Governance and Structure || Purpose || Achievements || Multidisciplinary Clinics || Clinical Trials
The Princess Alexandra Hospital Cancer Collaborative Group was formally established in May 2002 under the aegis of the Princess Alexandra Hospital Centres for Health Research. In 2003, the Cancer Collaborative Group was awarded a grant worth $2 million dollars by the Queensland Cancer Council.
The Cancer Collaborative Group is a collaborative network of university and hospital basic science and clinical investigators working together to enhance scientific and translational capabilities in the field of cancer research and patient care. The Cancer Collaborative Group encompasses nurses, allied health professionals, solid tissue and haematological oncologists, surgeons from a variety of disciplines, radiation oncologists and biomedical scientists. Since its inception in 2002 the Cancer Collaborative Group has enhanced cohesion with respect to cancer research on the campus and has provided an opportunity to modify current institutional practice to better integrate research into clinical practice. Communication between people involved in cancer research and care has been facilitated through a program of research seminars spanning the range of cancer research being undertaken on the campus and through informal and structured meetings. The Cancer Collaborative Group has also been very successful in helping to establish new collaborations between different investigators and particularly between clinicians and laboratory scientists which have led to submissions for research funding eg in relation to bone cancer.
The Cancer Collaborative Group is run by a management committee, chaired by Dr Devinder Gill. The Centres for Health Research provides the administrative infrastructure.
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Dr Devinder Gill is currently both the Chair of the Cancer Collaborative Group and the Director of Clinical Haematology and Research Fellow (Diamantina Institute) at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. Previous to this Dr Gill was a lecturer in Haematology at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, University of London, UK. Dr Gill’s research is focused around leukaemia’s, lymphomas and Myeloma’s. As chairman of the CCG he aims to use the Cancer Collaborative Group as a way in which to strengthen translational research and establish databases for malignancies. PA-RESEARCH@health.qld.gov.au
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Dr Porceddu is currently Senior Radiation Oncologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia, and Associate Professor with the University of Queensland, School of Medicine. His main clinical and research interest is in the field of Head and Neck Cancer. Publications include work on the utility of PET, chemo-radiotherapy and conformal radiotherapy in head and neck cancer.
He currently sits on a number of boards including the Radiation Oncology Faculty Board of the Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, Trans Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG) and the Australian and New Zealand Head and Neck Society. He sits on the scientific committees of TROG, ANZ Head and neck society and the Australian Sarcoma Trials Group. A/Professor is currently on the National Committee reviewing the guidelines for the management of skin cancer and the Cancer Australia Head and Neck National Reference Group. He has convened a number of major cancer conferences in Australia and is currently the principal investigator of several head and neck trials including a Phase III international multicentre trial using post-operative chemo-radiotherapy in advanced head and neck skin cancer. Dr Porceddu is the holder of several competitive research grants and has an active role in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.
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Alex Guminski is a medical oncologist with a research interest in the mechanisms of chemotherapy drug resistance. Following clinical training he completed a PhD through Sydney University and undertook post-doctoral research in Oxford, UK, prior to joining Oncology Services at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in 2004. His clinical interests include head and neck cancer, lung cancer, breast and gastro-intestinal malignancies. He is currently supported by the PA Hospital Cancer Collaborative Group via a Practitioner Fellowship and by the Department of Medical Oncology. He is currently pursuing a project investigating novel biological approaches for treating head and neck cancer within the laboratory of A/Prof Nicholas Saunders in the Diamantina Institute located on the PA Hospital campus.
Alexandra McCarthy holds a joint appointment with Southern Area Health Service Cancer Clinical Network as Senior Research Fellow, and Queensland University of Technology as Senior Lecturer, Postgraduate Strand Co-ordinator Cancer Nursing, School of Nursing. Alexandra currently sits as a member of the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia (CNSA), and chairs the CNSA Education Committee. She is also a long-standing member of CNSA's Research and Grants Committee and the Editorial Board of the Australian Journal of Cancer Nursing. Her main area of practice is in acute and palliative cancer care, specialising in chemotherapy administration in rural and metropolitan settings. Alexandra's research agenda includes projects examining the late effects of cancer therapies; issues of quality of life and behavioural risk in cancer survivorship; and symptom management, including pain, fatigue and oral mucositis.The Cancer Collaborative Group was formed to foster internal and external research collaborations and to capitalise on the unique resources of the Princess Alexandra Hospital campus for the benefit of people with cancer. The Princess Alexandra Hospital has a large, highly developed cancer service operating in a sophisticated modern hospital with an expert staff. There is a strong tradition of basic and clinical research with a record of success in research translation.
The Cancer Collaborative Group was formed to foster and further enhance the research capability, foster internal and external research collaborations and to capitalise on the unique resources of the campus for the benefit of people with cancer.
An important feature of cancer care at the Princess Alexandra Hospital is the existence of combined clinics involving nurses, allied health professionals and oncologists, surgeons and radiation oncologists. Theses clinics have successfully taken place for approximately the past 15 years. Clinics are established in Melanoma, Upper GI, Germ Cell, Colorectal, Pancreatico-biliary, Head and Neck, Breast, Bone and Soft Tissue, Lung, Lymphoma, Myeloma, Leukaemia, Pituitary and others.
Clinical Trials are research studies which test new and better ways of improving health in patients.
In Cancer, trials look to:
For the Cancer Collaborative Group, Clinical Trials form a significant part of the research basis upon which the departments, centres and units work. It is therefore very important for the Cancer Collaborative Group to create a sustainable future for Clinical Trials. Please see the link below to be able to find out more about the Cancer trials previously undertaken at the Princess Alexandra Hospital Sites.
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© The State of Queensland (Queensland Health) 2008.