Judith Lacey, Head of Supportive Care and integrative Oncology at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, shared on LinkedIn:
“An excellent first day at the COSA26 Annual Scientific Meeting!
It was a pleasure to be part of the plenary session ‘Hype or Hope‘, exploring some of the emerging and complex areas shaping cancer supportive care.
Awesomely chaired Michael Krasovitsky and Michael Ellies!
I presented on ‘Supplements in Cancer Care: Separating Signal from Noise‘, alongside excellent presentations from Kirsten McCaffery on AI health literacy, Dr Liz Isenring on nutrition and Craig Haifer on the gut microbiome.
As our understanding of supportive cancer care continues to evolve, so too does the importance of safely integrating herbs and supplements into cancer care, guided by robust evidence and informed clinical practice.
The emerging role of the gut microbiome is particularly exciting (well i do get excited about it!), with growing research exploring how addressing dysbiosis and modifying the microbiome may influence not only gut health but potentially cancer treatment outcomes.
Our lively discussion around the safe use of herbs and supplements highlighted the need for better access to reliable information and clinical guidance.
This provides a wonderful segue to the work underway through The Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) to strengthen education, knowledge and safety in this rapidly evolving field.
This is an exciting time for supportive care and integrative oncology.
As cancer survival improves, our focus must extend beyond treating disease to helping people live well and thrive throughout and beyond cancer treatment.
It is encouraging to see this shift gaining momentum at Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA), showcasing the outstanding research and clinical innovation happening across Australia.
As we move further into an era of precision and personalised cancer medicine, supportive care must be an integral part of that evolution – ensuring we not only help people live longer, but live better.
But it was also a moment to reflect on the gift Caitlin Delaney gave to all of us, to me.
She would have loved where we have come to, and heading with today’s focus on thriving during the long middle, equity of access, supportive care and genomics, precision cancer care and more.
But, we are not there yet.”
Other articles about COSA 2026 on OncoDaily.