Dr Ahern is a clinician-researcher dedicated to improving cancer treatments for patients through translational immune-oncology research. She trained as a consultant physician with specialisation in medical oncology and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. She undertook PhD candidature in preclinical cancer immunology at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and submitted her dissertation entitled Targeting receptor activator of NF-kB pathways in combination immunotherapy in July 2020. She is an investigator on four ongoing translational oncology projects arising from her PhD which have received grants to the value of over AUD$3.3M, including a phase IB/II neoadjuvant immunotherapy trial in lung cancer currently recruiting at multiple sites (POPCORN, ANZCTR - Registration). Dr Ahern relocated to Monash in September 2020 to further her career as a clinican researcher in cancer immunology, and is the principal investigator for neuro-oncology trials at Monash. She works clinically at Clinical Trials Centre Clayton, Monash Medical Centre and the Moorabbin Hospital in early phase/phase one trials, CNS, lung and cutaneous cancers and melanoma. Dr Ahern received a Postdoctoral Fellowship scholarship for 2021 from the School of Medicine, Monash University to continue research in tumour immunology and lung cancer.