News

Cancer Council Australia’s Sally Birch Fellowship in Cancer Control 2009-2011 has been awarded to Associate Professor Gordon Howarth, of the University of Adelaide.

Associate Professor Howarth is researching innovative approaches towards managing the problem of chemotherapy-induced intestinal muscositis, and inflammatory bowel disease. 

Cancer Council Australia Chief Executive Officer, Professor Ian Olver, welcomed the announcement and flagged the importance of the research. “Supporting patients on therapy by reducing the side effects of treatment is important,” he said.  It reduces the burden of treatment and can improve treatment outcomes.” 

The Sally Birch Fellowship commenced in 2006 and is aimed at addressing current gaps in cancer control. The fellowship encompasses any intervention that will reduce the impact of cancer on the community, from primary cancer prevention to screening, diagnosis, treatment, support and palliative care. It is valued at $100,000 per annum for a period of three years.

The inaugural Sally Birch Fellowship was awarded in 2006 to Dr David Young, a social scientist with the VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control.

9 January: Cancer Council Australia extends its condolences to the family and friends of internationally acclaimed Australian soprano, Miss Deborah Riedel, who died yesterday after a 10-year battle with cancer. Miss Riedel was Cancer Council Australia’s first Ambassador, a role she embraced with great commitment.

In 2007, Miss Riedel organised a gala opera event for Cancer Council Australia at Sydney’s Town Hall, which involved pro bono performances from her and a number of Australia’s other leading opera performers. The event helped to raise cancer awareness among a number of Sydney’s leading business and political figures; its success typified the energy and conviction Miss Riedel brought to her role as our Ambassador.

We remain grateful for Miss Riedel’s important contribution to our work towards reducing the impact of cancer.

17 October: Cancer Council Australia president, Professor Ian Frazer has been awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. Professor Frazer created the first vaccine to protect women against cervical cancer.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd presented the annual $300,000 award to Professor Frazer at a Federal Parliament ceremony last night, 16th October, praising him for his contribution to women’s health. He said two vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, that prevented infection by the virus responsible for most cervical cancers were on the market, while others were in clinical trials.

Professor Frazer, a former Australian of the Year, said it was rewarding to work in a field aimed at finding ways to improve people’s lives. 

“Sometimes it seems almost impossible to believe that something we did all those years ago could have such a dramatic impact on so many people,” Professor Frazer said, “that down the track cervical cancer will be a very much rarer disease as a consequence.”

He also said he will put the prize money towards funding research at the University of Queensland, where he is based, in the hope that the philanthropic sector will be led by example to increase their support for biomedical research.

As part of the prize, Professor Frazer will become a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council.  Policy issues he wants to highlight include the need for greater research funding, and ensuring more young people learn how science benefits the community.

Read more about the prize on the Prime Minister's website: http://www.pm.gov.au/media/Release/2008/media_release_0557.cfm

27 August: Australian cancer expert, Professor David Hill, took on the mantle today (27 Aug) of President of the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) at the World Cancer Congress in Geneva.

The UICC is a powerful advocacy group with more than 300 member agencies including Cancer Council Australia, Cancer Research UK and the American Cancer Society.

Under Professor Hill’s leadership the UICC will drive a worldwide agenda, to improve cancer prevention and survival.

Professor Hill said governments around the world that focus on cancer prevention campaigns today could potentially save the lives of millions of people. “We have the knowledge today to reduce the cancer burden worldwide,” he said. 

“In Australia, cancer survival has increased significantly over the past two decades with 58 per cent of men and 64 per cent of females surviving beyond five years of their cancer diagnoses, If we compare this to the period from 1982-1986, only 41 per cent of men and 53 per cent of women were surviving five years after their cancer diagnoses.”

Professor Hill said that with more than seven million people worldwide dying from cancer and close to 11 million new cases diagnosed every year, the road to fighting cancer was a long one. However, there was a great opportunity to implement what we already knew about cancer and improve the worldwide cancer survival.

“So much of the cancer burden is dependent on people’s behaviour or lifestyles,” he said. “One’s decision to avoid smoking, be SunSmart, reduce alcohol intake, eat a nutritionally balanced diet, exercise regularly and participate in vaccination programs can significantly impact the cancer burden.”

The Cancer Council is pleased to announce its new Hepatitis B Guide: B Positive - all you wanted to know about hepatitis B: a guide for primary care providers. This monograph is a  collaboration between Cancer Council NSW and the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM), that provides GPs and other health care providers with easy-to-access information for managing patients with hepatitis B.

This valuable and comprehensive new resource contains information about epidemiology, virology, natural history, prevention, clinical assessment, laboratory assays, diagnostic strategies, and issues concerning occupational health, confidentiality, and the law. It is aimed at all health professionals for whom hepatitis B may impact on their vocational role.

Hepatitis B infection is the most common cause of liver cancer worldwide. Liver cancer incidence in Australia will continue to rise, due to the patterns of immigration and the long latency period between acquisition of the infection and the onset of malignancy.

Primary care practitioners can play key roles in disease management. Significant improvements in disease outcomes can be achieved through screening for chronic infection, effective disease monitoring, timely institution of antiviral treatment and liver cancer screening in people at highest risk.

This book is the most up-to-date authoritative account of the topic and is practical and readable, and therefore appropriate for both health professionals and patients wishing to gain an understanding of the disease.

Download the new Hepatitis B Guide, B Positive - all you wanted to know about hepatitis B: a guide for primary care providers: http://www.ashm.org.au/b-positive/    

For further information, contact Monica Robotin, Medical Director, Cancer Council NSW:  monicar@nswcc.org.au or ph: 02 9334 1727.