Hospital reinforces reputation as leading research institute

4 Nov 2019

4 November 2019

St John of God Subiaco Hospital CEO Prof Shirley Bowen said the hospital has for the past two decades invested significantly in a program of health and medical research which has contributed to a reputation as one of Western Australia’s leading research institutes.

“This commitment to research enables us to attract leading health professionals and deliver the very best treatments, practices and care to our patients and community,” she said.

“It is also central to our Mission of providing services that promote life to the full by enhancing the physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual dimensions of being human.”

In FY 2018/19, St John of God Subiaco Hospital researchers and clinicians were involved in 50 clinical trials across a wide variety of specialty areas, presented at 35 conferences and published 131 peer-reviewed medical papers.

They also continued to lead the way in projects specific to breast, gynecological, pancreatic and colorectal cancers. St John of God Subiaco Hospital has offered the most pancreatic and ovarian cancer trials in the country for several years.

In August 2018, St John of God Subiaco Hospital was the first facility worldwide to offer patients a new drug to help treat pancreatic cancer as part of the first-in-human clinical trial led by the Cancer Services Head of Department, Dr Andrew Dean.

Dr Dean said the trial was a significant milestone in the treatment of pancreatic cancer and continues St John of God Subiaco Hospital’s tradition of adopting new and advanced therapies early.

“Pancreatic Cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer-related death in Western Australia and survival rates have historically been very low,” he said.

Western Australia has been shown to have the best survival rate in the world for pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, stomach cancer and colon cancer.

Dr Dean said that due to St John of God Subiaco Hospital being early adopters of new anti-cancer treatments, plus the ability to offer patients many new trial treatment options, there has been a significantly increase in cancer survival rates in the state.

“Through access to these innovative treatments we have seen an increase in survival for Western Australian patients – where we were previously measuring survival in months, we are now measuring it in years,” he said.

Prof Bowen added “The projects included within this annual report are driving ongoing developments in health care outcomes, technologies and treatments.

“Most importantly, they are enabling us to deliver the highest quality clinical and compassionate care to our patients and their families.”

The full report is available to be downloaded as a PDF.