The VCCC Alliance and Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium are proud to unveil a roadmap for advancing equitable access to genomic testing for cancer.
A key project under the VCCC Alliance Personalised Cancer Care program, funded by Victorian Government from 2021-2024, the Precision Oncology Roadmap was a collaboration between the Alliance and the Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium.
It included a Precision Oncology Summit, held in 2023, in which diverse views of clinicians, researchers and consumers were captured.
The Roadmap has been submitted to Cancer Australia to inform its National Framework for Genomics in Cancer Control.
Read the plan here
Key recommendations include:
✔️ Improve health professionals and researchers understanding of the educational needs related to genomic testing for cancer
✔️Improve understanding of the needs of our culturally diverse community to be able to access cancer genomic testing
✔️Improve access to educational content related to genomic testing for cancer
✔️Create awareness to enable clinicians to appropriately consider genomic testing
✔️ Formalise training and recognition for variant curators, the highly specialised scientists who play a critical role in genomics analysis and reporting
✔️ Improve translation of research findings into clinical practice
The impact of this roadmap relies on the strong partnership between the VCCC Alliance and the Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium. We acknowledge the funding support from the Victorian Department of Health to both of these programs (2020-2024).
Thank you to all those who contributed to the roadmap, including steering group members and those who attended our 2023 Precision Oncology Summit.
A statement from both organisations said: “It is our hope that organisations across the sector will work collaboratively and proactively to address these actions to create a cancer healthcare system that is equitable, collaborative and world-leading.
“This Precision Oncology Roadmap should serve as a guide to assist key stakeholders to work together to address the key issues identified as part of this detailed consultation.”
