Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre within the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre

The Peter Mac is located within the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre building, pictured in 2016
Founder(s)
Established 27 April 1949 (1949-04-27)
Mission Medical research, patient care, education
Focus Oncology research and cancer treatment
Chairman The Hon. Maxine Morand
Chief Executive Dale Fisher
Formerly called
  • Victorian Cancer Institute;
  • Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute
Location 305 Grattan Street, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates 37°48′41.39″S 144°58′38.1″E / 37.8114972°S 144.977250°E / -37.8114972; 144.977250Coordinates: 37°48′41.39″S 144°58′38.1″E / 37.8114972°S 144.977250°E / -37.8114972; 144.977250

The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, also known as the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute and commonly abbreviated as the Peter Mac, is an Australian oncology research institute, cancer treatment, and professional oncologist training centre located in Melbourne, Victoria. The Centre is named in honour of Sir Peter MacCallum.[1] Since June 2016, the Peter Mac has been located within the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) in Parkville.

Together with the VCCC, the Peter Mac is Australia’s only public hospital dedicated to cancer treatment, research and education.[2] It is also one of the few cancer treatment facilities in the world which has a fully integrated clinical and laboratory program situated alongside a hospital. This co-location facilitates the translation of research findings into clinical outcomes within the single site.

Research programs at the centre include the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) Cancer Cell Biology Program[3] and the ACRF Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics in Cancer.[4]

The Peter Mac offers much in the way of integrated services, including medical oncology and radiation oncology facilities and links with allied health services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, speech therapy and social services.

History

The Victorian Cancer Institute's cancer hospital was given the title Peter MacCallum Clinic after the (then) dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Melbourne University, Peter MacCallum, who along with Rutherford Kaye-Scott had a significant role in its founding in 1949.[1] At the time it was a common practice not to inform patients that they had cancer. It was thought that because radiotherapy was also quite commonly used at that time to treat non-cancerous conditions such as severe acne, "strawberry birthmarks", frozen shoulders, keloid scars and also to provide a valuable and non-invasive means for medical sterilisation, the name "Peter MacCallum Clinic" would be much less threatening because the clinic could be positioned as a specialist radiotherapeutic centre rather than it being thought of as a dedicated cancer hospital. In 1986, the clinic was renamed as the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute.[1]

Location

The former Peter Mac site in East Melbourne.

Situated within Parkville Biomedical Precinct, the Peter Mac's Melbourne centre is housed within the VCCC building located at 305 Grattan Street, Melbourne, with satellite services at the Bendigo Base Hospital, Epworth Eastern, the Monash Medical Centre (Moorabbin campus in East Bentleigh) and Sunshine Hospital in St Albans. Prior to its relocation to this site in June 2016,[5] the Peter Mac was located for 22 years in East Melbourne in the former St Andrew's Hospital, a maternity hospital which was run by the Presbyterian Church. Prior to 1994, the then Peter MacCallum Clinic was located at the corner of William Street and Little Lonsdale Street.[1]

Today the Peter Mac comprises a sprawling biomedical precinct involving some shared services with the nearby Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Royal Women's Hospital and the Royal Children's Hospital.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Riley, Robyn (19 April 2009). "60 years of Sir Peter MacCallum's dream". Sunday Herald Sun. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  2. ↑ "Our history". Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre" (Press release). Australian Cancer Research Foundation. 2004. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Unique in Australia, New cancer genomics centre opens in Melbourne" (PDF) (Press release). Australian Cancer Research Foundation. 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Our new home" (Press release). Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
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