Biography

Dr Lydia Pitcher is a paediatric haematologist, with dual fellowships in paediatrics and pathology (haematology), and extensive clinical and laboratory experience in blood disorders in children and young adults.

Dr Pitcher consults at Icon Cancer Centre Chermside. She also works as a consultant haematologist in private pathology, and consults fortnightly at Noosa Hospital.

She received her MBBS with honours from the University of Queensland in 1988, having interrupted her medical degree in 1985 to undertake a Bachelor of Medical Science, with a thesis concerning the prognostic assessment of breast cancer. In 1992, she began her paediatric and haematology fellowships in Brisbane, and completed her training as honorary registrar, at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, in London in 1997.

She has worked as a consultant haematologist at the Mater and Royal Children’s Hospitals in Brisbane, as well as overseas including London and the Starship Hospital, in Auckland, New Zealand.

Dr Pitcher has been actively involved in research and medical ethics throughout her career with publications and presentations in the fields of malignant haematology, stem cell transplantation, molecular genetics of leukaemia and inherited stem cell disorders, haemophilia, paediatric thrombosis, neonatal blood disorders, aplastic anaemia, iron deficiency and late effects of therapy.

She has been a member of national and international committees in these areas, and has continued involvement in undergraduate, postgraduate and nursing education.