Ep 3: Professor John Zalcberg

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

Listen to the episode as a podcast

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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.

More about Richard Vines

Richard is the co-Founder and Chief Executive of Rare Cancers Australia. He is Convener and Co-chair of the National Oncology Alliance, and Deputy Chair of Omico. Richard also serves as an associate investigator on several research projects and is a spokesperson for cancer patient advocacy issues in both Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

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