There exists an unconscious, and sometimes conscious, bias regarding career choices in working regionally. The development of Bendigo Health demonstrates how creating a positive culture, prioritising well-being, and ensuring staff feel valued has been instrumental in its growth.
VCCC Alliance Leading for Impact award winner Dr Rob Blum shares how this powerful approach has enabled the service to expand from a single oncologist department to more than twenty specialists, now seeing over 1,000 new patients annually.
Dr Blum has over 18 years' experience in general medical oncology and clinical trials, with special interests in breast, gynae-oncology, lymphoma and urological malignancies. Dr Blum's undergraduate degree was obtained at the University of Melbourne, where he did one year as a researcher at the Austin Research Institute before commencing his speciality training at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. This was followed by a two-year fellowship at Peter Mac, which included further experience in breast cancer, gynae-oncology, melanoma and clinical studies. Dr Blum was also involved in PET imaging research and its role in cancer therapeutics and staging.
Dr Blum has been the Director of the Oncology Department in Bendigo since 2003. During that time, he has had the department accredited as a site of oncology training with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. In 2013, he undertook a sabbatical in breast cancer under the guidance of Dr Angelo Di Leo in Prato, Italy. Dr Blum received a VCCC Alliance Leading for Impact Award for Outstanding Leadership by Example in 2024.
