A long career in gastrointestinal oncology

Abstract

John R Zalcberg speaks to Stella Bennett, Commissioning Editor: Professor John Zalcberg was the Director, Division of Cancer Medicine, at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia for 17 years. In 2014, he took up the position of Head of the Cancer Research Program in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University where he is involved in setting up a number of national clinical quality registries in cancer. After earning a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Melbourne he did a PhD in cancer immunology. He is immediate past Chair of the Board of the Australasian Gastrointestinal Trials Group after serving in this role for over 15 years. He is the current Co-Chair of the Cancer Drugs Alliance, an organization which advocates for improved access to new cancer drugs for patients and also the Chair of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance. This organization is involved in advocating for embedding clinical research into routine clinical practice in order to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. He is also a Board Member of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. A past Board Member of the NSW Cancer Institute, past President of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, and a past Member of the Consultative Council of the Victorian Cancer Agency, he has received a Medal of the Order of Australia Award, the 2011 Cancer Achievement Award from the Medical Oncology Group of Australia and the 2014 ‘Tom Reeve Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cancer Care’ from the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia. Professor Zalcberg’s clinical research interests include gastrointestinal cancer and healthcare outcomes. He was a Principal Investigator for the EORTC advanced GIST trial in Australia, remains active in numerous trials in gastrointestinal malignancies and continues an active clinical practice in gastrointestinal cancer. He has published more than 240 articles in peer-reviewed journals.