Dr Rehana Hewavisenti is an early career researcher with broad research interests in human translational immunology, with special interests in understanding the immune responses in virally-induced cancer, sepsis and pancreatitis. Dr Hewavisenti completed her PhD at the Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology and the University of Sydney, where she conducted research focusing on the phenotypic and functional characteristics of tissue-resident T cells in human disease.
Dr Hewavisenti’s main goal is to continue her work in virology, infectious disease and cancer immunology, to better understand how we can better harness the immune system to prevent persistent disease and cancer development. Dr Hewavisenti’s research experience to date has helped develop a strong multidisciplinary profile in translational immunology, T cell biology, molecular biology, and HPV-driven malignancies, where she has gained experience in numerous methodologies such as multi-parameter flow cytometry, multiplex immunohistochemistry and spatial transcriptomics.
Within the Immunovirology and Pathogenesis Program at The Kirby Institute, her work revolves around translational immunology, T cell biology and HPV virally-driven cancer in immunocompromised individuals.
Wui S; Hewavisenti RV; Rabiei M; Kelleher AD; Farzin M; Rajendra S; Sasson SC, 2025, 'HPV status shapes T-cell immunoprofiles in oesophageal adenocarcinoma: high regulatory T cell infiltration predicts poor prognosis', Journal of Translational Medicine, 24, pp. 12 - 12, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12967-025-07482-3
Journal articles | 2023
Hewavisenti RV; Arena J; Ahlenstiel CL; Sasson SC, 2023, 'Human papillomavirus in the setting of immunodeficiency: Pathogenesis and the emergence of next-generation therapies to reduce the high associated cancer risk', Frontiers in Immunology, 14, http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1112513
Journal articles | 2021
Hewavisenti RV; Ferguson AL; Gasparini G; Ohashi T; Braun A; Watkins TS; Miles JJ; Elliott M; Sierro F; Feng CG; Britton WJ; Gebhardt T; Tangye S; Palendira U, 2021, 'Tissue-resident regulatory T cells accumulate at human barrier lymphoid organs', Immunology and Cell Biology, 99, pp. 894 - 906, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/imcb.12481
Journal articles | 2021
Michniewicz F; Saletta F; Rouaen JRC; Hewavisenti RV; Mercatelli D; Cirillo G; Giorgi FM; Trahair T; Ziegler D; Vittorio O, 2021, 'Copper: An Intracellular Achilles’ Heel Allowing the Targeting of Epigenetics, Kinase Pathways, and Cell Metabolism in Cancer Therapeutics', Chemmedchem, 16, pp. 2315 - 2329, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.202100172
Journal articles | 2020
Hewavisenti R; Ferguson A; Wang K; Jones D; Gebhardt T; Edwards J; Zhang M; Britton W; Yang J; Hong A; Palendira U, 2020, 'CD103+ tumor-resident CD8+ T cell numbers underlie improved patient survival in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma', Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, 8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2019-000452
Journal articles | 2018
Edwards J; Wilmott JS; Madore J; Gide TN; Quek C; Tasker A; Ferguson A; Chen J; Hewavisenti R; Hersey P; Gebhardt T; Weninger W; Britton WJ; Saw RPM; Thompson JF; Menzies AM; Long GV; Scolyer RA; Palendira U, 2018, 'CD103+ tumor-resident CD8+ T cells are associated with improved survival in immunotherapy-naïve melanoma patients and expand significantly during anti-PD-1 treatment', Clinical Cancer Research, 24, pp. 3036 - 3045, http://dx.doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-17-2257
Journal articles | 2018
Edwards J; Wilmott JS; Madore J; Hewavisenti R; Ferguson A; Britton W; Menzies AM; Hong A; Long GV; Scolyer RA; Palendira M, 2018, 'The critical role of tumour-resident cytotoxic T cells in human malignancies', Pathology, 50, pp. S47 - S47, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pathol.2017.12.113
Journal articles | 2016
Hewavisenti RV; Morris KM; O'Meally D; Cheng Y; Papenfuss AT; Belov K, 2016, 'The identification of immune genes in the milk transcriptome of the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)', Peerj, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1569
Preprints | 2026
Stadler E; Khan SR; Elias KM; Egilmezer E; Phetsouphanh C; Hastak P; Hewavisenti RV; Joshi RV; Turner T; Cromer D; Sasson SC; Davenport MP; Khoury DS, 2026, Immunogenicity and vaccine effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in people on immunosuppressive therapies, http://dx.doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.16.26363194
2023-2024 Triple I SPHERE UNSW Theme Seed Grant Scheme
