Research grants drive innovation to improve patient care

Turning routine clinical data into better healthcare

How can we learn from every patient? This is the key goal of a ‘learning healthcare system’, but often the barrier is time and the cost of collecting the data. This project is testing whether artificial intelligence (AI) transcription can collect consenting patients’ information to develop a research-ready database.

The project brings together clinicians from Icon Cancer Centre Kurralta Park, Windsor Gardens and Hobart to see if we can analyse real-world treatment results, that might guide better clinical decisions.

Lead investigator Dr Craig Gedye says this pilot is trying to make a small but important shift in how research can be done within everyday practice.

By reducing the cost and workload of data collection, the project aims to make research and clinical trials part of standard care, not something reserved only when large funds are available.

A successful pilot will lead to being able to share this infrastructure across the Icon network, help clinicians rapidly test new ideas, track patient outcomes and improve treatment pathways.

Making advanced cellular therapies safer and more accessible

Another grant has been awarded to a South Brisbane and Wesley-based team who will develop Icon’s first comprehensive database for patients receiving cellular therapies, including autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplants, CAR-T referrals, and therapeutic apheresis.

With cellular therapies rapidly advancing, the team believes a single data platform is essential for high-quality research, monitoring and benchmarking.

Project lead Dr Karthik Nath says the database could be a turning point in how cellular therapy outcomes are understood in private healthcare.

The system will support clinical studies, operational improvements and the development of new treatment pathways that evolve as evidence grows.

Ensuring women receive the most effective breast cancer radiation

A third grant has been awarded to Dr Angela Allen, who will lead the first national study investigating whether more modern breast-conserving surgical techniques impact the ability to deliver a boost to the tumour bed.

For young and higher risk patients with breast cancer, delivering an additional targeted dose to the tumour bed (“a boost”), reduces the risk of recurrence within the breast. Newer surgical techniques improve cosmetic outcome but can make it harder to identify and deliver a boost to the tumour bed.

The study could influence clinical practice and ensure that emerging surgical advances continue to work hand-in-hand with the most effective radiation treatment.