Four new leaders have been appointed to help deliver the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre’s commitment to further advance collaborative cancer research and accelerate translation of new knowledge into patient treatment and care.
The VCCC Research & Education (R&E) Leads characterise the broad and multi-faceted nature of cancer research and education in a comprehensive cancer centre setting. The role of the R&E Leads is to identify and enable opportunities for collaborative research and integrated education to expedite and improve delivery of promising treatments and models-of-care to benefit patients.
“This program exemplifies our Comprehensive Cancer Centre model in action,” said Executive Director Prof Jim Bishop AO. “The Leads seek out what I call the ‘grand challenges’. They identify what should, could and can be done across the VCCC, then hone in on key opportunities and plug in the power of collaboration to make a significant and tangible difference in their particular field. We have already had some early success from our initial R&E Leads and see tremendous scope for this distributed leadership approach to demonstrate the true potential of the VCCC.”
The Board of the VCCC is pleased to announce that the new VCCC Research & Education Leads are:
Prof Meinir Krishnasamy, BA Hons, RN, Dip N, MSc, PhD
Research & Education Lead - Cancer Nursing
A/Prof Gavin Wright, MBBS FRACS PhD
Research & Education Lead – Lung Cancer
A/Prof Peter Gibbs, MBBS MD FRACP
Research & Education Lead – Gastro-Intestinal Cancers
“It is early days, but we know from the current R&E Leads that this program offers a fantastic opportunity for the VCCC platform to really work as an agent of change,” commented Prof Krishnasamy. “We want to take research collaboration to the next level and use it strategically to deliver real benefits for the Victorian, Australian and global community.”
In addition, Prof Mark Rosenthal MBBS FRACP PhD has been appointed to the role of VCCC Clinical Trials Lead. Clinical Trials are a major focus of the ongoing work program of the VCCC and this role will capitalise on the opportunity presented by the size, scale and scope of the alliance to boost innovative clinical trials capability and results.
The initial Research and Education Lead programs in Haematology (Prof Andrew Roberts); Melanoma & Skin cancers (Prof Grant McArthur), and Primary Care integration (Prof Jon Emery) will continue during 2017.
For further information please contact:
Avalee Weir, Communications Manager
