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Senior Research FellowBryony Simcock

BSc MB BS(Lond) MRCOG FRANZCOG CGO

Bryony is the Clinical Director of the South Island and Wellington Regional Gynaecological Oncology service.

Bryony completed her medical degree at the University of London and then undertook Obstetrics and Gynaecology training in New Zealand. Following this she completed her Certificate of GynaeOncology subspecialty training in Melbourne and Cambridge UK. She has worked as a clinical gynae oncologist since 2007 in Ōtautahi with a combined clinical and university appointment. Working as a gynae oncologist means being part of a team caring for all women with gynaecological cancer from Hawkes Bay down to Bluff, making complex decisions through MDM and performing complex surgery. This provides many opportunities for learning, teaching, and research.

Research Interests

Bryony has a broad range of research interests within GynaeOncology. There is a huge amount that is not yet understood – and thus many opportunities to improve and thus bring hope for a better future for patients and their whānau. She is interested in looking at patterns of care across the country, improving quality of life and compliance with better anti coagulation and better wound management; the impact of cancers on people with lived experience of gynaecological cancer – and she is particularly interested in endometrial cancer – understanding aetiology to help us understand what genuine prevention could look like. She feels that our kai has been colonised – and it’s making us sick.

Learning te reo and learning about te ao Māori has profoundly enhanced her way of looking at the world and enriched her research scope in numerous ways.

Teaching

Teaching is a privilege. Whilst naturally not all the students will decide to follow a career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, it is vital that we are able to impart an understanding of important concepts of GynaeOncology as a teacher in the 5th-year medical student programme. It is time for the students to be able to lift their eyes from just a topic focus and consider some higher levels of learning - integrating public health, gynae oncology, health economics and advocacy into practice. Alongside this the surgical teaching extends into looking at surgical competencies where both Obstetrics and Gynaecology offer excellent learning opportunities.

Publications

Simcock, B., Wilson, M., Vaughan, M., Sykes, P., Bell, R., Nevins, N., … DeFazio, A. (2026). Molecular profiling of ovarian cancer is feasible and provides valuable therapeutic and research information to women in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 139(1644), 94-108. doi: 10.26635/6965.7288 Journal - Research Article

Waddell, O., Palmer, J., Keenan, J., McCombie, A., Glyn, T., Simcock, B., & Purcell, R. (2026). Sexual health communication in early-onset colorectal cancer: Patterns, gaps, and barriers. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 96(Suppl. 1), CR010. doi: 10.1111/ans.70592 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Waddell, O., Palmer, J., Keenan, J., McCombie, A., Frizelle, F., Pearson, J., Glyn, T., Simcock, B., & Purcell, R. (2026). Sexual function in early-onset colorectal cancer survivors: A population-based case-control study. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 96(Suppl. 1), CR002. doi: 10.1111/ans.70592 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Turner, G., Glyn, T., Wakeman, C., Frizelle, F., the Christchurch Pelvic Exenteration Group (CPEG), including Kempthorne, J., Simcock, B., Sykes, P., Ward, I., & Wood, V. (2026). Three decades of pelvic exenteration at Christchurch Hospital: The evolution of an exenteration service. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 139(1636), 66-75. doi: 10.26635/6965.7435 Journal - Research Article

Te Whaiti, S., Sykes, P. H., Scott, N., & Simcock, B. (2026). Let's use an equity framework to improve research, its design, implementation, and community. International Journal of Gynecological Cancer, 36(2), 101843. doi: 10.1136/ijgc-2024-005938 Journal - Research Other

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