Professor Michelle Haber AM

Childhood cancer researcher

2025 NSW Senior Australian of the Year Nominee

Professor Michelle Haber AM has dedicated her professional life to improving outcomes for children with cancer.   

When Michelle began her research, children with the same cancer type were all treated the same way – because doctors had no way of knowing what was best for any given child.  

For children with the commonest cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, the game changer came when Michelle and her team developed technology that could show who was at high risk of relapse and therefore needed more intensive treatment. This led to a doubling of survival in children in the high-risk group, from 35 per cent to 70 per cent.  

Michelle then applied this personalised approach to other cancer types. Now, because of her work, Australia is the first country to offer precision medicine to every child with cancer – and it’s yielding remarkable results.  

Today, Michelle is recognised as one of the leading scientists in the field globally.