Professor Matt Dun

“I knew there were bad outcomes, but it was all a very big shock. I took it personally when there were no treatments, and we were told that radiation therapy was the only real option and she would leave us within 12 months of diagnosis.”

While Josephine was in hospital, Matt began calling Stanford University in the middle of the night. He spoke with neuro-oncologist Michelle Monje, who shared promising but unpublished research on immunotherapy. With the prospect of a trial on the horizon, Matt turned his focus to controlling her cancer long enough to get there.

“I was running towards a cure, running towards treatments, running towards data, trying to keep running to figure out how we fix this.”

Matt continued to work from waiting rooms at night, including supervising his existing leukaemia researchers.

“Those really talented young scientists had chosen me as their supervisor, and I wasn’t going to let them down.”

All the while, Matt coordinated with Michelle at Stanford to get DMG cells sent to Newcastle, connected with the McDonald Jones Charitable Foundation (who would generously provide $100,000 to fund his DIPG research) and started a grassroots movement that would become the RUN DIPG charity to raise funds and awareness.

He and his research team extended their work to include DIPG. Through genetic sequencing of Josephine's tumour, they were able to identify a gene that was essential to the development of DIPG as well as two drugs that could target it.

"She actually received two drugs that no kid had ever received and in combination, which was really quite progressive for brain cancer back then."

The drugs did indeed slow the tumour's growth, giving the Dun family another year together before losing Josie, almost two years after her diagnosis.

For the first time, the progression of DIPG had been altered.

The research Matt began for Josephine has since evolved into an internationally recognised program dedicated to improving outcomes for children diagnosed with DIPG. He has secured more than $50 million in research funding, pioneered innovative pharmaco-proteogenomic approaches, and advanced novel therapies into clinical trials.

Now leading a team of more than 30 people—"extended family" as he describes them—Matt is building a new generation of DIPG researchers dedicated to the cause. They are trying to identify disease subtypes and continue improving treatment options.

"I think everyone understands that what they're doing is meaningful, and the things they've done in the lab are not something that many other researchers ever do in their life. To discover a drug for an indication and to run Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in your lifetime, and to show a benefit? It doesn't happen very often."

Beyond the laboratory, Matt has become a leading figure in the international fight against DIPG through leadership roles with the International Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium and the RUN DIPG Foundation. He is driving collaboration between researchers, clinicians and families worldwide, accelerating progress against one of the most devastating childhood cancers. His contribution to medical research has been formally recognised with an appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia.

Matt was once a father making international calls at 2am, desperately searching for answers. Today, families around the world call him.