A/Prof Kirk is a specialist in cancer genetics who has worked in cancer care for over 30 years. She gained her medical degree at Sydney University in 1980. She originally trained in paediatric oncology, obtaining her Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1987. In 1991, Prof Kirk was awarded a Neil Hamilton Fairley Travelling Fellowship by the NHMRC, and spent three years working in the field of cancer genetics at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Seattle, USA, in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate, Dr E. Donnall Thomas. Upon returning to Australia in 1994, Prof Kirk was appointed as a staff specialist in Cancer Genetics at Westmead Hospital. She is the Director of the Familial Cancer Service at Westmead, a service that provides genetic counselling and testing for families with a strong family history of cancer. She participates in local and national research regarding the familial aspects of cancer and has played a key role in leading this new clinical discipline in Australia. Although her role is largely clinical, her research has generated over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals.