Tracey O’Brien: Our state is the first jurisdiction in the world to accurately determine people living with metastatic breast cancer

Tracey O’Brien shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Making sure people with cancer are seen and heard is at the heart of cancer control.

That’s why today, I was thrilled to stand alongside women living with metastatic breast cancer to say, finally, they are counted.

Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the team at the Cancer Institute NSW, our state is the first jurisdiction in the world to accurately determine how many people are living with metastatic breast cancer at a population level.

The figure is far higher than anyone could have anticipated. Right now, 7,850 women and 50 men across NSW are dealing with the impact of this advanced form of breast cancer.

Together with Minister for Health Ryan Park, Minister for Women Jodie Harrison and our advocacy partners Breast Cancer Network Australia we made it clear that while today is a day to be remembered, pinpointing a number is only the beginning.

Now that we fully understand the scope of this disease in NSW, we can work across government, non-government and community to shape a better future for people living with metastatic breast cancer.

Importantly, using the Institute’s robust linked data methodology, we can now look to identify how many people in NSW are living with other forms of metastatic cancer and work to make improvements where needed.

Giving people options and hope is what drives our work every day and what makes me proud to be NSW Chief Cancer Officer. Numbers are powerful, but in this case, they can be truly life-changing.

This work cannot be done in isolation and I’d like to thank the incredible researchers who have helped inform this work, and acknowledge the passion of Breast Cancer Network Australia. Their years of advocacy work has helped lead to this important discovery.

Read more on today’s announcement, including a media release from Federal Minister for Health Mark Butler, NSW Minister for Health Ryan Park and Minister for Women Jodie Harrison.”

Dr. Tracey O’Brien is the NSW Chief Cancer Officer and CEO of the Cancer Institute NSW, Australia. Before her current role, Tracey was Director of the Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children’s Hospital, and Director of the Transplant and Cellular Therapy Program. Tracey has held numerous high-profile national and international leadership positions, including Advisory Chair, Cancer Australia; V/Chair (Africa, Asia and Australasia) International Centre for Bone Marrow Transplant Research and V/President of the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Oncology Group.

In recognition of her exceptional contributions, Tracey was profiled in 2023 as one of the world’s foremost women in paediatric cancer by the International Society of Paediatric Oncology. In 2019 Tracey was named in the Australian Financial Review’s prestigious Top 10 Women of Influence, winning the Innovation category. In addition to her medical expertise, Tracey has a Master of Law (Health) and executive MBA and serves as a conjoint Professor in Clinical Medicine (UNSW) and Honorary Professor in Science and Engineering (Macquarie University). Dr. O’Brien remains committed to mentoring the next generation of clinician leaders and maintains an active clinical practice in cancer survivorship at Sydney Children’s Hospital.