Cabrini Scientific Advisory Committee

Message From The Chair

The ability to coalesce brilliant minds, from disparate areas, on particular problems has seen clinical and scientific advances proceeding at an unprecedented rate. There is no better example of this than the international response to COVID-19, with the time between the discovery and international rollout of multiple vaccines measured in months not years.

Stimulated by this, Cabrini has embarked on a new era for its research agenda through the formalisation of a partnership with the Monash University Sub-Faculty of Translational Medicine and Public Health, based at The Alfred precinct. Links between Cabrini and the Central Clinical School (CCS) (one of the two schools that make up the Sub-Faculty, with the other being the School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine (SPHPM)) are long-standing in the medical education area, where Cabrini has played an integral role in Monash medical student training as a node of the CCS. Student feedback from Cabrini students has been overwhelmingly positive over many years, with leadership from Associate Professor David Brewster and outstanding contributions from Emeritus Professor Adrian Polglase and Dr Robert Stanley, to name two of many dedicated clinical teachers at Cabrini. Extension of this partnership into the research arena was seen as a natural progression, fortified by many clinical appointees that are shared between the two organisations.

Although Monash has had a research presence at Cabrini for a long period through the auspices of Professor Rachelle Buchbinder AO and Professor Paul McMurrick, amongst others, as well as the involvement of Monash in the administrative management of the extensive Cabrini clinical trial portfolio, which has been enhanced through a strengthened relationship over the last year, formalisation of the relationship was lacking. This has now been redressed with the establishment of Cabrini Research as a recognised department within the CCS. Led by the Group Director Cabrini Research, Professor Gary Richardson OAM, strong links between numerous clinical departments at Monash, The Alfred and Cabrini are emerging. As an exemplar, Professor Constantine Tam, one of Australia’s leading clinical haematologists, based in the CCS at The Alfred, has recently been appointed to work in concert with Cabrini haematologists to expand clinical trials in a range of blood cancers. Another shared resource has been the involvement of Professor Jayashri Kulkarni AM, Professor of Psychiatry in the CCS, in the establishment of the Lisa Thurin Women’s Health Centre at Cabrini. This is Australia’s first private, women’s only mental health hospital and will provide patient care and education, and foster research.

Many other partnerships are planned, not only in shared human resources, but also for research platforms, such as genomics. For Cabrini, the largest provider of private cancer treatment in Australia, genomics capabilities are essential, providing the critical bridge between diagnosis and precision-based treatment approaches. The CCS, with advanced capabilities in genomics, in equipment, data management and interpretation, and the recently established genetic counselling service, are a logical ally for the advancement of this Cabrini ambition – with Cabrini patients the beneficiaries, gaining access to state-of-the-art, personalised treatment approaches for a wide variety of cancers. The advantages of an embedded research culture within a health service are numerous. In the clinical trial arena, it provides free access to the latest medicinal and device advances that frequently re-write patient outcomes. It brings evidence-based care to the forefront, minimising valueless, and sometimes detrimental, interventions and prioritising proven clinical approaches. It also enriches the workforce, as many clinicalacademic leaders are excellent researchers, but also at the very pinnacle of their clinical disciplines. With this comes reputational enhancement, where the health service becomes a destination of choice, not only for a quality workforce at all levels, but for patients who gravitate to the leaders in their fields. The Alfred epitomises this philosophy, recently being recognised as Australia’s premier academic health service.

Oversight of this new research initiative is well structured through the formation of a Cabrini Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC), consisting of the brightest research minds from multiple clinical disciplines that Monash and Cabrini have to offer. Working closely with the Cabrini Research Committee chaired by Professor David Copolov AO, Prof Richardson and Cabrini clinician and academic researchers, the SAC will help chart the future for Cabrini Research ensuring it is responsive to its patients’ needs. I foresee that, with strong support from the Cabrini community, the hospital will be the leading research-intensive private hospital in Australia and competitive internationally.

It is a bright future for the gold-standard of evidence-based care at Cabrini.

Professor Stephen Jane Chair, Cabrini Scientific Advisory Committee