PC4 Grant Recipients
PC4 Â 2019 Training Award: Leeanne Pasanen
Location: Melbourne
Role: Program Trial Coordinator, Clinical Research Associate
Project:Â Pilot study identifying adverse events experienced by patients with cancer receiving immunotherapy and their perception of who is responsible for adverse event management
Update:
Leeanne Pasanen has a background working as an oncology clinical trial coordinator. Now as part of the Palliative Medicine Research Group she is working as a program trial coordinator. In this role she supports research nurses and fellows, across VCCC alliance hospitals, to build research capability and expand access to palliative care clinical trials.
PC4 Â 2019 Training Award: Carla Thamm
Location: Brisbane
Role: Lecturer/Academic at the Queensland University of Technology
Project:  Establishing the minimal standards of General Practitioner’s care for addressing financial toxicity in cancer patients (FinTox-GP)
Update:
Along with her clinical experiences, Carla gained an Honours degree, through a written dissertation about survivorship and resilience in cancer care. She also has a Post Graduate Certificate in Advanced Nursing (Oncology) and a Masters of Nursing (Practice). She is currently in the final stages of completing her PhD investigating how discourse effects the head and neck cancer experience. She has previously been awarded the Pam Renouf Career Development Study Award in recognition of services to cancer care. Carla is passionate about improving the care of cancer patients throughout their whole illness experience, increasing the profile of specialist cancer nurses and developing the role of nurse researchers in the clinical space.
PC4 Â 2019 Training Award: Rebecca Bergin
Location: Melbourne
Role:Â Senior Research Officer, Cancer Council Victoria
Project: A systematic review of the nature and impact of patient and public involvement on cancer research.
Update: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is increasingly seen as an important part of cancer research. Including the patient’s voice can help to create more relevant research questions, more acceptable methods and ensure the results from research studies can be translated to the real world. There is also good evidence that PPI can lead to more patients taking part clinical trials. However, how and when PPI can be applied most effectively, and the impacts on cancer research quality and outcomes, are not well understood. To better understand the nature and impact of PPI in cancer research, investigators Dr Bergin and Dr Skaczkowski will conduct a systematic review to summarise current knowledge about PPI, with a special focus on cancer research relevant to primary care. This will help to identify better ways to involve patients and the public in cancer research in the future.
PC4 Â 2019 Training Award: Emma Kemp
Location: South Australia
Role: Postdoctoral Fellow in Psycho-oncology and Cancer Survivorship at Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, Flinders University.
Project: Using the Quality of Cancer Survivorship Care Framework to increase our understanding of the evidence base supporting quality survivorship care in breast cancer and inform clinical practice, research and policy.
Update: Dr Kemp specialises in both qualitative and quantitative research investigating a range of aspects of psycho-oncology and cancer survivorship, with a focus on provision of resources and support to improve quality of life, including psychological and physical health outcomes, for people living with cancer and cancer survivors. Her research focuses on engaging consumers and other stakeholders to inform implementation of evidence-based cancer care resources and pathways that are accessible, user-friendly, and relevant to consumer needs. She has a particular interest in factors affecting access, uptake and use of resources and interventions by people with a history of cancer, including sociodemographic factors, psychological factors, health literacy, and digital health literacy. Most recently, she is coordinating a project aiming to develop and pilot a nurse-led model of care to reduce the impact of cardiovascular disease after breast cancer