Dr Catherine Han

She completed her medical degree at the University of Otago in 2002 and qualified as a medical oncology specialist in 2011.

In 2011 she was awarded the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) Clinical Research Training Fellowship. With the support of this prestigious award, she was able to pursue a PhD degree and a period of clinical research training. During the same period, she worked as a part-time consultant medical oncologist at Auckland City Hospital.

She is a recipient of several prizes and scholarships. Her cancer research work on oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity has resulted in the overall Excellence in Health Research top award for the Auckland District Health Board for 2014, and the Fred Fastier Trust prize for best oral research presentation at the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT) 2013 annual meeting. She was also awarded a Cancer Society Research Training Scholarship and a Genesis Oncology Trust Murray Jackson Clinical Fellowship. She was the recipient of the Brett Roche Memorial Award of Cancer Society in 2018. Following the completion of her PhD, she was awarded the Sir Owen Glenn Clinical Research Fellowship and worked as a part-time Senior Clinical Research Fellow in the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre where she was involved in clinical trials of new molecularly targeted anti-cancer drugs, and clinical research projects concerning cancer genomics.

Dr Catherine Han was accepted for a clinical research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Centre, Harvard University, Boston, USA, for a year from mid 2016 to mid 2017. She returned with greater knowledge and close connections with world-leading oncologists at the Harvard. In 2019, she was appointed as a part-time Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, where she continues her academic work.

While she has a strong medical and scientific background, Catherine provides the highest standard of care with compassion, friendliness, and clear communication.

Subspecialties

• Upper & Lower Gastrointestinal Cancers
• Pancreatic Cancer
• Breast cancer
• Brain cancer (primary and secondary)
• Head and Neck Cancer
• Ocular Melanoma
• Clinical Cancer Research
• General oncology including palliative chemotherapy and immunotherapy
• Cancer molecular profiling and genomics
• Early stage clinical trials / Drug development
• Personalised cancer treatment

Hospitals Practicing At: Auckland Oncology

Other Languages Spoken: Korean

Qualifications/Memberships
MBChB, FRACP, PhD

Post-fellowship training
PhD & Clinical research training (University of Auckland)

July 2016 - June 2017 fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA)

Auckland City Hospital Medical Oncology Unit

Academic Appointment: Senior Lecturer, University of Auckland

Usually it is your surgeon or GP who refers you to Auckland Oncology. However, we also accept self-referrals if appropriate. When we receive the referral, one of our staff will contact you and make an appointment for your initial consultation with the specialist. Before this assessment, we will email you a form to fill in with your personal details, information about your cancer, past medical history, current medications, drug allergies, etc. We would be grateful if you would complete this and return it before your appointment

We are happy to receive referrals for most types of adult solid tumours. Some types of tumour may be more appropriately dealt with by another specialist; if this is the case, we will let you know. You are welcome to call and discuss details of a potential referral