News

Range of initiatives now underway

Increasing clinical trials harmonisation and enhancing capability across alliance partner trial sites are key initiatives to improve benefits to patients and access to cancer clinical trials.

Imperative that the conference provides innovative content that reflects the breadth and depth of our partners and collaborators

The VCCC Research Conference provides a spotlight for Victorian cancer research discoveries, education achievements and clinical translation outcomes, as well as bringing together national and international experts.

I’m very pleased to wrap up the year with the news that the first cancer clinical trial implemented through the VCCC Teletrials Program has opened in Albury, Wodonga and Bendigo.

Helping Cancer Researchers Pinpoint The Issue

The Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) Translational Proteomic Facility is the first in Australia with the capability for protein-based assays that will complement the use of genomics in targeting cancer therapies.

The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre alliance with the University of Melbourne is coordinating a new Master of Cancer Sciences 

Course coordinator Dr David Kok, Radiation Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre shares his passion for the new educational program with researcher and potential student Helen Sehric.

New program to explore opportunities and collaborations

On Thursday 25 October, the Building Capability in Clinical Trials Program was kick-started at the Parkville Integrated Palliative Care Service.

Congratulations to 200th CCPhD student Narelle Keating

Last month the 200th student - Narelle Keating enrolled in the program, signifying a major milestone in networking and information sharing among emerging cancer researchers.

Last week I attended the inaugural Advances in Cancer Drug Discovery and Development Symposium, jointly presented by Cancer Therapeutics CRC - (CTx), Merck Sharpe and Dohme MSD,and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre alliance.

As I was preparing to attend the World Cancer Congress last week I was struck by the authenticity and relevance of a speech happening at another world forum.

As Australia’s only fully-fledged comprehensive cancer centre, our distributed leadership model is essential to a community that crosses institutional, organisation and expertise boundaries.

A new collaborative Centre for Cancer Immunotherapy

The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre alliance, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the University of Melbourne have partnered to create a new collaborative Centre for Cancer Immunotherapy.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Anna Boltong to the key leadership position of Associate Director

As the VCCC alliance accelerates efforts to deliver its $30 million Strategic Research Plan by 2020, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Anna Boltong to the key leadership position of Associate Director. This is a pivotal role providing strategic and operational oversight across the VCCC’s main portfolio areas, with particular focus on program quality and long-term sustainability.

The VCCC Consumer Engagement Action Plan will provide a comprehensive model and implementation plan to guide our efforts in this area. It draws on the Cancer Australia National Framework for Consumer Involvement in Cancer Control.

Investigator-initiated trials broaden opportunities and benefits to patients

The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre’s first Investigator-Initiated Trial Capacity Building support package has been awarded to Professor Geoff Lindeman.

The next generation of cancer research has been given a boost with three VCCC PhD students receiving this year’s Picchi Awards for Excellence in Cancer Research at an award ceremony on 9 July.

It has been inspiring to see so many partner organisations and individuals recognised with a variety of prestigious awards and accolades in the past month or so.

Immunotherapy is very much on the mainstream agenda this week as I return from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, with a number of headline stories making the news internationally.

Announcing five new VCCC Research & Education Lead

A foundation principle of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) is that, as an alliance, we are greater than the sum of our parts. Translating this into real-world practicality requires more than traditional collaboration. It demands strong, collegiate leadership and strategic, systematised ways of working across organisational boundaries and disciplines.

What if there was a new approach to clinical trials that addressed pragmatic clinical questions and was far more cost effective than traditional clinical trials?

And what if these trials could be conducted using ‘real world’ patients, rather than the selective populations often used in conventional clinical trials, thereby providing answers that could be readily applied to everyday clinical settings?

Dr Kylie Mason appointed new Chair of VCCC Cancer Education and Training Advisory Committee

As the VCCC alliance embarks on a period of rapid expansion and development, success relies on our ability to create and implement better ways of working together to overcome cancer. Such a complex and ambitious task requires strong and dedicated leadership across all aspects of our comprehensive cancer agenda.

I was reminded of the extraordinary workforce that exists across the alliance when visiting our partner organisations to share the VCCC Strategic Research Plan (SRP) this month.

A novel approach to better predicting breast cancer risk using mammography and collaborations

How do you calculate risk for breast cancer? Dr Kevin Nguyen from the University of Melbourne is developing better predictors of breast cancer risk, establishing novel ways of interpreting mammograms.

On the road to reaching a shared goal

Andrew Freeman, a researcher in cancer immunology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is the recipient of the inaugural Steer North VCCC PhD Research Scholarship.

On 22 March the US-Australia Cancer Moonshot Roundtable was held in Canberra. Professor Sean Grimmond from the Centre for Cancer Research at University of Melbourne and I attended with representatives from the US National Cancer Institute.