Taking a bird’s-eye view of brain cancer

A medical oncologist with expertise in drug development, Professor Hui Gan was a young, impressionable trainee doctor at The Royal Melbourne Hospital when he first witnessed the difference chemotherapy made to people with cancer.

“When I finished my training, I wanted to be able to help cancer patients by providing them with the best treatment options available. But to do that, I needed to expand my knowledge, so I pursued a PhD in medicine,” Hui said.

Not content with completing a PhD, Hui travelled to Canada to focus on gaining clinical trials experience. He returned in 2008 to be closer to his mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. “I had been thinking of staying in Canada, but family is what’s most important. The day after I found out about her diagnosis, I resigned, and was soon on the plane back home.”

Hui has been at Austin Health since his return, and for eight years has been director of its Cancer Clinical Trials Centre. He is also a clinician scientist at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, where he is Co-Director of the Centre for Research Excellence in Brain Cancer.

He has led more than 40 clinical trials since 2009, is a founding member of the Australian Brain Cancer Research Alliance (ABCARA) and for the past four years, has been the VCCC Alliance Research and Education Lead for the Central Nervous System (CNS) and Brain Cancers tumour stream.

Teamwork and expertise – a formula for beating the odds

Known as a rare cancer, the five-year survival rate for brain cancer is 23 per cent.

This statistic is what drives Hui and his team of like-minded brain cancer experts from across Victoria to find and close the gaps in brain cancer research and treatment.

“Australia is exceptionally good at research - everyone’s doing excellent work in their own patch. However, we tend to work in silos at times. That’s why the VCCC Alliance is such a great initiative. It dedicates itself to the big problems that we don’t see on an individual basis and sits above the day-to-day work that people have to do.”

Taking this birds-eye view, Hui and his team implemented a comprehensive body of work focused on sharing the latest knowledge on brain cancer care, treatment and research across Victoria.

Some highlights of their work include:

• Delivery of the Brain Cancer Supportive Care Forum, which informed the consumer-led development of the Co-STAR App. The smartphone app will allow patients to ask cancer clinicians questions about their treatment and receive a response in five to 10 minutes and collect data in real-time about how they’re managing chemotherapy, and other patient information not currently collected. Further funding is required to finish the build and make it available to patients and clinicians.
• Training sessions for the Future Leaders in Oncology program run by the Victorian Medical Oncology Training Group. The sessions focused on practical education and tools for the clinical management of primary brain cancers.
• National and international research projects, including the LUMOS-2 trial, created to address the unmet needs of people with relapsed Grade 2/3 IDH-mutant glioma, the second largest group of primary brain cancers. IDH-mutant refers to tumours that have changes to IDH genes.

The trial gives patients with no other trial or treatment options access to a matched, targeted therapy which they would otherwise be unable to access. The project initially received $1.67 million in seed funding from the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund, quickly followed by $1.55 million from the Canadian Cancer Society. The trial has the support from four industry partners and is operating across 11 sites in Australia and 15 sites in Canada. The primary objective of the study is to determine progression-free survival at six months, and to identify at least three drugs that can be taken to market.

“There was a time we thought we had to bring trials from the world to Australia. Projects like these are taking Australian-led trials overseas in exciting new collaborations. And it’s because it’s got the potential to make a significant impact in the brain cancer treatment space,” Hui said.

Focus on the future

These are just a few of the outstanding initiatives that Hui and his VCCC Alliance team have driven over the past four years.

“As for what my future research wishlist looks like, I would like to see a coordinated, ambitious, long-term plan for brain cancer patients that would allow Australia to build some critical infrastructure and expertise,” Hui said. “The VCCC Alliance model is a good example of that.”

There’s no doubt that Hui will continue to aspire to find the best treatments for his current and future patients, as his thirst for knowledge seems to grow rather than diminish over time.

“I really enjoy what I do, but it’s important to be able to switch off once in a while and enjoy other things in my life that allow me to feel reinvigorated and able to maintain my creativity at work,” Hui said, admitting for him those other things include a great love of food and reading trashy whodunits.

“Prioritising time with family and friends is the constant in my life that help keep me focused at work – for me it really is about the journey, not just the destination.”

The VCCC Alliance CNS and Brain Cancers tumour stream program was part of the 2021 – 2024 Strategic Program Plan.