International Women’s Day provides a timely moment to pause and reflect on the incredible contributions of women in cancer. However, it’s also a time to consider the challenges women still face in our sector and what each of us can do to make progress.
A special Commission published last year in The Lancet, led by Dr Ophira Ginsburg, Centre for Global Health, National Cancer Institute (US), revealed just how much gender inequity is still preventing women from taking leadership roles, growing their careers, and blazing their own trails.
In this month’s newsletter, three preeminent Australian women in cancer share their personal experiences and insights with us on these inequities in a special feature. What stands out for me are observations shared by Professor Georgina Long AO, 2024 Australian of the Year, around the differences in how men and women perceive their abilities in leadership and innovation.
Professor Gail Garvey AM reflects on the additional cultural load carried by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are also women, and researchers, while patient and compassionate care advocate Caitlin Delaney discusses how hard it can be for female patients to speak up in doctors’ clinics.
I encourage you to read the full article here.
We recently hosted US Ambassador to Australia, Ms Caroline Kennedy, who toured the VCCC building and WEHI. It really made me appreciate how much we’ve achieved since now-US President Joe Biden attended the opening of the VCCC in 2016, saying the building was ‘a sign of hope and aspiration’.
It was a privilege to share our progress and the work of the alliance some eight years on. We had the opportunity to discuss topics of interest to the Ambassador, including cancer challenges faced by our pacific neighbours, in particular cervical cancer; melanoma treatments, new cell therapies and opportunities to shift the dial in brain cancer.
I’m delighted to see successful collaborations with the US already happening in the alliance, like the Brain perioperative program at the Brain Cancer Centre which connects WEHI, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter Mac and Duke University. With the US-Australia Cancer Moonshot Initiative announced last month, it’s exciting to think about the potential to partner with the US to achieve even more together. Perhaps this is the start of an ‘AUKUS’ for cancer!
Ms Kennedy is very interested in health equity and I’m delighted that she will be joining myself and other colleagues at the upcoming World Indigenous Cancer Conference.
What’s interesting about the upcoming World Indigenous Cancer Conference, which we’re hosting here in Melbourne 18-20 March 2024, is the impressive number of international delegates making the journey to attend. This really demonstrates how the questions and challenges we’re currently facing to improve outcomes for indigenous Australians are not unique – they’re shared by many nations around the world. A conference like this can be incredibly powerful to generate the new ideas, connections and conversations needed for meaningful progress.
I’m pleased to share that the Australian Comprehensive Cancer Network (ACCN) will be officially launching soon at an ACCN Innovations Showcase, to be held in May-June 2024 (exact date TBC). This is a significant milestone for the Australian Cancer Plan, marking progress toward a more integrated and equitable cancer care system in the country.
I hope some of you can make it. Stay tuned for more details.
Prof Grant McArthur AO
Chief Executive Officer
