Genomics and Precision Health Group Lead
E: [email protected]
Research
A/Prof Julia Steinberg is a Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellow and leads the Genomics and Precision Health research team at the Daffodil Centre. Her research programme aims to integrate individual and population-level genomic, sociodemographic, medical, and behaviour information for successful precision health. Julia’s focus is on effectively and sustainably improving human health and reducing the burden of cancer.
Julia completed a DPhil (PhD) in Genomic Medicine and Statistics at the University of Oxford, followed by postdoctoral work in genomics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute / University of Cambridge. She moved to Australia in 2017, changing her research focus to cancer.
Julia co-leads the Australian Cancer Risk Study, a collaborative transdisciplinary program on genomic risk prediction and risk-based screening and early detection for the four most common cancers in Australia. She also leads MCD Spotlight, a new collaborative program of work to evaluate the potential of innovative multi-cancer detection tests in Australia. Finally, she uses large-scale data to help understand the current patterns and gaps in health care, identifying potential inequities and opportunities for tailored interventions to improve health outcomes
Qualifications
- DPhil (PhD equivalent), University of Oxford
- MMath, University of Oxford
Academic affiliations
- Adjunct Associate Professor, The University of Sydney
Current student supervision
- Philip Ly (University of Sydney) — Investigating the potential of genomics-informed risk prediction to improve early detection for common cancers in Australia
- David Goldsbury (University of Sydney) — The costs of cancer in New South Wales, Australia.
Julia Steinberg is available to supervise Masters and PhD students enrolled at The University of Sydney.
Key publications
- S Yap, Q Luo, J Cuff, D Goldsbury, XQ Yu, YJ Kang, BDT Gallagher, E Feletto, M Weber, P Ngo, MA Merritt, K Canfell, DP Smith, J Steinberg (2025). Disparities in cancer survival by socioeconomic status: findings from a population-based study of 942 241 Australians from 1980 to 2019. JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, djaf305.
- J Steinberg, M.M. Iles, J.Y. Lee, X. Wang, M. Law, A.K. Smit, T. Nguyen-Dumont, G.G. Giles, M.C. Southey, R.L. Milne, G.J. Mann, D.T. Bishop, R.J. MacInnis, A.E. Cust (2022). Independent evaluation of melanoma polygenic risk scores in UK and Australian prospective cohorts. British Journal of Dermatology, 186, 823-834.
- HM Tanha, MH Law, N Ingold, CM Olsen, N Pandeya, RL Milne, RJ MacInnis, DC Whiteman, AE Cust, J Steinberg (2026). Performance of different polygenic risk scores for breast cancer risk prediction: in-depth evaluations across large UK and Australian cohorts. European Journal of Human Genetics, 34(2):278-287.
- HM Tanha, MH Law, N Ingold, P Ly, CM Olsen, N Pandeya, DP Smith, RJ MacInnis, DC Whiteman, AE Cust, J Steinberg (2025). Polygenic Risk Scores for Prostate Cancer: Comparative Evaluations in UK and Australian Cohorts. Human Genetics & Genomics Advances, 6:100477.
- Q. Luo, D.L. O’Connell, X.Q. Yu, C. Kahn, M. Caruana, F. Pesola, P. Sasieni, P.B. Grogan, S. Aranda, C.J. Cabasag, I. Soerjomataram, J. Steinberg*, K. Canfell* (2022). Cancer incidence and mortality in Australia from 2020 to 2044 and an exploratory analysis of the potential effect of treatment delays during the COVID-19 pandemic: a statistical modelling study. Lancet Public Health, 7, e537-48. * joint senior authors
- K Simms , J Steinberg, M Caruana, M Smith, JB Lew, I Soerjomataram, P Castle, F Bray, K Canfell (2019). Timeline to eliminating of cervical cancer: projections of the impact of HPV vaccination and cervical screening in 181 countries: 2020-2099. Lancet Oncology 20(3):394-407.
- Y.-J. Kang*, Q. Luo*, J. Worthington, A. Kelly, J. Cuff, J. Zalcberg, K. Canfell, J. Steinberg (2025). Informing health system planning for biomarker-based treatment: statistical prevalence projections for solid cancers with key pan-tumour biomarkers (dMMR, MSI, high TMB) in Australia to 2042. Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, 57:101537.
- J. Steinberg, S. Hughes, [50 authors], K. Canfell (2023). Risk of COVID-19 death for people with a pre-existing cancer diagnosis prior to COVID-19-vaccination: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Cancer, 154(8), 1394-1412.
- J. Steinberg, L. Southam, A. Fontalis, M.J. Clark, R.L. Jayasuriya, et al. (2021). Linking chondrocyte and synovial transcriptional profile to clinical phenotype in osteoarthritis. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 80, 1070-1074.