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New data shines a light on problems and possibilities.
I’d always prefer to start an end-of-year message on a positive note but as I write this, it’s impossible to ignore that several of our major hospital emergency departments are overwhelmed once again. The combination of a fourth COVID wave and an accumulation of workforce pressures and shortages have led to another stressful end-of-year for our healthcare colleagues, and for patients too...
Creating formal links between the VCCC Alliance and regional cancer centres aim to formalise collaboration and cooperation on joint activities.
Grampians Health is the third regional site to sign on as a program partner in a move that spells significant boost for the reach of the VCCC Alliance.
Irene Deftereos, Asha Bonney and Wenxin Hu were presented with their awards at a ceremony hosted at the VCCC building on November 21 and attended by Prof McArthur and representatives of the Picchi Brothers Foundation.
The theme of this year’s COSA Annual Scientific Meeting – Equitable cancer care for all – offered a rare and unfiltered view into the raft of inequities still experienced by so many people.
Attending the conference on behalf of the VCCC Alliance was Jo Cockwill, Deputy Chair of the VCCC Alliance Cancer Consumer Advisory Committee (CCAC), and Wamba Wamba woman Melissa Sheldon, Consumer Representative on our Health Equity Steering Group.
We asked Jo and Melissa for their reflections on the conference.
Associate Professor David Kok is the Chair of the VCCC Alliance Cancer Education and Training Advisory Committee, Co-convenor of the Master of Cancer Sciences at the University of Melbourne, and a Radiation oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Equity up in lights as national priority
A key tenet of our Health Equity program is an explicit focus on addressing inequities in cancer care and outcomes for underserved populations.
The Australian Cancer Plan will unashamedly focus on equity in outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, says Chief Executive of Cancer Australia, Professor Dorothy Keefe.
The 2022 SKILLED Clinical Trial Assistant interns last month delivered their final presentations, signalling another welcome boost to Victoria’s clinical trials workforce.
A study led by VCCC Alliance Research and Education Lead for Genito-urinary Cancers, Associate Professor Niall Corcoran, aims to improve decision-making in prostate cancer treatment by conducting the largest genomically informed, prospective randomised trial in intermediate-risk patients ever undertaken.
It was impossible to miss the significance of health equity on the national agenda for cancer care at the 2022 COSA Annual Scientific Meeting.
Dr Keely Bumsted O’Brien is Head of the Scientific Education Office at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Department of Medical Biology at the University of Melbourne and a cancer consumer.
A world-class Parkville precinct to benefit all Victorians
I was thrilled yesterday to welcome the Hon Daniel Andrews MP, the Hon Jaala Pulford MP and the Hon Ben Carroll MP to the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre to make the second major health funding announcement in as many days.
Three promising PhD students from across the VCCC Alliance have been recognised with the 2022 Picchi Awards for Excellence in Cancer Research.
Since its launch in late 2019, the VCCC Alliance Consumer Engagement Toolkit has cemented its place as an important reference resource – now having been viewed over 20,000 times.
The VCCC Alliance is delighted to announce Albury/Wodonga Health and Bendigo Health as its first Regional Program Partners for the remainder of the Strategic Program Plan 2021-24 (SPP).
The VCCC Alliance Investigator-Initiated Trials (IIT) Toolkit reached new heights in FY 21/22, with traffic to the freely available digital asset showing strong growth in every key metric.
The VCCC Alliance is delighted to announce Kathleen Wilkins has joined its Cancer Consumer Advisory Committee (CCAC) as an Additional Member (Regional Victoria). Additional Members of CCAC are recruited to focus on identified needs of underserved groups, and Kathleen’s perspective of cancer care in a regional setting strengthens the breadth of experience on the committee.
Associate Professor Corcoran is a urological surgeon and research scientist with an interest in the molecular drivers of lethal prostate cancer and novel treatments. Find out what drives him, where he’s come from and his hopes for the future of cancer care.
Olivia Newton-John will be remembered for much by many, but for me it is difficult to look past her enormous contribution to cancer research as a measure of impact.
Olivia’s generosity and leadership in fostering world-class cancer research will not be forgotten, and she has given Victoria an incredible and lasting asset in the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute.
Over more than 20 years, Professor Jonathan Cebon worked alongside Dame Olivia Newton-John AC OBE. The two became good friends and he witnessed her journey as advocate, champion and ultimately, patient, of the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre.
Ms Jo Cockwill has been appointed the inaugural Deputy Chair of the VCCC Alliance Cancer Consumer Advisory Committee.
Since its inception in June 2022, the health equity program at the VCCC Alliance has gone from strength to strength. We are pleased to now be able to highlight some of our work on the VCCC Alliance website.
Dr Sarah Heynemann, a research fellow at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, says the wisdom of those with a cancer diagnosis is humbling and a sage reminder that healthcare support should not just be about surviving, but thriving.
A paper published in the Internal Medicine Journal and led by former VCCC Alliance Research and Education Lead, Haematology, Professor Constantine Tam, has standardised testing for patients with mantle cell lymphoma.
Groundbreaking research that is improving screening and diagnoses for liver cancer has earned Associate Professor Jessica Howell the Inaugural Tony Burgess Medal awarded by the VCCC Alliance.