The federal government will invest $5.9 million to establish a brain cancer research chair named after Tasmanian-born Professor Richard Scolyer, who is battling the same aggressive disease he now studies.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the Richard Scolyer Chair in Brain Cancer Research at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse in Sydney on Wednesday.
Professor Scolyer, 2024 Australian of the Year, was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2023 and became the first person worldwide to receive experimental treatment adapted from his own melanoma research.
“Australia does have problems with cancer, particularly brain cancer,” Professor Scolyer said at Parliament House.
“It’s the commonest cancer causing death in less-than-40-year-olds in Australia.”
The longtime melanoma researcher said brain cancer survival rates remain stuck where melanoma once was.
Fifteen years ago, stage four melanoma had the same survival rates as brain cancer today, he said, but new treatments now see 60% of advanced melanoma patients survive.
“We’ve got to try and push things forward in brain cancer,” he said. “More people die of brain cancer than die of melanoma.”
The new funding will support a professorial chair, postdoctoral fellows, research assistants and PhD scholarships at the Sydney facility, in partnership with the University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Scolyer admitted his own journey has been gruelling, with several tumour recurrences since diagnosis. “To be honest, it’s a tough journey up and down,” he said.
Chris O’Brien Lifehouse executive director Gail O’Brien said the chair would leverage Professor Scolyer’s illness “to do good for people”, echoing the facility’s namesake who also died from brain cancer.
True to form, the humble Tasmanian resisted the honour. Albanese noted he was “still saying it shouldn’t really be named after me” moments before the announcement.
The chair is expected to keep Australia at the forefront of brain cancer treatment while training the next generation of world-class researchers.
