Discover the latest progress in cancer research, education and clinical care delivered by the VCCC Alliance.Subscribe now
Back in March 2020, we established the Victorian COVID-19 Cancer Network in collaboration with Monash Partners Comprehensive Cancer Consortium. Almost two and a half years on, the Taskforce is still meeting regularly and remains resolutely solutions-focused in how to best support our patients and our workforce. This month, in the midst of this surge, we are focused on three main things.
Dr Dishan Herath, MBBS, FRACP, has been appointed the new Chair of the VCCC Alliance Cancer Research Advisory Committee.
The VCCC Alliance Board is delighted to announce that Associate Professor David Kok has been appointed as the new Chair of the VCCC Alliance Cancer Education and Training Advisory Committee (CETAC).
How a consumer transitions away from committee duties has significant implications for both organisation and consumer, so how do we as a sector ensure this transition process is as smooth as possible for all involved?
The role of consumer representatives within the Australian healthcare system has evolved significantly over past decades, with quality partnerships benefiting the community and those involved in advancing cancer research, education and clinical care. So, what exactly is a consumer in the cancer context?
NAIDOC Week provides the perfect opportunity for us as a society to reflect, engage and be inspired by First Nations people. In equal measure it’s a chance for us to recalibrate and align our efforts in striving for greater equity in cancer care and outcomes.
This year’s theme of NAIDOC Week Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! calls for us to work collectively towards systemic change to support and secure institutional, structural, collaborative and cooperative reforms. I think this sentiment is directly transferrable into how we improve cancer care and outcomes for Indigenous people.
As we start another NAIDOC week, it is time to reflect and celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. This year’s theme acknowledges the history of sustained activism in this country.
From the frontier wars and our earliest resistance fighters to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities fighting for change today—we continue to show up. We cannot afford to lose momentum for change.
To celebrate NAIDOC Week, the VCCC Alliance hosted a special Monday Lunch Live centred on improving care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients with advanced disease.
An expert panel featuring Professor Gail Garvey (GG), Abe Ropitini (AR), Clare O’Reilly (CO) and consumer Leah Lindrea-Morrison (LLM) discussed the more practical side of improving palliative care for Aboriginal patients with cancer in line with the Victorian Aboriginal cancer journey strategy.
Sarcoma is a rare and complex cancer (malignant tumour) arising from the bone, cartilage or soft tissues such as fat, muscle, connective tissue or blood vessels. Sarcomas can form anywhere in the body and are frequently hidden deep in the limbs. They are often misdiagnosed as a benign (non-cancerous) lump, or as a sporting injury or growing pains in young people.
It’s impossible to acknowledge the recent federal election result without also recognising the huge opportunity that comes with a new government, new leaders, and new members of our national parliament. A new government brings an injection of fresh perspectives on the hill in Canberra and a new opportunity to influence the key policies and directions nationally for cancer.
Content from the online Master of Cancer Sciences, jointly facilitated by the University of Melbourne and the VCCC Alliance, has beaten out the likes of Microsoft and Harvard Business School to claim gold in the international 2022 Telly Awards.
The VCCC Alliance has been awarded the ARCS 2022 Innovation Award (Organisation) for the SKILLED Clinical Trials Internship Program. The award acknowledges an organisation which showed creativity, resolve and resilience to solve what seemed like intractable issues in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
A series of five interactive educational webinars has been developed by Professor David Wiesenfeld, VCCC Alliance Research and Education Lead for Head and Neck Cancer, to address key questions in the management and treatment of tongue cancer under a multidisciplinary lens.
In 2018, the VCCC Alliance, supported by funding from the Victorian Government, led an innovative program to enable broader access to cancer clinical trials across regional areas, unimpeded by geographical location and local healthcare architecture. Four years down the track, this has been a game-changer.
In the complex world of health care, even a highly promising new treatment or potentially transformational protocol can be stymied. Implementation science brings proven theories, models and frameworks to the table to scaffold and support new ideas and help make them a reality.
Over time, clinical trials have become increasingly complex, creating barriers like travel distance, narrow eligibility criteria and technical/logistical gaps. The emerging trial methodologies of registry trials and teletrials challenge these barriers.
Melbourne MicroCert scholarships have been awarded to an impressive cohort of cancer clinicians, researchers, clinical trial study coordinators, postdoctoral scientists and PhD students from VCCC Alliance member organisations and beyond.
No health without a health workforce
Today is International Nurses Day and the global theme - Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health - is a call to action to protect and elevate the profession for the benefit of us all. Florence Nightingale - considered to be the founder of modern nursing, was born on this day in May 1820.
Something that has always stood out for me is Nightingale’s place in history as a nurse scientist. She was a prodigious leader and an advocate for evidence-based healthcare, collecting and using data to carry out her system-changing work. Long before the age of infographics, she communicated her ideas through charts and diagrams, making data accessible and persuasive.
VCCC Alliance Chair, Emeritus Professor Linda Kristjanson
When I was nine years old, my Icelandic grandmother (Amma), gave me a book for Christmas called Nurses Who Led the Way. That treasured and tattered book has travelled with me across continents.
There are no accounts of women in starched uniforms or obedient handmaidens. These are stories of spirited nurses who cared for the dying, healed shattered soldiers, improved sanitation, and reformed health care.
Trevor Saunders, Clinical Nurse Educator, Academic Nursing Unit at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Trevor Saunders has been leading a committee to refresh Peter Mac’s Professional Practice Model and will be sharing insights at the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia 24th Annual Congress in June.
Health care delivery has changed enormously over the course of this century with increasing complexity, rising costs, inequities in access, the increasing burden of chronic illnesses and health professional workforce shortages.
Professor Meinir Krishnasamy, Director, Academic Nursing Unit, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the VCCC Alliance Research & Education Lead, Cancer Nursing.
The theme of this year’s International Nurse’s Day - Nurses: A Voice to Lead - invest in nursing and respect rights to secure global health - demands an investment be made in nursing to secure equity of opportunity for health - for all people wherever they are and whatever their circumstances. To achieve this, the voice of nurses and nursing must be strengthened at hospital, community, and policy levels.
Andrew Dimech, acting Chief Nurse at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Board member of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care.
Since its establishment in 1984, the vision of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC) has been to lead the global nursing community in cancer control, with a mission to maximise the influence of nursing to reduce the global burden of cancer.
VCCC Alliance brand awareness campaign
Have you seen our new VCCC Alliance brand awareness campaign popping up in your social media feeds or on medical news sites?
Last week we launched our first brand awareness campaign: ‘Introducing the VCCC Alliance’ to counter lingering confusion about what we are (a building? a precinct? a new name for Peter Mac? – hint, none of those). The aim is to improve understanding of who is part of the alliance, and our place in the cancer medical research and health system.
Clinical trials: a win-win for patients and the workforce
It is widely accepted that clinical trials medicine is good medicine, but with the ever-increasing scale and complexity of trials in Australia, how can we as a cancer workforce ensure as many patients as possible have access to participate?
To support the capacity building required in emerging methodologies, the VCCC Alliance has adopted a coordinated approach that addresses the needs of consumers, clinicians and sites.
Award recognises a collective effort for cancer research
The Committee for Melbourne’s prestigious 2022 Melbourne Achiever Awards were announced last night, 11 May, with Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and VCCC Alliance jointly awarded the organisational award for an outstanding contribution to Health and Research.
The awards were presented to our executive director Professor Grant McArthur and Professor Shelley Dolan, Chief Executive of Peter Mac, by Her Excellency the Honourable Linda Dessau AC, Governor of Victoria and Committee for Melbourne Patron.