Dear colleagues,
As I write my final CEO message for the Alliance newsletter, it gives me great pleasure to welcome the incoming Chief Executive. Prof David Ashley was announced yesterday as my successor and I could not be more pleased that a great colleague, whom I have known since the early 1990s, and someone of such high calibre will lead the organisation into the future.
Professor Ashley, who will formally commence in May 2026, joins the alliance after eight years as Director of The Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center, at Duke University Medical Centre, North Carolina in the USA.
An Australian-trained paediatric and adult neuro-oncologist, Prof Ashley was Founding Director of the Children’s Cancer Centre at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH), served as Chair of Medicine at Deakin University, and was Executive Director of the Western Alliance Academic Health Science Centre, where he integrated research and education across multiple health services.
Prof Ashley will bring great enthusiasm and knowledge in cancer control to the role. I am also excited about what he can bring to the brain cancer program across our alliance members. Brain cancer has the potential to be an area for genuine breakthroughs in the foreseeable future, and I am sure we will continue to grow our world class program. Please join me in congratulating Prof Ashley.
Leading the alliance has been my greatest joy
I’ve been reflecting on what we have achieved together over the past nine years, how we have achieved it, and how it sets us up for future success to improve outcomes for all Victorians who experience cancer.
The growth in the engagement with people with lived experience, the focus on equity, driving new collaborations in research and clinical trials, and the number of people that have been through the Alliance’s education and training programs is simply outstanding. We’ve established a national, and in many respects, an internationally leading data linkage program that is Data Connect.
Bringing people together to overcome cancer together
What does it take to lead an organisation like the VCCC Alliance? We have 12 member organisations and many representatives from each on the Board, committees, working and steering groups, and our Research and Education Leads as part of the Clinical Translational Network that has grown to an impressively sizeable faculty.
Of course, there are challenges when dealing with a great number of equally important stakeholders. You start with a grand vision and then work out the path to achieve it. I’ve always found in the cancer sector the goodwill for better patient outcomes is strongly shared, and it’s about harnessing that incredible goodwill to achieve shared goals.
The alliance – what’s next
There is much more to be done. I’m pleased to report the alliance is well on the path of growing its impact right across Victoria. We've got some exceptional cancer research happening around this state including in the alliance and beyond. We need to ensure the benefit of that research is delivered in an optimal way to all Victorians. And that's going to be the future of the alliance – truly benefiting all those who experienced cancer in Victoria.
This was my vision when I took this leadership role in 2017 – that we could provide a scenario where no matter where you enter the health system, you can get the very, very best care – research-led care, strongly evidence-based care.
A focus on melanoma
While I step down as CEO of the VCCC Alliance, I remain dedicated to research in my field of expertise. I’m privileged to receive an NHMRC Investigator Grant to continue research programs focused on melanoma, which remains such an exciting field. We'll be using knowledge in basic cancer biology to develop new interventions to improve outcomes for patients.
However, I just love trying to do what I can for the cancer system. I want to make some contributions strategically to programs that are happening in melanoma that are very important from a cancer system point of view. One is being on the committee to revise the global staging system for melanoma. Melanoma Institute Australia is leading a new roadmap for targeted screening for early detection of melanoma, and I'm looking forward to contributing to that. I will continue to serve on the Boards at the Children's Cancer Co Lab and National Breast Cancer Foundation.
How cancer research and care has changed
I have felt incredibly privileged to have worked throughout my career in cancer discovery where in the early days we were trying to work out what cancer is, what makes it grow, then used that knowledge to develop new treatments. Although there is still a lot to discover, especially as we develop new technologies and tools to further decipher cancer, it is so satisfying to be able to work in an environment where the focus is increasingly how to take those innovations to patients and ensure that everyone can benefit.
I feel very privileged to have worked in an era where the focus of innovation in cancer has progressed from discovery to developing therapeutics to making sure that both therapeutics and innovation can be delivered in an equitable way for all. It's been lovely to have been a small part of that journey.
I look forward to cheering the VCCC Alliance on not from afar, but from nearby.
Prof Grant McArthur AO
Chief Executive Officer
