“What worked in melanoma can work in brain cancer”
At the recent 2025 Andrew Olle Lecture, our Director of Neurosurgery Professor Lindy Jeffree addressed the audience in her capacity as Chair of Brain Cancer Australia National Consortium.
“I came to neurosurgery because I wanted to make a difference to people, and because there’s nothing cooler than operating on a human brain,” Prof Jeffree said.
“For a long time, I believed that it was enough to treat patients and to teach the next generation of neurosurgeons.
“But it isn’t.”
Highlighting the transformative contribution to melanoma cancer research by world-leading pathologist Professor Richard Scolyer – also in attendance – Prof Jeffree said similar advances must be made in brain cancer research.
“What worked in melanoma can work in brain cancer,” Prof Jeffree said.
“They built the right infrastructure — systems to enrol patients in trials, collect specimens, and generate data — and because they had the philanthropic support to make it happen.
“When you get the fundamentals right, you give researchers and clinicians the resources they need to improve care and deliver more brain cancer breakthroughs — faster.”
Read the full speech here.
