The Victorian Integrated Cancer Services (VICS) have convened a working group of experts in oesophagogastric cancer care, from a range of disciplines and services across Victoria. The group held their first meeting on Wednesday 25 October 2023.
This group will guide the VICS Optimal Care Summits strategic consultation on unwarranted variations in oesophagogastric cancer care over the next few months, leading up to the summit event on 1 March 2024.
A/Prof. Paul Cashin (Co-chair) – Upper GI Surgeon, Service Director General and Gastrointestinal Surgery, Monash Health
Dr David Liu (Co-chair) – Oesophagogastric Cancer Surgeon, Austin Health
Dr Andrew Barling – Consultant Surgeon, Bendigo Health
Prof. Wendy Brown – Head of Unit, Alfred Health, Oesophagogastric Bariatric Unit; Program Director of Surgical Services Alfred Health; Chair, Monash University Dept of Surgery, Alfred Health
Dr Julie Chu – Radiation Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
A/Prof. Cuong Duong – Upper GI surgeon, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Dr Andrew Haydon – Medical Oncologist, Alfred Health
Dr George Iatropoulos – Medical Oncologist, Western District Health Service Hamilton Cancer Centre
Ms Kelly Koschade – Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner, Palliative Care Consultancy, Gippsland
Dr Margaret Lee – Medical Oncologist, Eastern Health
Dr Lizzie Lim – Medical Oncologist, Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre
A/Prof. Lara Lipton – Medical Oncologist, Western Health and Cabrini Health
Dr Craig MacLeod – Radiation Oncologist, GenesisCare
Ms Lisa Murnane – Senior Dietitian, Department of Oesophagogastric and Bariatric Surgery, Alfred Health
A/Prof. Simon Nazaretian – Anatomical Pathologist, Alfred Health
Ms Linda Nolte – NEMICS Director (VICS)
Dr Ayesha Saqib – Medical Oncologist, Goulburn Valley Health
Dr Andrew Tauro – Nuclear Medicine Physician, Austin Health
Prof Niall Tebbutt – Director, Medical Oncology, Austin Health
Dr Mark Warren – Medical Oncologist, Bendigo Health Oncology Unit
Dr Vino Pillay – VICS Optimal Care Summits Program Manager
Dr Frances Graham – VICS Optimal Care Summits Project Manager
Nick Baje – VICS Optimal Care Summits Research Officer.
If you are involved in oesophagogastric cancer care – as an oncologist, surgeon, nurse, GP, palliative care specialist, allied health worker, consumer advocate, or in any other way – the working group would like your input. Please complete our short stakeholder details web form to register your interest.
We are also collecting information on projects and initiatives since our last oesophagogastric cancer summit in 2016 relating to care or support for people in Victoria with oesophagogastric cancer. If you know of any such work, please enter what details you have in our environmental scan web form.
The working group will survey stakeholders and explore Victorian cancer datasets, literature review findings, cancer service performance indicators, patient experience survey data, and more to identify key clinical issues and unwarranted variations in oesophagogastric cancer care. The group will then prioritise unwarranted variations for discussion at the summit in March with further multidisciplinary stakeholders from across Victoria. Members of the working group will chair small group discussions at the summit to identify priorities for improvement to address the selected variations in care.
To stay up to date with the VICS Optimal Care Summits program and other statewide work by the VICS, register for our bimonthly newsletter VICS News.