trials through international partnerships, as well as undertaking the preclinical modelling of these novel therapies. He is also a Research Group Leader for the Institute of Cancer Research UK and physician at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust with a particular focus on hard-to-treat childhood cancers
Louis’s collaborations extend across the globe, including with Children’s Cancer Institute. He is passionate about laboratory research that produces clinical impact and alters delivery of clinical medicine. Louis’s background as a clinician researcher and paediatric oncologist bridges the gap between research and clinical implementation, which will be immensely valuable as the Institute moves towards the opening of the Minderoo Children's Comprehensive Cancer Centre (MCCCC). The first centre of its kind in Australia, the MCCCC builds on a 40-year partnership between Children's Cancer Institute, Sydney Children’s Hospital Network including the Kids Cancer Centre and UNSW Sydney.
Louis says “I have long admired Children’s Cancer Institute and its exceptional teams, which have produced clear benefit for children with cancer through the clinical application of scientific discovery over so many years. I’ve dedicated my own life’s work to changing the way that children with cancer are treated, from the basic modelling of childhood cancer development to detailed mapping of childhood cancers through advanced genomics, through to the identification of kinder and less toxic treatments and their implementation in more intelligent clinical trials.”
"This is an incredibly exciting time in which cutting edge research can deliver major advances to the clinical treatment and survival of children with cancer. The MCCCC is in a superb position to deliver on this, making the opportunity for me to lead the Institute enormously exciting. To be joining at the start of the Institute’s next chapter as part of the MCCCC is an enormous privilege and I’m incredibly motivated to work with all of the teams at MCCCC, to further their work.” Louis explains.
Current Executive Director, Prof Michelle Haber AM, will remain in the role until Prof Chesler commences, ensuring a seamless handover and the continued success of the Institute including optimal outcomes for MCCCC.
Mr Simon Truskett, Chair for the Children's Cancer Institute Board says “We are delighted to appoint such an exceptional leader for this important role at this critical time. Prof Chesler has outstanding experience across childhood cancer research and treatment which will be invaluable to help deliver on the promise of the MCCCC.”
“We are also extremely grateful for the extraordinary achievements of Prof Haber who has led the Institute’s considerable success for the past 25 years with skill, passion and commitment. Under her inspirational leadership, the Institute has made major international impacts improving the outlook of kids with cancer and has become known throughout the world as a centre of child cancer research excellence.”
Once Prof Chesler is established in his new role, Prof Haber’s 40-year plus tenure at the Institute will also continue with her serving as a full time Research Leader, co-leading the Experimental Therapeutics and Molecular Oncology program she leads jointly with Prof. Murray Norris AM. “The last 25 years of leading the Institute have been the most wonderful of my career. I am extremely proud of everything we have achieved and continue to achieve as we move closer to researching the answers for every child with cancer.” Prof Haber says.
“I have known Lou for many years and have consistently admired his research, and all he has achieved in leading many of England’s major child cancer research and clinical programs, also the impressive network of powerful international collaborations he has established. I have hoped for many years that we would be able to recruit Lou to Children’s Cancer Institute, and I couldn’t be more delighted at the choice of our new Executive Director. I have no doubt that our impact will not only continue but accelerate as we move into the MCCCC, working in total integration with our colleagues at Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital.”
Media Contact:
Tuhina Pandey
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Professor Louis Chesler Biography
Professor Louis (Lou) Chesler has served since 2007 as Head, Centre of Paediatric Oncology Experimental Medicine at The Institute for Cancer Research (ICR), London, which is renowned for its breakthroughs in first-in-child therapeutics, and its dedication to genomic-driven precision medicine trials; Endowed Professor of Paediatric Cancer Biology; Group Leader of Paediatric Solid Tumour Biology and Therapeutics Team; Chief, Paediatric Cancer Research; and Honorary Paediatric Oncology Consultant at the internationally renowned Institute of Cancer Research/Royal Marsden Hospital, UK. He is a Fellow of The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UK, and leads Stratified Medicine Paediatrics (SM Paeds), the UK’s national child cancer personalised medicine program.
Professor Chesler completed his early scientific and medical training in the USA, taking his Bachelor of Science (Honours) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his combined MD and PhD at Northwestern University and Medical School in Chicago. He undertook a Postdoctoral Fellowship at National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. In 1995, having undertaken his clinical training in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at UCSF and Oakland Children's Hospital in San Francisco, he joined the University of California, San Francisco, working as a paediatric oncology consultant and running a neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma research program, focusing on targeting of the oncogene MYCN.
Professor Chesler’s research focusses on understanding the development and biology of children’s cancers and using that information to discover and develop new drugs and personalised approaches, including immunotherapies, for children’s cancers that respond poorly to existing treatment. His research focuses on two of the most common solid tumours of children – neuroblastoma (a nerve tumour) and medulloblastoma (a brain tumour).
His expertise is in the genomic characterisation of childhood cancers, using tissue and liquid-biopsy multiomics, in the modeling of childhood cancer oncogenic drivers, and in therapeutic targeting of these oncogenes (including MYC, MYCN and ALK). He has been an active member of Cancer Research UK (CRUK) funding panels aiming to support both clinicians and researchers across academic pathways in the UK, is an active member of the Innovative Therapy for Children with Cancer Consortium (ITCC) consortium and the International Society of Paediatric Oncology Europe (SIOPE) Paediatric Oncology Platform (ACCELERATE), and SIOPEN consortia, which all aim to improve drug development for children and adolescents with cancer.
He has been active in developing the science and therapeutic compounds for several innovative early phase clinical trials including the first-in-child ITCC eSMART trial of Fadraciclib, a CDK9 inhibitor, and the NANT (New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy) sponsored phase I/II international clinical trial of the ALK inhibitor Lorlatinib.
Lou’s collaborations span the globe, including locally with Children’s Cancer Institute. He has an exceptional track record of research development, generating multi-million-pound grant funding, supporting a range of basic, translational and clinical trials grants, hosted by the Paediatric Oncology Experimental Medicine (POEM) Centre at The Institute for Cancer Research (ICR), which he has led for the past few years. He is passionate about laboratory research that transforms clinical medicine and health care delivery. While a clinician researcher paediatric oncologist by background, Louis is no longer practicing clinically but his experience bridges the gap between research and application, which is immensely valuable as we move towards the MCCCC.
Louis, his wife and two daughters will settle into Sydney later this year, for Louis to take up the role as Executive Director on 1st December 2025.
