Abhijit Pal: Some of My Highlights from NSW Cancer Summit 2025
Abhijit Pal, Director of Advanced Training and Medical Oncologist at South Western Sydney Local Health District, and Conjoint Associate Professor at Western Sydney University, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Some of my (late!) highlights from NSW Cancer Summit 2025.
1) Professor Jeff Dunn AO reminding us to dream big about cancer control across the world and in Australia and reminding us that inequity is a carcinogen. Love the Alice in Wonderland quote about being able to believe six impossible things before breakfast and set the scene for the summit.
2) One of the wonderful pictorial summaries from the pre-summit workshop on reimagining Aboriginal cancer research. Great to hear Adjunct Professor Nicole Turner from AH and MRC of NSW call out the failures of ‘co-designed research’ and discussing ‘pre-design’ as an alternative for truly collaborative community based research.
3) Working with Rami Rahal and Te Miri Rangi from Te Aho o Te Kahu | Cancer Control Agency to deliver a workshop on measuring equity in cancer settings along with the fantastic CINSW team Dr Ru Karen Kwedza Michelle Moeskops Shelley Rushton GAICD Maria Mury – really inspired by the New Zealand approach to Maori participation, focus on Whanau or extended family (clear parallels to many migrant backgrounds in NSW).
Within 1 hour, we managed to help participants in NSW create their own cancer equity strategy, whether they worked in a cancer NGO, LHD, or policy.
What would ‘good’ cancer equity look like for their organisation? What are the relevant priority populations? What cancer KPIs matter? Screening rate? Trial participation?
What resources do they have? Usually, equity work is done in ‘spare’ time with no dedicated funding. Are there ways to attract more resources for equity work?
Setting up clear project plans with timelines for equity interventions with one or two priority populations and one or two KPIs – starting small and dreaming big
4) Speaking about power sharing with communities to improve cancer research equity, chaired by Ms Elisabeth Kochman, Cancer Voices NSW – equity is only possible in real partnerships with shared power (not just thinking of consumers during grant season…).
The NSW Cancer Summit 2025, with an unapologetic focus on equity, was an important showcase of the many ways power is being shared to improve outcomes. Hearing both the NSW Health Minister, The Hon. Ryan Park, and Secretary of NSW Health, Susan Pearce AM, speak about their determination to achieve cancer equity was inspirational, particularly as a medical oncologist working in South Western Sydney Local Health District
Huge congratulations to Cancer Institute NSW for putting on this inaugural event and taking us into the seemingly impossible!
So nice to connect with so many NSW friends in cancer care during the summit.”
More posts featuring Abhijit Pal.
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Challenging the Status Quo in Colorectal Cancer 2024
December 6-8, 2024
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ESMO 2024 Congress
September 13-17, 2024
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ASCO Annual Meeting
May 30 - June 4, 2024
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Yvonne Award 2024
May 31, 2024
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OncoThon 2024, Online
Feb. 15, 2024
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Global Summit on War & Cancer 2023, Online
Dec. 14-16, 2023