Bendigo Cancer Centre Clinical Trials Unit wins award for work in gastro-intestinal cancer field

The Bendigo Cancer Centre Clinical Trials Unit was recently named the "Outstanding Site - Regional, Rural and Remote 2022" at the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Cancer Trials Group (AGITG) national conference.

The award recognises a site that has shown "exceptional enthusiasm, performance and dedication to conducting AGITG trials".

Cancer research manager Narelle McPhee said after putting their hat in the ring last year and receiving a highly commended, it was great to be the first regional team recognised.

MORE NEWS: Parish office building 'compromised', but no imminent danger after sinkhole opens at St Kilian's

"It's very hard for a regional centre to compete against a team in a metro area because they're so much bigger than we are," she said.

"There's a lot of activity in metro centres and it's really important to have that same activity outside the city so people have access in regional areas."

GI Cancer Institute and AGITG is a multidisciplinary collaborative group of medical and research professionals who carry out clinical trials and related biological research to improve treatments for gastro-intestinal issues.

The team is overseeing 16 trials across a range of cancer types, with the aim of finding new techniques to help reduce people's treatment side affects or more accurately predict a patient's chance of cancer recurrence.

Ms McPhee said for the team, it was about providing quality care for cancer patients closer to home.

OTHER STORIES:

"We conduct trials which provide options and opportunities to contribute to the development of future treatments," she said.

"We're actually doing a quality project at the moment and we were asking people why they were participating in the trial and what matters to them.

"Overwhelmingly, people say they participate to contribute to the area in the hope the treatment improves for future patients."

Medical Oncology research fellow Chloe Georgiou said this award re-inforced the work the team was doing.

"It gives us some more credibility on a national stage," she said.

"A big theme of this year's conference was 'equity and access' and we all know when you live in regional in the country some people might decide to not have treatment rather than spend hours travelling back and forth.

"Whereas we can say we can do this just as well as others can in a regional site and reach a bigger part of the population."

Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with the Bendigo Advertiser app. Click here to download.