As part of Brain Cancer Awareness Month in May, a consortium of kids’ brain cancer advocates gathered to discuss priorities for tackling the disease.
The Childhood Brain Cancer Symposium was held on Wednesday 26 May at The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation offices in Melbourne.
In total, 32 delegates representing 15 different children’s brain cancer organisations attended including clinicians, researchers, PhD students, parents and charity groups. Sixteen of the number participated in the room while the remainder joined online through innovative technology and expert facilitation powered by www.cosquared.com.au.
The symposium was opened by the Federal Minister for Health, The Hon Greg Hunt with a pre-recorded video message. In it, he mistakenly gave The Kids’ Cancer Project naming rights to the event, when it was in fact hosted collaboratively with Robert Conor Dawes (RCD) Foundation and funded by Cancer Australia.
Key speakers on the included Associate Professor David Ziegler, Professor Brandon Wainwright and Professor Nick Gottardo who each shared their perspective on the major issues confronting what is the deadliest disease faced by Australian children.
Following their speeches, the group split for robust workshop discussions on the key barriers to success in changing the statistics of kids’ brain cancer. Common themes were identified around funding, late-effects, advocacy and capacity.
The symposium facilitators are now collating all the notes and expect to make an announcement about the findings and next steps in September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
