Private Cancer Physicians of Australia launches its debut Live MDT Masterclass with cancer care industry leaders

Sydney: The inaugural PCPA Live Multidisciplinary Teams (MDT) Masterclass in cancer treatment, was successfully launched this week, by the peak body for private cancer clinicians and its Strategic Alliance Partner, GenesisCare.

Under the leadership of PCPA Board member and leading GenesisCare Medical Oncologist, Professor Stephen Clarke and his colleagues, Dr Katrina Moore and Dr Sally Baron–Hay, healthcare leaders from Gilead Australia (Gilead) experienced, first-hand, what a day-in-the-life of a breast cancer patient, undergoing complex treatment, really entails for them and their MDT teams.

The two-day interactive Masterclass was held at the North Shore Campus in Sydney, which incorporates GenesisCare and Royal North Shore Hospital.

More than 15 cancer care industry leaders were immersed in the on-site application of surgical interventions, genomic profiling and ground-breaking medical and radiation oncology treatments. After a curated lecture series, participants engaged, first hand, with the Breast Cancer MDTs, through  a radiation oncology clinic, hospital pharmacy and a busy chemotherapy day suite. They even learnt insider tips about oncology cold caps that many patients opt to use to minimise hair loss.

“Our biopharmaceutical leaders rightly focus on the creation, data analytics and market access of new and innovative cancer therapies but we want them to truly understand the experience of Australian patients undergoing those very tests and treatments,” Professor Clarke said. “Physically joining the journey of a cancer patient, and their respective team of cancer clinicians and breast care nurses, not only deepens the empathy and appreciation of the daily challenges facing our patients but it ultimately leads to more effective collaboration between all of us, in this delicately balanced cancer care eco system.”

Professor Clarke and the PCPA Board, paid tribute to Gilead and its healthcare professionals, for ensuring the debut Live MDT Masterclass was a truly empowering experience, whilst showcasing the outstanding MDT healthcare professionals and facilities of the North Shore Campus.

One of the leaders in the Masterclass, Ms Lisa Perry, Senior Business Unit Director Oncology of Gilead agreed.

“Our team now has an exponentially better understanding of the full breast cancer patient experience because we have seen, first-hand, the multidisciplinary team approach across both campuses,” Ms Perry said. “We can’t thank the PCPA enough for this immersive experience that will, no doubt, help us to deliver better outcomes for patients.”

PCPA also applauded its Education Partners, ScienceToLife, for the design and smooth delivery of this unique education initiative.

“This bespoke PCPA MDT Masterclass underscored the importance of multidisciplinary teamwork, delivering the gold standard treatment for breast cancer patients in two world-class cancer care centres,” Professor Clarke said. END

NB: Full patient approval and confidentiality was maintained.

More details about the PCPA’s Strategic Alliance Partnership, and its immersive education platforms, can be found here

Media enquiries:

Jannette Cotterell. Executive Counsel Australia +419 204 059 jcotterell@executivecounsel.com.au

Download a copy of this Media Release in PDF.

About Us

The Private Cancer Physicians of Australia (PCPA) is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the improvement of the health system for all cancer patients, but particularly for private cancer patients in Australia.

Our mission is to promote and work towards a health system that provides high quality, fair, integrated cancer treatment

Cancer experts, patient advocates, industry and political leaders prepare to debate the true value of oncology

#Embracing the Challenge

Canberra. Australia is riding a wave of emerging innovative and ground-breaking diagnostic technologies and cancer treatments but how do Australian patients gain timely and affordable access to them when the Government is under pressure to reign in its health spending?

These are the pressing issues to be debated this weekend, at the Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the peak body for cancer clinicians, the Private Cancer Physicians of Australia (PCPA).

Government backbencher and breast cancer patient, Peta Murphy MP, will join the Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator the Hon Anne Ruston, leading oncology experts and patient advocates in Melbourne for the highly anticipated “Embracing the Challenge: Advancing Cancer Care” PCPA conference.

More than 170 medical and radiation oncologists, haematologists (Consultants and Advanced Trainees) and cancer nurses, will spend two days unpacking the latest cancer care developments, from precision medicine and molecular testing, Theranostics and CAR T-cell therapy to the importance of prehabilitation and optimising psychosocial and supportive care for patients.

Participants will be asked to consider “the true value of oncology” and when is the price of access is too high? CEO and founder of Rare Cancers Australia, Mr Richard Vines, will argue that more needs to be done to improve access and affordability to these exciting but expensive game-changing developments, such as Comprehensive Genome Profiling, that allows researchers to identify Australians with rare or untreatable cancers and direct them into clinical trials.

In a panel discussion on “empathy and access – why both matter’, delegates will hear the unique perspectives of politician-now-patient, Ms Murphy with her oncologist, Dr Richard de Boer.

Should oncologists offer the best and latest cancer care treatment, even if they believe it will put their patient under immense financial pressure? Joining this important debate will be the CEO of the Breast Cancer Network of Australia, Ms Kirsten Pilatti and Senator Ruston, who will also share her expectations of next week’s 2023-2024 Federal Budget.

President of the PCPA, Associate Professor Christopher Steer, said the 2023 ASM’s central themes of access and affordability were very timely, coming just days before the Government hands down its second Federal Budget.

“Australians with cancer, are already struggling with the soaring cost of living and they should not have to choose between their mortgage or rent and a life-saving diagnostic technology or treatment,” A/Professor Steer said. “We all need to come together and work closely with Government and the biopharmaceutical industry, to find a way over these existing barriers of unacceptable regulatory delays and increasing costs. Our patients deserve no less.”

More details about the PCPA ASM 2023 “Embracing the Challenge” can be found here.

Media enquiries:

Jannette Cotterell. Executive Counsel Australia +419 204 059 jcotterell@executivecounsel.com.au

Download a copy of this Media Release in PDF.