The institute’s new Impact Strategy 2025–2029 and John Brumby Impact Fund will fuel the next wave of patient-driven cancer research.
The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) today launches its new Impact Strategy 2025–2029, a five-year plan to drive the development of more effective, more tolerable, and more accessible diagnostics and cancer therapeutics.
The new strategy strengthens ONJCRI’s bedside-to-bench-to-bedside research model to ensure that learnings from the clinic and the real-world experience of patients influence research projects undertaken in the laboratory.
ONJCRI will place a greater focus on precision medicine to develop more personalised cancer treatments, and conduct research that generates new knowledge that can be applied to a variety of cancer types.
Professor Marco Herold, CEO of ONJCRI, explains the significance of this new Impact Strategy:
“Our vision is that no matter who you are, where you live, or your financial situation, you will have access to innovative, personalised care that offers the best possible outcome. And that future starts with the work we are doing today, guided by this Impact Strategy.
“The strategy starts and ends with the needs of people living with cancer, not just in theory, but in how we prioritise, evaluate, partner and invest.”
The Hon John Brumby AO
As part of the release of this new strategy, ONJCRI also launches its John Brumby Impact Fund.
Named in honour of the Hon John Brumby AO, the former Premier of Victoria and the Founding Chair of ONJCRI, the Fund will provide competitive grants to support cutting-edge, patient-focused research with strong potential for clinical application.
Professor Herold says: “The John Brumby Impact Fund will help close the critical gap between discovery and delivery.”
“By funding compelling research projects that are poised for commercial partnership, we are backing our people to move faster and further, and take Victorian innovation to the world.”
In Australia, two in five people are estimated to be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 85.
Patient advocate Lisa Briggs has been living with lung cancer since 2014. She takes daily treatment and undergoes regular screenings and appointments to keep her cancer at bay.
Ms Briggs echoes the importance of having access to new cancer treatments that are more effective, tolerable and accessible:
“My hope is that once one drug stops working, there is another one available to access to help prolong my life.
“The accessibility was a very big challenge when I was first diagnosed with lung cancer, especially with such a young family.
“Tolerability is extremely important for me because I want to be actively engaged in my children’s life. I want to create memories with them. I want to nurture them as a mum, and I want to be a role model to my children.”
ENDS