The year is well and truly underway and what a year it is shaping to be for the cancer sector, culminating in the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit in November in Melbourne. We are pleased to support the host, Cancer Council Victoria, as co-hosts alongside Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium and McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer.
We at the alliance are starting the year with clear direction, purpose and intent – and this is marked positively by the announcement that we have welcomed Albury Wodonga Health as our first Associate Member.
The vision of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre that was ultimately funded by the Victorian Government through a successful business case back in 2009, envisioned two components – a world-class building, and a collaborative entity of partners to form a joint venture alliance working together for the greater good, including through shared activities for research, treatment, and care, and education and training. The partnership would ensure that every cancer treatment facility in Victoria, including regional and rural, has highly trained cancer experts and therefore that all Victorians have access to the best possible care. It would create an education and training hub to disseminate information and knowledge, and have it delivered regionally as well. To this end, the VCCC Alliance Centre for Cancer Education was established, delivering education and training in person and online (vcccalliancelearn.org.au).
It's exciting to see the realisation of this vision reach such a significant milestone with the addition of a regional cancer centre as an Associate Member. What is more exciting is the opportunity for all our members – and their patients and research projects – to benefit from the unique ideas and innovative programs that current and future associate members will likewise bring to the table. The knowledge transfer is a two-way street.
It’s important we acknowledge that cancer training and education is not confined to the VCCC Alliance, and we celebrate all the achievements of our member organisations and partners who operate their own world-class cancer education and training. One of the benefits that the VCCC Alliance offers, if members wish, is to amplify their own programs by leveraging our platforms and services to reach as wide an audience as possible.
As we welcome another member into the fold, and one from further afield, this can serve to provide further cohesiveness and stability at a time of structural change to our statewide health services.
Personally, my vision is for a networked health system where we have excellence in innovation right across the state, and the Associate Member program gives us an opportunity to be inclusive of the excellent work happening across the state.
In more good news to kick off the year, I’m pleased to announce the appointment of Professor David Eisenstat to the Board, who joins following the departure of Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) Director Prof Kathryn North AC. I would like to thank Kathryn for her guidance and commitment to the VCCC Alliance, being a Board Director since MCRI joined the alliance in July 2015.
With momentum building in children’s cancer research in Victoria and across Australia, including the investment and establishment of the Victorian Paediatric Cancer Consortium, the alliance is committed to supporting the efforts towards zero childhood deaths from cancer, to give our most vulnerable patients the opportunity to live long and full lives.
Prof Grant McArthur AO
Chief Executive Officer
