“We need to understand the biology better, align adult and paediatric research, and build infrastructure so we can increase trials and find new treatments that actually improve outcomes for patients,”
Professor Terry O'Brien
Meet Professor Terry O'Bien: Driving collaboration to deliver better treatments
Prof O’Brien, a leading neurologist and researcher, recognises the importance of collaboration in tackling brain cancer.
He is Program Director of Alfred Brain, Deputy Director of Research and Consultant Neurologist at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. He also serves as the Head of the School of Translational Medicine at Monash University. In addition, Prof O’Brien is a member of Brain Cancer Australia’s National Consortium Steering Committee and co-leader of the Alfred Brain Tumour Biobank, which is part of our national network of 20 biobanks.
Prof O’Brien emphasises the urgency of collaboration in addressing brain cancer’s challenges. “Brain cancer accounts for less than 5% of all cancers but causes the greatest loss of productive years in midlife due to its aggressive nature,” he says. Despite its devastating impact, brain cancer remains underfunded and under-researched.
“We need to understand the biology better, align adult and paediatric research, and build infrastructure like the biobank network so we can increase trials and find new treatments that actually improve outcomes for patients,” he says.
When it comes to biobanking, Prof O’Brien recognises that local efforts alone are not enough. “Individual hospitals often see too few cases to generate enough data,” he explains. By linking biobanks across 20 sites, Brain Cancer Australia’s network holds over 11,000 specimens available for global research. “Combining samples and clinical data from multiple sites, and connecting clinicians, means we can dramatically increase the size and the impact of the studies,” he explains.
Read more about Prof O’Brien’s work here.
