Anthony Peter Lowe AP (born 16 March 1962) is a British-Australian mathematical physicist and actuary. He previously served as chief executive officer of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia,[1] and is a frequent media commentator on prostate cancer and prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Anthony Lowe
Dr Anthony Lowe
Lowe in 2012
Born (1962-03-16) 16 March 1962 (age 62)
Mtarfa, Malta
NationalityBritish, Australian
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (BA, MA, MMath), University of Southampton (PhD)
Known forExpertise in prostate cancer and PSA testing
SpouseSarah Lowe
Scientific career
FieldsProstate cancer, cancer control
InstitutionsProstate Cancer Foundation of Australia, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University
Doctoral advisorTony Hey

Life and career

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Lowe was born in Malta and attended The Perse School in Cambridge. He pursued a degree in mathematics at the University of Cambridge, completing his studies in 1984 with a Master of Mathematics degree. He later obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in theoretical physics from the University of Southampton.[8]

Following the completion of his Ph.D., Lowe joined the consulting actuaries firm R Watson & Sons, where he underwent training. He achieved the status of Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 1990 and was appointed Partner at Watsons in 1991.

In 1994, Lowe relocated to Sydney, Australia. He subsequently joined AMP Limited's superannuation consulting division as the Investment Consulting Practice Leader. In this role, Lowe led a project, funded by AusAID, focused on advising the Kingdom of Tonga regarding the reform of their Civil Service Pension Scheme. He was subsequently appointed Program Director of a business change program in partnership with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) to re-engineer AMP's corporate superannuation administration platform.

In 1998, Lowe joined Mercer where he held a variety of senior executive roles. He was appointed a Worldwide Partner in 1998 and executive director of Mercer's Australian business in 2001. From 2002 to 2004, Lowe was seconded to Mercer's US business as US Benefits Administration Practice Leader based in Princeton, New Jersey.

Lowe's ultimate role at Mercer was Asia-Pacific Business Group Leader, Mercer Wealth Solutions with responsibility for Mercer's benefits administration businesses in Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, including the Mercer Super Trust and Mercer Portfolio Service.[9]

In 1999, Lowe was made a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia. He has served as a member of the institute's Leadership & Career Development Committee and as a member and Convenor of the Public Policy Council Committee. He has contributed to the development of the institute's public policy, particularly in health.[10][11]

In 2007, Lowe moved to the non-profit sector and was appointed chief operating officer at the National Breast Cancer Foundation.[12] Here he led the design and implementation of the integrated website and customer relationship management systems for the Pink Ribbon Breakfast campaign[13] and Register4,[14] Australia's first online community for volunteer breast cancer research participants.

From 2011 to 2018, Lowe was chief executive officer at Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA).[15] In this role, he pursued an agenda of ensuring its activities and programs are based on the latest available scientific and medical evidence. During his tenure, PCFA established its Prostate Cancer Specialist Nursing Service which he worked to grow to 45 nurses nationally over five years.

Lowe has made contributions to prostate cancer survivorship research in partnership with Professor Suzanne Chambers, particularly the development of ProsCare,[16] a psychological care model for men with prostate cancer, and research into the financial implications of treatment for prostate cancer.[17][18][19] In 2012, he was appointed Adjunct Associate Professor at Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University. From 2012 to 2018, he was co-lead with the Chambers of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence in Prostate Cancer Survivorship.[20] Lowe has also supported the development of resources and peer support groups to meet the particular needs of gay and bisexual men,[21][22] and men from culturally and linguistically diverse[23] - including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander[24]- communities with prostate cancer.

Lowe was project convenor, co-convenor with Professor Ian Olver, and a member of the Expert Advisory Panel for the development of national clinical practice guidelines on PSA testing and early management of test-detected prostate cancer.[25] The guidelines were highlighted by Cancer Council Australia and PCFA to build consensus around approaches to PSA testing within Australia's prostate cancer screening program.[26] The guideline recommendations were approved by the chief executive officer of NHMRC and published in January 2016.[27][28][29]

Lowe is a member of the ANZUP Cancer Trials Group. From 2015 to 2018, he worked to secure funding for ANZUP's Australian-first clinical trial of 177Lu-PSMA treatment for prostate cancer. The trial began recruiting subjects in September 2019.[30]

In 2016, Lowe was appointed non-executive director and company secretary at Ensemble Offspring, an Australian new music group.

Lowe is the nephew of biologist and ichthyologist Rosemary Lowe-McConnell.

Selected publications

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  • Research, Awareness, Support: Ten Years of Progress in Prostate Cancer[31]
  • Prostate Cancer: The Next Generation[32]
  • Prostate Cancer Information Needs of Australian Gay and Bisexual Men[33]
  • Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities and Prostate Cancer[34]
  • Advancing Prostate Cancer Survivorship Research in Australia[35]
  • Clinical Practice Guidelines for PSA Testing and Early Management of Test-Detected Prostate Cancer[36]
  • Advocacy, Support and Survivorship in Prostate Cancer[37]

