Melanoma March 2016 is launched
2 February 2016
Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) officially launched the 2016 ‘Melanoma March’ initiative in Sydney today.
The launch event held at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth revealed plans for the new project that will receive funds from this year's Melanoma March campaign. Channel 7's Dr. Andrew Rochford hosted the event, with MIA"s new CEO Carole Renouf helping to get the campaign off to a flying start. Melanoma patient and author of Dear Melanoma Emma Betts also spoke passionately about the importance of research.
Professor Graham Mann, Research Director at MIA, explained how the Melanoma March campaign provides critical funding for an ambitious new project that will ultimately transform the way patients are treated by shining a research light on melanoma care.
Participating melanoma centres around the country will link databases, for the first time bringing together the key information about the treatment of their patients on a national scale. At present melanoma is only recorded by national cancer registries at the time it is initially diagnosed. Data suitable for research about the patients’ treatment and progress is currently only collected in a few specialist centres. This project seeks to expand this substantially and facilitate the appropriate combination of this invaluable information to provided new insights into treatment responses, especially with the less common forms of melanoma where our aggregated national experience will be so informative.
The world-leading ‘Big Data for Melanoma’ project will feature an online platform designed to engage with melanoma care, wherever it takes place.
“With melanoma cases still rising, it’s critical we find ways to keep improving the quality of care. Part of this challenge is to understand the real-world situation of melanoma across the country. This sort of clinical research register has not been attempted before in melanoma. It’s ultimately about improving patient care and saving lives,” MIA’s Research Director Professor Graham Mann said.
During the launch, MIA also updated progress on world-first research into treatment for melanoma brain metastases funded by money raised during the 2014 Melanoma March.
The ground-breaking ‘ABC Trial’, supported by Australia and New Zealand Melanoma Trials Group (ANZMTG), is comparing the use of various immunotherapies in patients with melanoma that has spread to their brain. Running since 2014, the study is showing promising early findings. Patients who once were given just months to live are now surviving longer than a year.
“It’s only early days, but so far we are seeing a tripling of life expectancy for some patients with melanoma that has spread to the brain. There are also added benefits because this kind of work is a world first. Everything we are using is unique – we’re developing new techniques to investigate and learn from the patients’ blood and tumour samples, together with much more advanced brain imaging, which is allowing us to stay at the forefront of research," MIA's Deputy Director Associate Professor Jonathan Stretch said.
Melanoma March events will be hosted in these 24 locations nationally from February 27–April 10, 2016:
VIC: Melbourne
ACT: Canberra
QLD: Bribie Island, Brisbane, Cairns, Coolangatta, Townsville
SA: Adelaide, Port Lincoln
NT: Darwin
WA: Bunbury, Karratha, Perth CBD, Rockingham
NSW: Bathurst, Bonny Hills, Forster Tuncurry, Gosford, Manly, Picton, Wagga Wagga, Western Sydney, Wollongong
TAS: Devonport.
For more information about Melanoma March please visit: www.melanomamarch.org.au.
Melanoma Patients Australia Symposium - Webinar 2
Join us at the 2nd Melanoma Patients Australia webinar 'Psychological Health & Wellbeing'.
City2Surf 2020
You're invited to be a C2S charity superstar, and together we can run over melanoma!
City2Surf 2020
Join in the fun of the virtual event, and together we can run over melanoma!
Top melanoma experts from MIA
Melanoma Institute Australia features prominently in the latest ‘Expertise in Melanoma’ world rankings, released by Expertscape.
Melanoma Supportive Care Needs research study.
Participate in our online survey and help us understand the support needs of melanoma patients and carers.
New data reveals long-term benefit of adjuvant therapy for Stage III melanoma.
New online melanoma risk calculators critical to saving lives
Clinicians and their patients now have access to three online risk calculators developed by researchers at Melanoma Institute Australia.
Professor Richard Scolyer receives University of Sydney Alumni Award.
MIA's Co-Medical Director Professor Richard Scolyer has received The University of Sydney Alumni Award for International Achievement.
Uniting together despite the distance
More than 120 MIA clinicians, researchers and staff came together online to share research highlights.
Professor Richard Scolyer recognised in The Pathologist's 2020 Power List.
For the 2nd consecutive year, MIA's Co-Medical Director Professor Richard Scolyer has been selected in the top 100 best, brightest, and most powerful advocates of pathology by The Pathologist.
Important Update: Masks required at Poche Centre
As of Monday 27th July all patients and carers/family members coming into The Poche Centre will be required to bring their own mask.
A Critical Nexus:The Clinician and the Researcher.
In a recent issue of Cancer Cell journal, Prof Georgina Long AO and Prof Richard Scolyer discuss the challenge of bringing together clinical work and scientific research to underpin successful cancer research.
New online calculator launched to determine risk of spread of melanoma
Clinicians around the world now have access to a new online calculator that predicts the risk that a patient’s primary melanoma has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Queen's Birthday Honour for Professor Georgina Long
Professor Long has been appointed as an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia (General Division) for distinguished service to medicine, particularly, to melanoma clinical and translational research, and to professional medical societies.
Danny's inspiring survival story
“I had a complete response within about six months. All of my tumours disappeared."
MIA in the spotlight at ASCO virtual conference
‘We are extremely proud of our ongoing contribution to the global effort to save lives from melanoma, with Dr Silva’s prestigious award proof that we continue to lead the way,'
Professor Richard Scolyer achieves h-index of 100
MIA's Co-Medical Director, Professor Richard Scolyer, has achieved a Google Scholar h-index of 100.
See how we connected at Melanoma March Virtual 2020
We know what Melanoma March means to our community, so when we had to cancel our physical events, we created Melanoma March Virtual so that everyone across Australia could still connect to honour loved ones and support each other.
Melanoma meets its match.
A must-read personal account by Garry Maddox in The Sydney Morning Herald of how immunotherapy is revolutionising melanoma treatment.
Next Steps for National Screening Program for Melanoma
On Friday, a publication that lays out the steps needed to find out if a systematic screening program for melanoma would benefit all Australians was published in the Australia & New Zealand Journal of Public Health.