Donors boost research funding

Generous donations provide vital support in funding important medical research that can create hope, improve patient care, and contribute to the global fight against cancer.

With your support, our aim is to fund important medical research to enable the discovery of tomorrow’s treatments to deliver life-changing health care for our communities, and all Australians.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Australia.

With early detection, colorectal cancer can be successfully treated, however, for around 10-20% of patients, their cancer can later return, spreading to their liver or lungs and leading to a poor prognosis. This is known as ‘metastatic recurrence’, where cancer cells break away from the original (primary) tumour, and travel to later form a new tumour in other organs or body tissues.

Professor Cameron Platell, Director of Colorectal Cancer Research at St John of God Subiaco Hospital, is leading the translational research project ‘Biomarkers of colorectal cancer metastasis’. The work constitutes a PhD project to be completed by Dr Ryan Cohen in 2023.

I feel deeply responsible for pursuing and developing our knowledge of colorectal cancer and in turn improving patient outcomes.

Dr Ryan Cohen, colorectal cancer researcher

Dr Cohen said the project holds great promise for patients at risk of colorectal cancer metastasis.

"We aim to better understand key biomarkers that may put patients in a high-risk group for developing metastatic recurrence, while also looking at when and where inside the body metastasis is most likely to occur.

“Valuable discoveries from this research can better equip clinicians to develop early intervention and individualised treatment plans to ultimately result in fewer people dying from this disease.” - Dr Ryan Cohen.

With your support, we seek to enable meaningful medical discoveries to directly improve diagnosis and treatment for colorectal cancer patients at St John of God Health Care hospitals, the broader community, and generations to come.

We would like to thank our philanthropic supporters Terry Iannello, the Tony Fini Foundation and others, who have already contributed to this vital research to help transform the lives of people living with colorectal cancer and their loved ones, now and into the future.

Nadia Lefroy said the Tony Fini Foundation’s support for this important research is driven by a desire to help people during times of hardship. “The Tony Fini Foundation has been a great supporter of the St John God Foundation for many years now. We support medical research and believe in making patients and their families' lives more comfortable when experiencing the hardships of life.”

For supporter Terry Iannello, contributing to this research comes from a personal connection with cancer and a desire to help researchers and clinicians better understand the disease. “Both my wife and I have been affected by cancer, which is why we are committed to supporting better health outcomes for others; for generations to come. Research is so important because it is the only way we can get closer to finding answers, to finding a cure.” – Terry Iannello

To learn more about supporting cancer research, please call 1800 218 288 or email [email protected].

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Research in focus

Generous donations provide vital support in funding important medical research that can create hope, improve patient care, and contribute to the global fight against cancer.

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