Wilson Centre for Blood Cancer Genomics takes home the VCCC Alliance Outstanding Changemaker Award
19 November 2024
The Wilson Centre for Blood Cancer Genomics (Wilson Centre) at Peter Mac has been recognised with the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance’s (VCCC Alliance) Outstanding Changemaker Award.
The award, presented at the VCCC Alliance Awards ceremony on Tuesday 19 November, acknowledges the role of the Wilson Centre in transforming diagnostic testing for individuals with blood cancers. Under the leadership of Associate Professors Piers Blombery and David Westerman, the centre pioneered routine blood cancer gene panel testing to guide diagnosis and treatment of people with blood cancer.
Associate Professor Blombery, Clinical and Laboratory Haematologist at Peter Mac, said they had been providing gene panel testing since 2017 with the aim of improving care for patients and driving change in clinical practice to make genomic testing standard of care.
“The change in standard of care ultimately led to haematological malignancy gene panels receiving federal funding through Medicare,” he said.
“Our leadership in this area has demonstrated the necessity of this testing and it also ensured its accessibility to patients nationwide.
“We have trained visiting haematologists and scientists from around Australia to facilitate implementation of this testing locally.
“In this way, the Wilson Centre has championed change by continuously raising the bar for quality testing and personalised treatment of blood cancer.”
Professor Jayesh Desai, Acting Executive Director of Cancer Research, said that the Wilson Centre team demonstrated a strong commitment to collaboration and partnership, and significantly broadened the impact and reach of their work across the VCCC Alliance, the state of Victoria, and beyond.
“With the aid of generous philanthropic funding, the Wilson Centre has championed change through the full or partial subsidisation of genomic testing for patients around Australia, and through the education of clinicians to assist with informed decisions regarding diagnosis, prognosis, and management based on precise genomic data,” he said.
“We are recognised as the largest provider of blood cancer genomics testing in Australia, serving approximately 10,000 patients annually.
“This has fundamentally improved the way blood cancers are treated, providing patients with more targeted and effective care options, and setting a new benchmark for cancer care and research in Australia.”
More than 135,000 people in Australia are living with blood cancer today and close to 19,500 will be newly diagnosed each year.1
The Wilson Centre for Blood Cancer Genomics is generously funded by the Wilson Family through the Snowdome Foundation.