Radio Rare

Professor Grant McArthur
Executive Director, VCCC Alliance
Head of the Molecular Oncology Lab, Peter Mac

Thinking big: how we can make a difference for patients

In this episode, RCA Chief Executive Richard Vines speaks to Professor Grant McArthur about:

· The challenges of personalising cancer treatment

· How the moon landing sparked a career in medicine

· Why he chose to specialise in cancer, and melanoma

· What gets him out of bed in the morning, and what drives him

· The vision of the VCCC, and how it came about

· Why he moved from a full-time research and clinical role to a leadership position

· The sensitivities around prescribing medications that are not PBS funded

· The gaps between published evidence, TGA approval and PBS listing

· Ideas on how to speed up patient access to life-extending and life-saving treatment

· The challenges and opportunities of developing combination treatments

· How we can continue to improve cancer outcomes in the next 10 years

More about Professor Grant McArthur
Grant is the Executive Director of the VCCC Alliance, a powerful partnership of 10 leading research, academic and clinical institutions, working together to fundamentally reshape the way we tackle cancer. Grant is also Head of the Molecular Oncology Lab at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, and a highly cited melanoma researcher.

Emeritus Professor Ian Frazer
University of Queensland

The future of cancer and medical research

In this episode, RCA Chief Executive Richard Vines speaks to Professor Ian Frazer about:

• Inventing the technology behind the world’s first cancer vaccine
• Vaccine hesitancy, and the potential of other vaccines for cancer
• What makes the Translational Research Institute so special
• The interface between clinicians, scientists and patients in medical research
• Our expanding understanding of cancer and targeted treatment
• The experience of being Australian of The Year, and what he’s working on now
• How the Medical Research Future Fund works
• The alleged brain drain of medical researchers from Australia
• The need to better embed medical research into the health system
• How he sees medical research benefiting patients in 10 years’ time

More about Emeritus Professor Ian Frazer

Ian and his colleague co-invented the technology behind the world’s first cervical cancer vaccine.

He is the founding CEO of the Translational Research Institute in Brisbane, heads a biotechnology company working on new vaccine technologies, and chairs the advisory board of the Medical Research Future Fund.

Ann Single
Patient Voice Initiative

Improving the patient voice in the Australian health system

In this episode, RCA Chief Executive Richard Vines speaks to Ann Single about:

- The limitations of Australia’s Health Technology Assessment (HTA) process
- How and why the HTA process needs to be framed from a patient perspective
- Australia’s perception of ‘value’ as it applies to health versus other areas like defense
- The need to embrace uncertainty and speed up patient access to cancer treatments
- Why she finds HTA fascinating and why she’s optimistic about the HTA Review
- What she’s learned from 20 years of working with patients
- Improving the patient voice in the Australian health system
- Why she moved from journalism to science communication

More about Ann Single
Ann is Coordinator of the Patient Voice Initiative, an association that works towards improving the patient voice in the Australian health system. She has more than 20 years of experience in developing policy and practice in patient involvement in health technology assessment, or HTA. Ann is Chair of the HTAi Interest Group for Patient and Citizen Involvement in HTA and has been selected as a consumer representative on the Australian Government’s HTA review.

Professor John Zalcberg
Head, Cancer Research Program, School of Public Health, Monash University
 
Our responsibility to patients who can’t afford to wait

In this episode, RCA Chief Executive Richard Vines speaks to Professor John Zalcberg about:
- How he was destinated to be in medicine since childhood
- Why he chose to specialise in cancer care
- The challenges around making clinical trials more ‘ambitious’
- How wealth impacts your access to cancer drugs in Australia
- How the cost of drugs to the community trumps urgent provision to patients
- The challenges of working within the current health system
- Ideas to help speed up critical access to treatment
- The untapped potential of patient data

More about Professor John Zalcberg
John was Director of Cancer Medicine at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for 17 years, as well as their Chief Medical Officer for six. He is highly regarded both nationally and internationally as a leader in his field, is a mentor to some of the most accomplished clinicians in Australia, and is a well-known advocate for patient access to new cancer drugs.  

#thoughtleaderseries

Carlo Montagner
Co-Founder and CEO, Specialised Therapeutics Australia

Risks and rewards: getting new medications into the hands of patients

In this episode, RCA Chief Executive Richard Vines speaks to Carlo Montagner about: 

• His move from psychology to pharma
• Building a strong foundation in the industry
• Founding STA with his wife
• The barriers to, and costs of, supplying drugs in Australia
• How the process can be improved and simplified
• Accessing drugs not listed on the PBS
• The responsibility of clinicians around reimbursement
• The challenges and opportunities of Health Technology Assessment (HTA)
• Why STA is expanding into Asia
• His family’s personal experience with rare cancer
• Why he is passionate about bringing rare cancer drugs to Australia
• His vision for the future  

More about Carlo Montagner: Specialised Therapeutics Australia (STA) is a pharmaceutical company that has been instrumental in helping Australians living with rare cancer to access new medications that would otherwise be out of reach. Before co-founding STA, Carlo held senior roles at some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.  #thoughtleaderseries

Professor Shelley Dolan
Chief Executive, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

From Registered Nurse to Chief Executive

In this episode, RCA Chief Executive Richard Vines speaks to Professor Shelley Dolan about:

• Signing up as a nurse dressed in full punk rock gear, complete with pink hair
• Her love of intensive care and why she moved to cancer care
• Moving up the ranks from nurse to CEO
• What she’s learned, and continues to learn, from patients and their families
• Making your voice heard as a patient
• The challenges of being a nurse – and a woman – in a patriarchal system
• How Peter Mac works, access to drugs, and why it’s such a special place
• How we can improve access to clinical trials in rural and regional areas
• Her vision for the future

More about Professor Shelley Dolan

Shelley began her career as a registered nurse in the UK, rising through the ranks to become Deputy Chief Executive at one of the largest hospitals in Europe and also at Europe’s largest comprehensive cancer centre.

She has over 30 years of experience in healthcare, specialising in critical care and cancer nursing.

In the latest episode of the Radio Rare podcast, Clinical Nurse Specialists Julie and Giovanna from Cancer Council Victoria share how the turbulence of the last 18 months has affected people living with cancer, and what patients are most concerned about at the moment.

In the latest episode of the Radio Rare podcast, we chat to Rupert Saunders from headspace for an insight into what many young people are feeling in the wake of 18 months of constant changes and challenges. He also provides some tips and strategies for people of all ages who may be struggling to deal with the ongoing uncertainty.

We are living in extraordinary times, and uncertainty drives us to seek answers. It's easy to get swept away in a sea of conflicting information. In the latest episode of Radio Rare in our COVID Connect mini-series, we go back to basics with Professor Rhonda Stuart from Monash Health. Drawing on her extensive career in public health, she explains how the COVID-19 virus operates, how the vaccines work, and how both of these things can effect people living with cancer.

The impact of COVID-19 on our healthcare system has and continues to be significant. In our latest episode of Radio Rare in our COVID Connect mini-series, we take you into the hospital world and explore the NSW and Victorian experiences through the lens of two experts - Oncologist at Royal North Shore Hospital, Prof Nick Pavlakis and Director of Prevention and Wellbeing at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Geraldine McDonald.