The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, also known as the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute and commonly abbreviated as Peter Mac, is an Australian oncology research

institute An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes can ...

cancer treatment Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy (including immunotherapy such as monoclonal antibody therapy) and synthetic lethality, most commonly as a series of separate treatments (e.g. ...

and professional

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

training centre located in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Victoria. The centre is named in honour of Sir

Peter MacCallum Sir Peter MacCallum (14 July 1885 – 4 March 1974) was a Scottish-born Australian oncologist and the co-founder and eponym of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. Background and early life Peter MacCallum was born in Glasgo ...

. Since June 2016, the centre has been located within the

Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) is a multi-site, multi-disciplinary specialist cancer hospital and medical research, research research institute, centre located in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The VCCC co ...

(VCCC) in . The centre is Australia's first

public hospital A public hospital, or government hospital, is a hospital which is government owned and is fully funded by the government and operates solely off the money that is collected from taxpayers to fund healthcare initiatives. In some countries, this ty ...

dedicated to cancer treatment, research and education. Research programs at the centre include the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) Cancer Cell Biology Program and the ACRF Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics in Cancer.

History

In 1949 the Victorian Cancer Institute was established and the following year its outpatient services were named the "Peter MacCallum Clinic". It was named after the (then) dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Melbourne University, Peter MacCallum who, with Rutherford Kaye-Scott, had a significant role in its founding. At the time it was a common practice not to inform patients that they had cancer. It was thought that because radiotherapy was also quite commonly used at that time to treat non-cancerous conditions such as severe acne, " strawberry birthmarks",

frozen shoulder Adhesive capsulitis, also known as frozen shoulder, is a condition associated with shoulder pain and stiffness. It is a common shoulder ailment that is marked by pain and a loss of range of motion, particularly in external rotation. There is a l ...

s, keloid scars and also to provide a valuable and non-invasive means for medical sterilisation, the name "Peter MacCallum Clinic" was considered less threatening because the clinic could be positioned as a specialist radiotherapeutic centre rather than it being thought of as a dedicated cancer hospital. The clinic was originally located in a single room of the

Queen Victoria Hospital The Queen Victoria Hospital (QVH), located in East Grinstead, West Sussex, England is the specialist reconstructive surgery centre for the south east of England, and also provides services at clinics across the region. It has become world-fam ...

in central Melbourne. Its main facility was based at the corner William Street and

Little Lonsdale Street Little Lonsdale Street is located in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. A part of the Hoddle Grid, it runs roughly east–west. North of Lonsdale Street and south of La Trobe Street, Little Lonsdale Street's eastern end intersect ...

, near

Flagstaff Gardens Flagstaff Gardens is the oldest park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, first established in 1862. Today it is one of the most visited and widely used parks in the city by residents, nearby office workers and tourists. The gardens are notable fo ...

where the

County Court of Victoria The County Court of Victoria is the intermediate court in the Australian state of Victoria. It is equivalent to district courts in the other states. The County Court is the principal trial court in the state, having a broad criminal and c ...

buildings were later built. (The site was also at one time home to the Jessie McPherson Private Hospital.) The Institute established Australia's first training school for radiotherapists. In 1986, the institute (and the clinic) were collectively renamed as the "Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute". By 1994, the institute was operating out of 11 sites across Melbourne. At this time, it moved into St Andrew's Hospital in , having been purchased from the

Uniting Church of Australia The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Union ...

and

Presbyterian Church of Victoria The Presbyterian Church of Victoria is one of the constituent churches of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. It was established in 1859 as a union of Church of Scotland, Free Presbyterian and United Presbyterian congregations. The Presbyte ...

by the state government in 1990.

Location

In June 2016, the institute moved to the purpose-built building at the entrance to Melbourne's Parkville bio-medical precinct, located at 305 Grattan Street, Melbourne, with satellite services at the Bendigo Base Hospital, Epworth Eastern, the

Monash Medical Centre Monash Medical Centre (MMC) is a teaching hospital in Melbourne, Australia. It provides specialist tertiary-level healthcare to the Melbourne's south-east. Monash Medical Centre is part of Monash Health, the largest public health service in Vic ...

(

Moorabbin Moorabbin is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 15 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Moorabbin recorded a population of 6,287 at the . Most of th ...

campus in

East Bentleigh Bentleigh East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Bentleigh East recorded a population of 30,159 at the 2021 census. ...

) and Sunshine Hospital in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roma ...

. It involves some shared services with the nearby

Royal Melbourne Hospital The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH), located in Parkville, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne, is one of Australia's leading public hospitals. It is a major teaching hospital for tertiary health care with a reputation in clinical research. T ...

, the

Royal Women's Hospital The Royal Women's Hospital, located in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville, is Australia's oldest specialist women's hospital. It offers a full range of services in maternity, gynaecology, neonatal care, women's cancers and women's health. It als ...

and the

Royal Children's Hospital The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) is a major children's hospital in Melbourne, Australia. As a major specialist paediatric hospital in Victoria, the Royal Children's Hospital provides a full range of clinical services, tertiary care, as we ...

. Its current site was previously home to the Royal Dental Hospital.

Notable staff

* Wendy Harris * Sarah-Jane Dawson * Upulie Divisekera * Declan G. Murphy

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter Maccallum Cancer Centre 1949 establishments in Australia Cancer hospitals Cancer in Australia Hospitals established in 1949 Hospitals in Melbourne Medical research institutes in Melbourne

History

Location

Notable staff

See also

References

External links