Dr Zahid Ansari: the Foundation’s first researcher

The Clifford Craig Foundation has a detailed database of the more than 200 medical research grants that have been awarded since its inception in 1992.

Listed as Project number 1 is ‘Higher Lung Cancer Rates in Young Women than Young Men’ with chief investigator Dr Zahid Ansari.

A leading international epidemiologist, Dr Ansari was brought to Tasmania from the United States in 1992 with a grant of $133,966 from the Clifford Craig Foundation to guarantee his salary and research expenses for the period of two years.

It came after the Foundation successfully reached its $1 million fundraising target within months of forming, and represented the first medical research grant ever awarded by the then Trust, with Dr Ansar’s work focused on better understanding the incidence of cancer in Tasmania.

Particularly, cancer of the stomach which at the time had declined at a slower rate in Northern Tasmania than in other parts of the world.

Working closely with the Holman Clinic, he also studied the incidence of respiratory diseases an the region and the possible links with air quality.

Years later, Dr Ansari’s study ‘Higher lung cancer rates in young women than young men: Tasmania 1983—1992‘ published in the Cancer Causes and Control journal in 1994, revealed an alarming increase in lung cancer in Tasmanian women.

Now working as an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor with Monash University in Melbourne, we caught up with Dr Ansari to learn more about his time in Tasmania, his work with the Foundation and the impact of his research.

 A Journey to Tasmania

Born in Pakistan, before coming to Tasmania Dr Ansari worked in the United States, gaining a Masters degree in Infectious Diseases in Epidemiology from Yale. Working at the University of Washington in Seattle and having just completed a PhD, Dr Ansari was already considering a move to Australia to be closer to family when he came upon a position in Tasmania, advertised by the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust.

While visiting his brother in Melbourne, Dr Ansair started researching the Apple Isle in his words: “I couldn’t think of a reason not to go”.

After meeting with Dr John Morris, one of the Foundation’s founding members and the Trust’s inaugural Chairman, Dr Ansari accepted the position at the Launceston General Hospital, as part of a joint appointment between the Clifford Craig Foundation, the Northern Regional Health Board, the Menzies Centre and the University of Tasmania.

Dr Ansari arrived in Launceston on October 22, 1992 and started work few days later. This included joining an ongoing study exploring air pollution in the Tamar Valley. He remained at the LGH for 18 months before taking on an epidemiologist position in Melbourne.

Looking back on his work with the Foundation, Dr Ansari credits his time in Launceston, particularly the guidance of Dr Morris, as having had a significant impact on the shaping of his research career.

“Dr Morris was one of the nicest people I have ever met,” Dr Ansari said.
“I met a lot of clinicians while at the LGH and I got to work with many of them, on a number of projects.  
“So, I left with a lot more experience than I would have gained at say a larger hospital.”

 ‘Higher lunch cancer rates in young women than men’

 Lung cancer rates in Australian men increased until 1985 and then began to decline, with similar trends found elsewhere.

Female lung cancer rates continued to increase over the same period, but have remained below male rates, possibly reflecting the lower prevalence and duration of smoking in the past. However, the prevalence of males and females had been converging and among teenagers more females smoked than males. 

Using data from 1983—1992 a population based cancer registry, Dr Ansari investigated lung cancer incidence and mortality rates among Tasmanians aged 25 to 44 and revealed an alarming increase in lung cancer among Tasmanian women – unparalleled to trends seen in other parts of Australia.

The results generated some interesting findings, some of which would require more data collection—i.e. smoking data on the population at risk a decade or more prior to the period of which they studied in order to validly infer some of the findings.

 Nevertheless, the data on the prevalence and duration of smoking by Tasmanians were consistent with the hypothesis that our state would experience an excess in lung cancer in young women, before the nation as a whole did so.

Among adults, more Tasmanian women smoked at the time than other Australian women, and further to surveys of secondary schools at the time, Tasmanian females in recent times have been adopting the habit at an earlier age than their mainland counterparts, and Tasmanian males.

The data presented also provided some support for the hypothesis that smoking provides a greater risk in females than males.

Dr Ansari published a number of papers on his work whilst employed by the Clifford Craig Trust. They included: Evaluation of vero cell lysate antigen of ELSA of flaviviruses; Diagnosis of viruses by immunoassays; Epidemiology of arboviral infections; Gastric Cancer in Tasmania 1978—1992; and Antibiotic resistance: epidemiology, mechanism and prevention.

The Impact of Dr Ansari’s Research Today

Since Dr Ansari’s pioneering study exploring lung cancer rates, the Foundation has continued to support a wide range of projects centred around smoking trends in Tasmania.

This includes a smoking cessation study led by Dr Jim Markos in 1996, which formed part of a world-first comparative project that tested the effectiveness of medical hypnosis and nicotine patches, in partnership with Dalhouse University in Canada.

More recently in 2020, the Clifford Craig Foundation committed $80,000 to the establishment of Tasmania’s first lung cancer registry. Led by Dr Sukhwinder Sohal, this project is investigating the biomarkers for early detection of lung cancer and mechanisms which lead to manifestations of the highly malignant condition. This will inform clinical practice, early diagnosis and disease mechanisms for new therapeutic targets.

This project will provide direct benefits to patients through informing clinical practice through the formation of a lung cancer registry. It will lay the foundation for future lung cancer research in Tasmania and enhance collaborations between major hospitals in the state.