Happy Research Appreciation Day! July 5th each year is all about celebrating the vital role researchers play developing new treatments and solving health challenges. Health breakthroughs, and persistent progress of scientists and health researchers make a world of difference to people’s lives.
It’s our time to give a nod to 1 of the 5 Sunshine Coast Health clinicians who was successful in a partnership role with Griffith University as conjoint clinical researcher. Associate Professor Bryan Chan is a medical oncologist whose clinical work and research centres around 3 main areas. The first focuses on improving outcomes for those affected by thoracic and rare cancers, secondly using population big data to define quality benchmarks and lastly a focus on equity particularly for regional and rural patients affected by cancer.
The goal behind these conjoint clinical research roles is to help strengthen translational research for healthier communities by supporting clinician-led research, and mentor emerging researchers. The new conjoint positions will be transformational for the Sunshine Coast region. We are in a unique position where clinicians are able to have set research time during the day to collaborate with other scientists, clinicians and researchers. Bryan said, “the gift of dedicated research time and presence and the ability to focus on that away from the clinical world for a period is important.”
Bryan sees these positions as an investment for longer term outcomes. Over the next 3 years, it will allow Bryan and the other appointees to “establish, grow and further develop collaborations all over the world as well as support and learn from each other. I think that’s very important. There is always a new way of doing things.” Together, the successful appointees will drive multidisciplinary research and build capability across the workforce, which will improve quality care and quality of life for patients. Bryan hopes the outcomes will go wide and far.
So why does Bryan have a passion for research? He explained it best, “we have the potential to help thousands, of people with better ways of doing things with better treatments, rather than only a single patient at a time.” Also in oncology, we are still working hard to find lasting hope for anyone affected by cancer.
Within cancer care, Bryan is a strong believer of basic human needs. Sounds so simple. Health service and quality research are the real things that matter right now in the moment under cancer care. “We have to get the foundations right otherwise what’s the point of discovering the next new drug?”
To advance Bryan’s 3 research pillars, his intention over the next 3 years in the conjoint clinician role is to secure category 1 funding through partnerships. Bryan has already helped to secure $6.7 million in federal funding for Australian Rare Cancer Portal. He will also expand research pipelines aligning with Griffith University’s EDGE program and conduct multisite interdisciplinary studies that embed platform projects directly into clinical workflows.
Bryan has found that most patients are very supportive of research. “Research is the way we get exciting new treatments and the way forward. Many of the treatments we do have come from previous patients. Often, it’s their intense wish and generosity to try to help the next person with cancer.”
Bryan’s message to clinicians and junior researchers is to not be fearful of research. Get involved in any small project. “The key is to collaborate with academics and researchers. Collaborate far and wide and use your skills as a clinician and understand the key questions that need to be asked. Clinicians understand what affects the patients from day to day. The best research comes from someone with one foot in each world.”
Bryan mentors registrars with research projects and is principal investigator to 26 clinical trials. He also mentors Griffith University medical students to give them a taste of research with the hope of inspiring them to do further research in the future. It doesn’t stop there for Bryan. Bryan helps supervise multidisciplinary researchers including a PhD and Masters students in exercise physiology, speech pathology and dietetics who are all located at Sunshine Coast Health and study with UniSC and UQ.
Bryan highlighted that he is “grateful for the opportunity and excited to collaborate with Griffith Uni more broadly. This will only get bigger and better.” This partnership reflects SCHI’s commitment to support our partners with research-led healthcare for better patient care.
We appreciate you Associate Professor Bryan Chan and all the researchers who are advancing healthcare breakthroughs.
If you would like to donate or are curious about healthcare research, you can find out more here.