Cancer Research Program

The Cancer Research Program was formed in May 2014 in an effort to enhance the cancer research focus across the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine’s clinical and public health activities. The Program is led by Professor John Zalcberg, a medical oncologist and cancer researcher with over 20 years’ experience.

The Cancer Research Program primarily works to create and maintain clinical quality registries with a view to improving health care and patient outcomes. Within these registries, population-based data on diagnosis, treatment and outcomes is collected and assessed. The information is used to highlight variations in care, and is fed back to health services in benchmarked reports. By identifying areas for improvement, health services can implement changes to advance and streamline care.

The Cancer Research Program also includes a number of studies including randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that utilise established registry infrastructure and/or data, or relates to cancer-focused health services research. The Cancer Research Program is always looking to contribute to new research and encourages individuals interested in collaborating to contact the team at med-cancerregistries@monash.edu.

The Cancer Research Program enjoys a strong connection with health service providers, patient advocacy groups, and policy makers. It is working at multiple levels to try to streamline the development of new projects and encourage the integration of research into day-to-day clinical practice.