Guest Speaker Jasen Kelly - Fiona Elsey 25 Aug 2022 Gallery

It was a thrill to have Dr Jason Kelly from the Fiona Elsey Cancer Centre speak to us last week. It was great to hear about the history behind the establishment of the Centre; a homegrown Ballarat success story. The Centre now has 15 researchers and has established links with major cancer re- search centres in Melbourne and beyond to explore the basis of a range of cancers with a view towards assisting in finding a cure for these cancers. Jason focused on his work on bowel cancer. He explained that the mortality rate from this cancer (the second deadliest cancer impacting upon Australians) has not reduced over the past 15 years while significant treatments have been discovered for many other forms of cancer over this period.

Jason entertained us with a terrific lesson as to the changes to the bowel associated with bowel cancer and drew our attention to the promise of immunotherapy in treating bowel cancer. Jason acknowledged Rotary Health for its support of his program of research. Thanks to Damian O'Hehir who acted as Chair for the meeting.