Richard Anthony Scolyer (born 16 December 1966) is an Australian pathologist. He is a senior staff specialist in tissue pathology and diagnostic

oncology 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 Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

Royal Prince Alfred Hospital The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (abbreviated RPAH or RPA) is a large teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located on Missenden Road in Camperdown. It is a teaching hospital of the Central Clinical School of the Sydney Medical School at the ...

, and Conjoint Professor, Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health,

The University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. He and Professor Georgina Long were honoured as 2024

Australians of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the state and territor ...

Career

Scolyer provides a clinical consultation service for the diagnosis of difficult pigmented

lesions A lesion is any damage or abnormal change in the tissue of an organism, usually caused by injury or diseases. The term ''Lesion'' is derived from the Latin meaning "injury". Lesions may occur in both plants and animals. Types There is no de ...

and receives more than 2,000 cases for opinion from Australasia and beyond annually. He integrates his clinical practice with co-leading a translational

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

research laboratory. In February 2019, he was ranked the world's 10th leading publisher on the topic of melanoma and the world's leading publisher in melanoma pathology. Scolyer has co-authored more than 700 publications and book-chapters on the subject, and was an editor of the 4th Edition of the WHO Classification of Tumours''.''

Cancer diagnosis and treatment

in June 2023, Scolyer was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma IDH wild-type brain tumour. With treatment for glioblastoma mostly unchanged for the last 20 years, Georgina Long worked to develop a world-first treatment for his brain tumour based on breakthroughs in melanoma research. Scolyer underwent experimental combination immunotherapy before and after surgical excision of the tumour; delaying his surgery to do so. Scolyer was also administered a cancer vaccine personalised to the tumour genetic markers, in order to help the immunotherapy detect the cancer cells. His treatment was documented in the journal

Nature Medicine ''Nature Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by Nature Portfolio covering all aspects of medicine. It was established in 1995. The journal seeks to publish research papers that "demonstrate novel insight into disease p ...

, paving the way for future

clinical trials Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

. While medical oncologists have applied these techniques successfully to melanoma, this treatment is non-standard for brain cancer due to concerns about toxicity, whether drugs will reach the brain, and speed of tumour development. In February 2024, eight months after surgery, Scolyer's cancer had not returned. This was an encouraging result with potentially broader implications due to the pioneering approach taken, with the normal prognosis for this glioblastoma being 6–9 months; though oncologists warned that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of the treatment, compared to standard protocols. On 10 March 2025, Richard announced the cancer had returned, and he was given a prognosis of 3 months.

Awards and recognition

Scolyer received the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Premier's Award for Outstanding Cancer Research in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for "distinguished service to medicine, particularly in the field of melanoma and skin cancer, and to national and international professional organisations" in the

2021 Queen's Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

. He was named 2024 Australian of the Year alongside Georgina Long by the

National Australia Day Council The National Australia Day Council (NADC) is a non-profit social enterprise owned by the Australian Government and is the national coordinating body for the Australian of the Year awards and Australia Day. It was established in 1979 and inc ...

, a not-for-profit

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

-owned social enterprise. Scolyer won Social Impact Book of the Year at th
2025 Australian Book Industry Awards
for his book, ''Brainstorm''.https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/canberra-mornings/richard-scolyer-social-impact-book-of-the-year-brainstorm/105268278

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scolyer, Richard Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian pathologists Academic staff of the University of Sydney Officers of the Order of Australia Australian of the Year Award winners People from Launceston, Tasmania Australian medical researchers