With the rising incidence of cancer across the globe, there is a projected shortage of skilled practitioners in the oncology workforce. The Master of Cancer Sciences, Australia’s first cancer-specific, multidisciplinary, and wholly online program, was designed to meet this growing need.
In addition to the Masters program, short courses that provide access to leading oncological experts have just come online through the University of Melbourne. These courses are the first in the new Melbourne Microcerts Emerging Topics in Oncology series, covering Clinical Trial Protocol Design and Drug Commercialisation Fundamentals. They are designed to provide skill-based credentialled learning, completed in 6 weeks.
Dr David Kok from Peter MacCallum Centre is course convenor for the Masters, Director of Training for radiation oncology trainees at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Chair of the VCCC Alliance Digital Oncology Learning Hub and says there is now an unprecedented opportunity to undertake further study in the field at multiple levels.
“When we built the Masters course, we involved over 300 researchers, clinicians, patients and educators from across the alliance, cancer sector and community.
“Everyone is at different stages of their careers,” he said. “We knew the curriculum needed to be multidisciplinary. We thought about what students need to know about every aspect of cancer and made sure to focus not only on the science but on the complete pathway.”
“Students who undertake the course are learning from world leading cancer clinicians and researchers - those at the coalface that can provide real life context to the evidence
“Significant strides have been made in the treatment of cancer particularly in the fields of immunotherapy and genomics. Technology is playing a major role. There is a greater emphasis on patient-partnered approaches nowadays, changing the way we do things. There has also been a significant increase in clinical trials, and specialists are required in metropolitan and regional centres to ensure more patients can participate.
“Consequently, students can now elect to undertake the full Masters program, Graduate or Specialist Certificates or choose a practical skill-based course from the Melbourne MicroCerts suite.”
Bryce Drowley is a Nuclear Medicine and PET Technologist at Monash Health. Courtney Wheeler is a Clinical Trial Coordinator from the University Newcastle north of Sydney and they are currently enrolled in the Master of Cancer Sciences course.
Bryce’s day-to-day work involves scanning patients, ultimately guiding their oncologist towards an effective cancer treatment pathway. He said his decision to begin the course was motivated by wanting to gain a better understanding of how cancer is diagnosed, prevented, and treated, with a more solid foundation of the cancer pathway.
“Completing this course will hopefully benefit me to learn the cancer pathway, teaching the knowledge along the way, resulting in a more positive patient experience.”
Courtney’s day involves helping to develop clinical trials protocols and managing the practical elements of clinical trials - patient information sheets, data collection tools, database, ethics submissions, and support for trial sites in their governance submissions across Australia.
She began her career in clinical trials with TROG Cancer Research where her passion for clinical trials and research grew. After being in the workforce a few years she wanted to undertake further study to help improve in her role and increase the potential to move up within the clinical trials industry. She learned about the Master of Cancer Sciences course at TROG's Annual Scientific Meeting.
“Cancer education is an ever-evolving field, and we are yet to obtain a cure,” said Bryce. “The more learning, studies, and research conducted, the closer we can come to treating and potentially eliminating this disease.”
“The thing I am enjoying most is being able to better understand how cancer acts. Prior to this course, I knew certain concepts and theories. However, thanks to my study I can understand these better now, allowing me to adapt to different situations, creating a more positive experience for the patient.”
Courtney agrees, “Understanding the person who will be receiving a new treatment for their cancer is vital to the success of your clinical trial. If you don't understand the needs and abilities of the patients that you are trying to recruit, then you could end up with poor recruitment or compliance.
“Through the Masters of Cancer Sciences course, I have been able to learn more about the different age groups affected by cancer and how each one has different needs when it comes to clinical research and treatment options," she said.
“This knowledge has allowed me to incorporate the needs of these groups early in the trial development phase to ensure good trial recruitment.”
The online aspect of study is endorsed by both students. “I'm going really well with remote learning, said Courtney. “The fact that the Masters was created to be online and able to be done remotely is one of the features that attracted me to wanting to apply in the first place.”
“The remote learning has been a completely new experience for me, but I was able to adapt quite well, said Bryce. “The benefit of being able to study any time, in any location is extremely helpful. It meant that as a full-time employee I could study before and after work, as well as early in the day, or later at night. The modules are extremely easy to follow, lecturers and course coordinators easy to get in touch with, and the scheduled and recorded lectures allowed for further understanding of difficult concepts.
“Studying and improving your knowledge is extremely important,” said Bryce. “But as a healthcare worker, the most important thing is creating a more positive outlook for those patients going through a difficult time.”
Enrolments are now open for students from a range of disciplines to undertake Masters, Graduate Certificate and Specialist Certificate study in 2022.
The first two new MicroCert courses offered in The Emerging Topics in Oncology series begin on November 8, 2021 and complete before year end. They are suitable for individual or teams-based training.
Clinical Trial Protocol Design will provide participants with the practical skills to design a trial protocol, learning from world-leading oncological experts.
Drug Commercialisation Fundamentals will explore the drug commercialisation pipeline and reveal how to take a therapeutic drug from bench to bedside.
These are niche areas of expertise that will enable students to develop in-demand skills aligned with industry best practice that they can immediately apply to their current workplace or step into rewarding roles in the specified areas.
Enrolments open now for Melbourne MicroCert short course:
Clinical Trial Protocol Design
Drug Commercialisation Fundamentals
Image: Shehara Mendis, recent graduate, Master of Cancer Sciences at 2021 showcase