Fellowships

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  • Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries
  • Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Annual Report 2011–2012. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia 2012
  2. ^ Jill Margo. Blue is the New Pink. Australian Financial Review 4 August 2011 "Blue is the new pink". Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  3. ^ Men urged to persist with disputed prostate test Julia Rowbotham. Sydney Morning Herald 8 October 2011.
  4. ^ Ron Hughes. Talking about prostate cancer. Gay News Network 18 April 2013 "Editorial - Gay News Network". Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  5. ^ Interview with Tony Eastley and Tom Nightingale More prostate cancers, but survival rates increasing. AM 14 November 2013
  6. ^ Men die earlier but women's health gets four times more funding news.com.au 4 January 2014
  7. ^ Public Seminar on Prostate Cancer A/Prof Anthony Lowe and A/Prof Ganesh Raj. Freemasons Centre for Men's Health, The University of Adelaide 17 February 2014
  8. ^ Lowe, A. Lattice Gauge-Higgs Theories (PhD Thesis). University of Southampton 1987
  9. ^ Barrie Dunstan. Super trust goes shopping. Australian Financial Review 8 February 2005
  10. ^ Lowe, A., Dyson, S. New Therapies for Advanced Cancers: Can Our Society Afford Them? Is it Ethical to Deny Patients Access to Them? Actuaries Institute 2013
  11. ^ Lowe A., Reid J. Private Health Insurance Bill Shock: What Can Insurers Do to Help? The Dialogue. Actuaries Institute June 2017
  12. ^ Candice Sng. Rebel with a Cause Actuaries Magazine. Actuaries Institute August 2012
  13. ^ Beverley Head. Pink Ribbon connections all tied up Sydney Morning Herald 9 September 2008
  14. ^ Chloe Herrick. Breast Cancer Foundation deploys CRM for Register4 initiative Computerworld 3 November 2010
  15. ^ Media Release PCFA appoints new CEO – Dr Anthony Lowe. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia 28 March 2011
  16. ^ Chambers, S., Dunn, J., Lazenby, M., Clutton, S., Newton, U., Cormie, P., Lowe, A., Sandoe, D., Gardiner, R. ProsCare: A Psychological Care Model for Men with Prostate Cancer. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia 2013. ISBN 9780-9923508-3-3
  17. ^ Gordon LG, Reinking S, Mervin C. The Financial Impact of Prostate Cancer in Australia. Final Report August 2013. Centre for Applied Health Economics, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University. Meadowbrook Queensland.
  18. ^ Gordon, L.G., Walker, S.M., Mervin, M.C., Lowe, A., Smith, D. P., Gardiner, R. A., Chambers, S. K. Financial Toxicity: A Potential Side Effect of Prostate Cancer Treatment Among Australian Men. European Journal of Cancer Care 2015
  19. ^ 25. Gordon L. G., Tuffaha, H., James R., Keller, A. T., Lowe, A., Scuffham, P. A., Gardiner R. A., Estimating the healthcare costs of treating prostate cancer in Australia: A Markov modelling analysis. Urologic Oncology. 2017. doi: 10.1016/j.urolonc.2017.10.024
  20. ^ NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Prostate Cancer Survivorship: The Team
  21. ^ Jill Margo. Putting prostate problems in non-heterosexual men on the agenda Australian Financial Review 3 July 2013
  22. ^ New resources for gay and bisexual men to fill gap in prostate cancer support Star Online 13 August 2014
  23. ^ Jill Margo. Ethnic communities vague on prostate risks Australian Financial Review 10 September 2014
  24. ^ Culturally-Specific Prostate Cancer Resource Launched Coast Community News 15 December 2015
  25. ^ PSA Testing and Early Management of Test-Detected Prostate Cancer: Clinical Practice Guidelines
  26. ^ Annual Report 2012–2013. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia 2013
  27. ^ Jill Margo. Doctors call for end to digital prostate check Australian Financial Review 4 December 2014
  28. ^ Jill Margo. Relief as prostate-testing consensus reached Australian Financial Review 20 January 2016
  29. ^ Jill Margo. Prostate testing breakthrough after 20 yrs of confusion Australian Financial Review 20 January 2016
  30. ^ ANZUP Trial's TheraP and UNISoN reach recruitment Oncology News 24 September 2019
  31. ^ Lowe, A., Bennett, M., Badenoch, S. Research, Awareness, Support: Ten Years of Progress in Prostate Cancer. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia 2012. ISBN 978-0-646-58388-4
  32. ^ Lowe, A., Wong, W., Lowe, S. Prostate Cancer: The Next Generation. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia 2013 ISBN 978-0-646-90677-5
  33. ^ Wong, W., Lowe, A., Dowsett, G., Duncan, D., O'Keeffe, D. Mitchell, M. Prostate Cancer Information Needs of Australian Gay and Bisexual Men. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia 2013. ISBN 978-0-9923335-8-4
  34. ^ Wong, W., Lowe, S., Lowe, A. Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities and Prostate Cancer. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia 2014 ISBN 978-0-9923508-9-5
  35. ^ Suzanne K Chambers, Paul A Scuffham, Peter D Baade, Anthony P Lowe, Jeff Dunn, Daniel A Galvão, Louisa Gordon, David P Smith, David F Sandoe, Addie C Wootten, Nigel A Spry, Robert A Gardiner, Ian D Davis, Robert U Newton. Advancing Prostate Cancer Survivorship Research in Australia. CancerForum, Nov 2015, Volume 39, Number 3, 204–209
  36. ^ Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Cancer Council Australia PSA Testing Guidelines Expert Advisory Panel. Clinical practice guidelines for PSA testing and early management of test-detected prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Cancer Council Australia, Sydney (2016)
  37. ^ Dunn J. Casey C., Sandoe D., Hyde M.K., Cheron-Sauer M-C., Lowe A., Oliffe J.L, Chambers S. K. (2017) European Journal of Cancer Care. Advocacy, Support and Survivorship in Prostate Cancer
  38. ^ Actuaries Magazine. Actuaries Institute. November 2013
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