Dr. Daphne Day

Learn more about Monash Health’s Oncology team.

Dr Daphne Day MBBS (Hons), FRACP

Daphne Day is a medical oncologist and adjunct senior lecturer at Monash Health and Monash University, sub-specialising in the areas of early phase clinical trials, breast cancer, and head and neck cancer. She graduated from Monash University with honours and completed physician and oncology training in Melbourne, Australia. Subsequently, she completed a 2-year fellowship at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Drug Development Program in Toronto, Canada from where she gained expertise in early drug development, with an emphasis in immunotherapeutics and molecularly targeted agents.

Since joining Monash as a consultant in 2017, she has worked hard to grow the clinical trial portfolio and foster productive relationships with scientists and researchers to promote innovative research and personalised approaches to cancer treatment. She has extensive experience in developing and leading clinical trials and is the Monash Health Principal Investigator for >20 ongoing and completed phase I, II and III trials.  

Alongside clinical work, Dr Day is undertaking part-time PhD research focusing on evaluating potential tumour- and blood-based biomarkers of disease burden and recurrence in colorectal cancer. She was awarded the RACP Foundation Basser Research Entry Scholarship (2019 and 2022), and an Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group Innovation Grant for this work. 

Her research has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals and presented at international and national conferences. She has received >10 competitive prizes and awards. She is a Scientific Committee Member of the Asia Pacific Oncology Drug Development Consortium and the ANZ Head and Neck Cancer Society Foundation, and she is an Editorial Board Member of JCO Global Oncology. 

Publications

1. D. Day, A. Monjazeb, E. Sharon, P. Ivy, E. Rubin, G. Rosner, M. Butler. From Famine to Feast: Developing Early Phase Combination Immunotherapy Trials Wisely. Clin Cancer Res Sep 1 2017 (23) (17) 4980-4991; DOI:10.1158/1078-0432. CCR-16-3064

2. L. Khoja*, D. Day*, T. Chen, L. Siu and A. Hansen. Tumor- and class-specific patterns of immune-related adverse events of immune checkpoint inhibitors: a systematic review. Annals of Oncology, 0: 1-9, 2017. DOI:10.1093/annonc/mdx286. Published online 8 August 2017. *co-primary author

3. D. Day, L.L. Siu. Approaches to modernize the combination drug development paradigm. Genome Medicine, 2016 Dec, 8:115. DOI:10.1186/s13073-016-0369-x.

4. D. Day, A.R. Hansen. Immune-related adverse events of immune checkpoint inhibitors. BioDrugs, 2016 Dec;30(6):571-584. DOI: 10.1007/s40259-016-0204-3.

5. D. Day, A.R. Hansen, L.L. Siu. Hypopharyngeal cancer: looking back, moving forward. Current Oncology, 2016 Aug;23(4):221-2. DOI: 10.3747/co.23.3242.

6. D. Day, Y. Kanjanapan, E. Kwan, D. Yip, N. Lawrentschuk, I.D. Davis, A.A. Azad, M. Rosenthal, S. Wong, A. Johnstone, P. Gibbs, B. Tran. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and benefit from cytoreductive nephrectomy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Internal Medicine Journal, 2016 Nov;46(11):1291-1297. DOI: 10.1111/imj.13202.

7. D. Day, P.L. Bedard. Beta-testing of next-generation DNA sequencing for patients with advanced cancers treated at community hospitals. Journal of Oncology Practice 12, no. 4 (April 2016) 279-281. DOI: 10.1200/JOP.2015.010165.

8. J. Ko, B. Bernard, B. Tran, H. Li, T. Asif, I. Stukalin, M. Lee, D. Day, N. Alimohamed, C. Sweeney, P. Bedard, D. Heng. Conditional survival of patients with metastatic testicular germ-cell tumors (MT-GCT) treated with first-line curative therapy. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2016 Jan 19. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2015.64.7909.

9. D. Day, Y. Kanjanapan, E. Kwan, D. Yip, N. Lawrentschuk, M. Andrews, I.D. Davis, A.A. Azad, M. Rosenthal, S. Wong, A. Johnstone, P. Gibbs, B. Tran. Patterns of Care for Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma in Australia. British Journal of Urology International 2015 Oct; 116 Suppl 3:36-41. DOI: 10.1111/bju.13176.