Clinician–Scientist
Anatomical Pathologist

A/Prof David Williams’ clinical focus areas are in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal, breast, urological and renal pathology, with a keen interest in molecular diagnostics for targeted therapies. He regularly presents pathology to the colorectal, hepatobiliary and breast cancer unit multidisciplinary meetings at Austin Health, and collaborates with researchers at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute to help validate findings in human cancer samples.

A/Prof Williams’ research primarily focuses on identifying biomarkers associated with patient outcomes and treatment response in gastrointestinal cancers, studying cohort and clinical trial samples. He completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2012, where he identified immunological targets in colorectal cancers with microsatellite instability. He has ongoing interests in the evaluation and characterisation of immune infiltrates in colorectal cancer, and in the identification of biomarkers associated with response to cancer therapies.

He believes pathology is essential for enabling personalised cancer treatment delivery, as it allows us to identify molecular changes that influence cancer behaviour and predict response to therapies.