A man who started out as a kindergarten assistant and farm labourer is now getting worldwide recognition for potentially lifesaving research in the field of breast cancer diagnosis.

Peter McLeod's never been one to rest on his laurels though. Despite gaining a double degree in Accounting and Business (Information Systems) and a Masters in Informatics by Research through CQUniversity, he's still focused on completing a PhD and would like to move into academia as a career.

Peter McLeod

He's also a proud member of the Golden Key Honour Society based on his early academic performance at CQUniversity.

Peter is currently working as a systems accountant for the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, but he's better known in the prestigious Marquis Whos Who in the World and Marquis Whos Who in Science and Engineering for pioneering breast cancer diagnosis work in tandem with his supervisor Professor Brijesh Verma from CQUniversity.

"The research focused on classifying identified anomalies in the breast as to whether they were malignant or benign," Peter said.

"In order to achieve this, the system identified groupings of benign or malignant patterns in order to identify similarities so it was better able to learn the characteristics of each group and hence make a better classification.

"Doctors have essentially done this for years in terms of stating that a patient has a particular type of cancer but in pattern recognition no such distinction has previously been made.

"My supervisor Brijesh inspired me as it is a privilege to be able to work with a brilliant researcher.  I have been fortunate to work with very smart people like Brijesh.

"While undertaking my Masters I completed the CPA program under the mentorship of Dr Andrew Johnson who was the NSW public sector CPA of the year in 2002.  I also completed a Certificate III in Leaderhsip support and a Certificate III in Front Line Management (as part of my involvement with the local Scout group where my children are members).

The dedicated student confesses that his career path has been "all over the place".

After the kindergarten and farm roles, Peter progressed into a council traineeship, which flourished into a career in local government. He then moved into a role with the software development company that provided the council with its finance system.

"During the time with the software development company I managed to improve a number of their operating activities including software release distribution, converting 127 councils from one system to another and gaining some major performance improvements to the operating of the software," he said.

"The company was purchased by another organisation and last year I was made redundant.  This provided the opportunity to come and work at USQ."

Peter's association with USQ has enabled him to carry out research relating to the National Broadband Network rollout in Toowoomba region (also involving the Australian Computer Society and the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation).

With so much under his belt in terms of study and career success, it's no surprise Peter is sometimes just a little too focused on the task at hand.

"I once drove a car through a flooded creek to get to a job interview," he said. "I had about a foot of water splashing around in the bottom of the car... the resume suffered a bit of damage but I secured the position."