About cancer survivorship and the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre (ACSC)
Over one million Australians are living with or beyond their cancer diagnosis. This is due to advances in early detection, better treatments, and the ageing of the population. Cancer survivorship care refers to the time following active cancer treatments. This may also be known as post-treatment follow-up care. While many people go on to lead normal lives, there may be mixed emotions and worry about the future. For some it’s not always an easy transition and cancer can have a lasting impact including:
- ongoing side effects of treatment
- fear of cancer coming back
- other physical, emotional, financial and social concerns.
The Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre recognise ‘cancer survivors’ as people who have been diagnosed with cancer, from the time of diagnosis throughout their life. Cancer can also have a lasting impact on survivors’ family members, friends and caregivers.
Cancer care has traditionally focused on diagnosis and treatment. However, research shows it is just as important to focus on helping cancer survivors cope with life beyond their acute treatment. Cancer survivors may experience different issues compared to people having active treatment for cancer. It is important that survivors understand what to expect and are provided with the right information and support at the right time.
Quality cancer survivorship care should involve:
- monitoring to detect cancer coming back and new cancers
- support and monitoring for physical, emotional, social and practical effects of cancer and cancer treatment
- management of any other health conditions
- supporting and promoting wellness and healthy lifestyle
- coordinated care between all health professionals involved
About the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre
The Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre is a passionate, multidisciplinary team with a vision to improve the health and wellbeing of cancer survivors and their carers. We work with cancer survivors, health professionals, community organisations, and policy makers. The Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre does not offer clinical services. Instead, we work with healthcare providers to ensure that survivors receive the best possible care. We provide:
- information and support to survivors and carers
- education and training for health professionals
- and cancer survivorship leadership and guidance
While we are based at Peter Mac and our primary focus is on Victoria, we also engage and contribute on a national and international level.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre’s resources, events, education and work, we invite you to explore the links below:
The Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre has a statewide role in the development of education and resources for both survivors and health professionals. We provide advice regarding models of care, and while research is not our primary focus, we strongly support and collaborate in research relevant to survivorship.
Our Strategic Plan 2020-2025 sets our priorities and objectives to support optimal outcomes for cancer survivors and their carers over the coming years. Current work of the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre addresses the six strategic priorities which include:
- Provide information and support for survivors and carers
- Provide survivorship education and training for health professionals
- Support improved models of survivorship care
- Conduct and support survivorship research
- Provide leadership around cancer survivorship
- Delivering a robust, collaborative and sustainable program
For more information download a copy of ACSC’s current Strategic Plan 2020-2025.
Current projects
In addition to our core work, the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre is currently delivering two separately funded statewide survivorship care projects:
Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre key highlights
We invite you to read more about Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre’s highlights:
Survivorship in the news
2022
Holistic care for cancer survivors, published in The Lancet’s 16 April 2022 edition. Prof Michael Jefford, Director of the ACSC, co-led the series, with Prof Jon Emery (University of Melbourne) and Dr Emily Tonorezos (Office of Cancer Survivorship, US National Cancer Institute). The three papers address common issues experienced by survivors, their clinical management, and the design of current and improved models of cancer care. The third paper focuses on issues and concerns for those who are survivors of cancer in childhood and adolescence. Dr Jeremy Lewin, Medical Director of Peter Mac’s ONTrac adolescent and young adult service, contributed to the third paper. Other Peter Mac contributors are Dr Karolina Lisy, Senior Research Fellow, ACSC and the Department of Health Services Research (DHSR), and Dr Julia Lai-Kwon, medical oncologist, and PhD student, DHSR.
- Management of common clinical problems experienced by survivors of cancer
- Improved models of care for cancer survivors
- Long-term care for people treated for cancer during childhood and adolescence
Newsletters
The Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre publishes several newsletters and an annual year in review:
2024
2023
2022
Publications
2023
- Koczwara B, Chan A, Jefford M, Lam WWT, Taylor C, Wakefield CE, et al. Cancer survivorship in the Indo-Pacific: Priorities for progress. JCO Glob Oncol. 2023;9:e2200305.
- Sheppard DM, O’Connor M, Jefford M, Lamb G, Frost D, Ellis N, et al. ‘Beyond Cancer’ Rehabilitation Program to support breast cancer survivors to return to health, wellness and work: Feasibility study outcomes. Curr Oncol. 2023;30(2):2249–2270.
- Lai-Kwon J, Inderjeeth AJ, Lisy K, Sandhu S, Rutherford C, Jefford M. Impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapy on health-related quality of life of people with stage III and IV melanoma — A mixed-methods systematic review. Eur J Cancer. 2023;184:83–105.
- Petrie M, Kelly H, Jefford M. Do Australian state and territory cancer plans include survivorship-related objectives and propose quality survivorship outcomes and measures? Aust Health Rev. 2023;47(3):291–300.
- Zecena Morales C, Lisy K, McDowell L, Piper A, Jefford M. Return to work in head and neck cancer survivors: A systematic review. J Cancer Surviv. 2023;17(2):468–483.
- Lisy K, Kerr L, Jefford M, Fisher C. “Everything’s a fight”: A qualitative study of the cancer survivorship experiences of transgender and gender diverse Australians. Cancer Med. 2023.
- Smith AB, Gao M, Tran M, Ftanou M, Jegathees S, Wu V, Jefford M, et al. Evaluation of the validity and screening performance of a revised single-item fear of cancer recurrence screening measure (FCR-1r). Psychooncology. 2023;32(6):961–971.
- White V, Gough K, Wood C, Chan R, Jefford M. Suboptimal experiences with out-of-pocket costs, financial disclosure, and support information among people treated for cancer. Med J Aust. 2023;219(1):28–29.
- Lai-Kwon J, Heynemann S, Hart N, Chan R, Smith T, Nekhlyudov L, Jefford M. Evolving landscape of metastatic cancer survivorship — Reconsidering clinical care, policy, and research priorities for the modern era. J Clin Oncol. 2023;41(8):3304–3310.
- Forbes D, Lisy K, Wood C, White V, Evans S, Afshar N, Ristevski E, Sharma A, Changrani K, Jefford M. Factors beyond diagnosis and treatment that are associated with return to work in Australian cancer survivors — A systematic review. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol. 2023.
- Oswald T, Azadi L, Sinclair S, Lawn S, Redpath P, Beecroft L, et al. “Somebody was standing in my corner”: a mixed methods exploration of survivor, coach, and hospital staff perspectives and outcomes in an Australian cancer survivorship program. Support Care Cancer. 2023;31(8):478.
- Lynch FA, Rodin G, Jefford M, Duffy M, Lai-Kwon J, Heynemann S, et al. Evaluation of Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) in people with advanced non[1]small cell lung cancer treated with immunotherapies or targeted therapies: protocol for a single-arm, mixed-methods pilot study. BMJ Open. 2023;13(7):e072322.
- Changrani K, Chima S, Sharma A, Han GG, Sharma A, McNamara M, Jefford M, et al. A systematic review of smartphone applications for cancer survivors. J Cancer Surviv. 2023;1–23.
General enquiries
- Phone: (03) 8559 6220
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Join our ACSC mailing list.
Manager
- Phone: (03) 8559 6225
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Mailing address
Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Locked Bag 1, A'Beckett St, Melbourne
Victoria 8006
Prof Michael Jefford, Celebrating 10 years of the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre (2010-2020)
Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre Director, Prof Michael Jefford, shares about the ACSC, what we do and our team, in the following video.
Supporters
The Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre would like to thank our supporters, collaborators, staff, volunteers and broader networks for all that you do to improve outcomes for people affected by cancer.
The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Victorian Government proudly support the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre.