The power of personal experience
Being an expert in cancer research or clinical care is a very different experience to being diagnosed with the disease. For this reason, people who have been affected by cancer play a critical role in helping others to understand their experience, so that their insights can contribute to improved cancer research, education and clinical care.
Best practice consumer engagement is an important area of focus for the VCCC, and this month we welcome Joanne Britto, formerly information and communications manager at Cancer Council Victoria to the new role of consumer engagement manager, VCCC.
At the top of Joanne’s to-do list will be to implement the VCCC Consumer Engagement Action Plan, co-developed by the VCCC Cancer Consumer Advisory Committee and endorsed by the VCCC Executive and Board. Joanne will take a lead role in developing systems, processes and resources to enable best practice consumer engagement in the day-to-day work of the VCCC and will work with VCCC staff and others to disseminate knowledge and resources developed as the Action Plan is implemented and evaluated.
Joanne says, “I am excited to join VCCC to work collaboratively with alliance members to effectively capture and embed the consumer in practice. With experience in developing and delivering engagement strategies across multiple stakeholders; researchers, health professionals and consumers, we can capitalise on the opportunities an alliance such as VCCC provides to transform consumers into engaged partners in health care.”
Joanne has a background in medical research and a PhD in neuroscience. Throughout her research career, she has been a strong advocate of public outreach heading the education program to enhance community awareness at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.
