At St Vincent’s, our holistic cancer care is delivered across the campus and centred around The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, a world-class research facility providing innovative cancer treatment and care.
Philanthropy is central to St Vincent’s Cancer Services, exemplified by our long-term partnership with the NELUNE Foundation, established by Nelune Rajapakse AM and Anna Guillan AM. Since 2008, they have supported major initiatives including the establishment of the St Vincent’s NELUNE Men’s Health Centre – a first-in-state facility for comprehensive prostate cancer treatment and care, officially opened in November 2024.
In the past two years, the PAYCE Foundation has funded the replacement of our Optia Apheresis machines, which are crucial for blood cancer treatment. These cellular therapy machines perform up to 400 treatments a year, including 300 plasma exchanges, and collect stem cells for bone marrow transplants used at St Vincent’s and other hospitals worldwide.
The Myeloma Clinical Trials program led by Dr Georgia McCaughan in partnership with the Garvan Institute, has been facilitated by significant donations from David Beak and Tour de Cure. International links have been established with the esteemed Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, through the visionary support of James and Amelia Symond.
The success of one of these donor-facilitated clinical trials – the repurposing of osteoporosis drug Romosozumab to combat the brittle bones symptoms of myeloma, has recently led to a $1.1 million international grant, allowing it to grow and benefit more patients.
This trial will be overseen by the recently appointed ZAMASA Myeloma Research Fellow, Dr Betty Gration. ZAMASA isa research foundation established by myeloma patient the late Greg Arandt, whose vision was to accelerate research into novel therapies in the treatment of multiple myeloma, particularly emerging immunotherapies.
Support from the ZAMASA Foundation continues to push forward this lifechanging research fellowship, which began in 2020. We thank our supporters for helping St Vincent’s continually advance cancer treatments, benefitting patients worldwide.