Oncologist Professor Bogda Koczwara is on a mission to improve management of cardiovascular disease among patients recovering from breast cancer. She is based at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, in Adelaide.

Q. Why is CVD important in breast cancer management?

A. There are a few reasons. We tend to focus on the fact that many cancer treatments — including chemotherapy, targeted therapies, hormonal therapies and radiation therapy — predispose to cardiovascular disease.

And lifestyle changes such as inactivity and weight gain that are common post-cancer are also associated with higher risk.