The Great Debate

A/Professor Kate Burbury is a consultant haematologist, Director of Digital and Healthcare Innovations and Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre. Kate is the lead for Digital health, healthcare innovations, healthcare research and implementation, and the strategy for building our regional partnerships around Victoria and interstate. She is also the lead clinician for MPN/CML, as well as the haemostasis/ thrombosis service and peri-procedural optimisation, including prehabilitation.

Kate has an active translational research and clinical trial portfolio and actively involved in the development of expert guidelines and governance structures both for the institution as well national and international expert groups. Kate has published numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts, as well as being a member of the editorial board and an invited reviewer for numerous journals. She has an extensive list of presented abstracts, as well as an invited expert speaker at national and international scientific meetings.

Margaret has a background in business development, fundraising, health promotion, peer support and project management, moving from engineering and managed services to the NFP sector after having children.

Her latest work at Red Nose was the development and delivery of a $1.3mil pilot program called Hospital to Home implemented with five hospitals across Australia. The program delivers peer support and navigation to bereaved parents in the acute stages of grief following a stillbirth or neonatal death, with support provided by outreach workers with lived experience.

Margaret is a passionate consumer advocate and was a faculty member of Safer Care Victoria’s Safer Baby Collaborative. She also provides personal insight as a carer and consumer on Eastern Health’s Rainbow eQuality working group and Peter Mac’s United Colours of Us Diversity and Inclusion working group, and is a Board Director for Transcend Australia.

My name is Joanne Hickman and I am 49 years of age. I am married with two adult children and have a career in nursing working primarily in the disciplines of cardiac care and now immunisation as Nurse Unit Manger for Monash Immunisation, which is a hospital based immunisation service for high risk patients. In 2017 I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Being on the other side and receiving care made me realise that the lived experience of being a patient is an essential part of delivering a health service. In 2019 after a year of navigating my new “normal” I became involved with Peter Mac as a consumer representative. I sit on various committees, one of which is the Community Advisory Committee and also participate in other projects as they present. I also have recently commenced a part time role with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute as Consumer Engagement Manager for the Centre of Health Analytics whist job sharing my NUM role.

As digital health is upon us, I look forward to the Great Debate around the challenges and benefits of its presence.

Dr Mahesh Iddawela is an oncologist at Alfred Health and Latrobe Regional Hospital.

He has a special interest in genitourinary, Breast cancer, Gynaecological cancer and melanoma.

Dr Iddawela completed his medical oncology training at Cambridge University, UK. He also completed a PhD at Cambridge University investigating role of precision oncology in breast cancer and then working as a Consultant at Cambridge University Hospital. Since moving to Australia, he has been actively involved in cancer survivorship, precision oncology and service development. His research has been presented at many local and international meetings and published in journals such as Nature communications, Lancet Oncology and British Journal of Cancer.

Kalinda is a Yawuru woman of Broome, born and living in Darwin, Australia. Sheis an early career Scientia Lecturer at the Centre for Big Data Research in Health at UNSW and Research and Education Lead for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. Kalinda is an epidemiologist who has worked in the research sector for over 20 years.Her interest is in empirically addressing complex health disparities in populations through existing data. Kalinda’s innovative research focuses on Indigenous Data Governance, the measurement of health disparities, improving cancer services and outcomes as well as building health research capabilities in regional and remote Australia.
Dr Griffiths is on the steering committee for the Indigenous Data Network in Australia and holds a number of national and international committee roles, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics Health Surveys Advisory Group, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Indigenous Statistical and Information Advisory group as well as the Clinical Advisory Group of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program and the International Group for Indigenous Health Measurement.

Kalinda holds a Certificate III in Laboratory Techniques, Bachelor of Biomedical Science, Master of Public Health and a PhD in Cancer Epidemiology. Dr Griffiths also holds honorary positions at the University of Melbourne and Menzies School of Health Research and is also Deputy Editor of the Health Promotion Journal of Australia.

She is the recipient of a number of awards. Notably, she was awarded the ‘Northern Territory Young Australian of the Year’in 2011 and more recently, the 2019 Lowitja Institutes ‘Emerging Researcher Award’. She was also a 2019-2021 Science and Technology Australia ‘Superstar of STEM’ and is currently the Australian Health Promotion Associations‘Thinker in Residence’.

Dr Craig Underhill is Director of Cancer Services at Albury-Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre; Clinical Director, Hume Regional Integrated Cancer Services and Regional Oncology Lead for the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC).

He is conjoint Associate Professor at the University of NSW Clinical School in Albury. After training in Melbourne and working as a research fellow at Guys Hospital London and Ludwig Institute Melbourne Dr Underhill helped develop a medical oncology service in Albury-Wodonga and established an independent not-for-profit Clinical Trials Unit (Border Medical Oncology Research Unit) which has twice been awarded NSW Premier’s Award for Innovation in Cancer Clinical Trials.

Dr Underhill has worked to develop clinical and research partnerships with the public and private sector to improve access to cancer services for regional patients.

As the VCCC Regional Oncology Lead he advocates for the increased access to clinical trials for regional Victorians and leads the VCCC teletrials program. This program has operationalised teletrial methodology (also known as decentralized clinical trials). He is leading a research program awarded by the Australian Government over 5 years to implement teletrials and conduct health services research via telehealth.

Dr Ben Smith is a Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellow at theIngham Institute and University of New South Wales, Medicine & Health.Ben’s research aims to ensure equitable access to high quality evidence-based survivorship care for all people living with cancer. He has a particular interest in digital health interventions and fear of cancer recurrence.