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Student experience
Overview
Awards
The highly informative video lesson Stereotactic Radiotherapy, won a Gold Award at the 43rd annual Telly Awards. The feature is a lesson from the Master of Cancer Sciences degree and was developed in collaboration between the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Alliance (VCCC) and the University.
The course has also received honourable mentions in the 2019 and 2021 International E-Learning Association Awards.
Online learning
As a student at a school committed to professional, continuing and executive education, you’ll have access to high-quality online education tools – all you need is a computer and an internet connection.
Your virtual classroom is academically robust and designed to prepare you for competition in your field. You will expand your skills and knowledge via innovative technologies like webinars, podcasts and moderated discussion forums.
Why study online?
The online learning environment has been carefully devised by expert academics, alongside learning designers and technology specialists, to facilitate an interactive and flexible student experience.
At the University of Melbourne, you will have access to the best minds and a dynamic peer group. Throughout the course, you will be able to engage closely with fellow online students and share your knowledge with each other.
Gain access to the highest levels of support
From your initial expression of interest right through to graduation, you’ll receive all the technical support you need.
Don’t be surprised if you learn our student support team members by name – they are dedicated, personal and friendly and they understand that every student experience is unique. If a challenge arises, they’ll do everything in their power to assist you so that you can continue to have an excellent learning experience.
Our online student support consultants can assist with:
- Enrolment and subject assistance
- Administrative logistics and fee options
- Technical support, regular health checks, and technical support during live webinars
- Online learning skills and workload management
- Special circumstances.
Who you will learn from
The VCCC Alliance is an alliance of 10 leading research, clinical and academic institutions with a shared commitment to saving lives through the integration of cancer research, education and patient care. The scale and depth in expertise, knowledge, practice and patient numbers it represents, provides unprecedented access to learn from the pioneers driving the next generation of improvements in prevention, detection and cancer treatment.
Through the online learning community, you’ll become part of a global network of cancer care professionals who are passionate about providing top-quality clinical care and high impact cancer research.
Course convenors
- Professor Grant McArthur, Executive Director, Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre and Medical Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Centre
- Dr David Kok, Radiation Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Subject coordinators
- Dr Joep Vissers – Foundations of Cancer, Curation Scientist, University of Melbourne
- Dr Stephen Mieruszynski – Cancer Research, Drug Discovery & Development, Postdoctoral Fellow, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
- Heather Walker – Cancer in Society, Cancer Prevention & Control, Head of SunSmart, Cancer Council Victoria
- Dr Julia Lai Kwon – Cancer Therapeutics, Capstone, Medical Oncologist, Research Fellow, Institute of Cancer Research
- Dr Lucinda Morris – Cancer Therapeutics, Radiation Oncologist, Sutherland Hospital Oncology
- Dr Kirsten Fairfax – Drug Development & Discovery, Post-Doctoral Fellow at The Menzies Institute
- Associate Professor Eleanor Flynn - Supportive Care & Palliative Care, Palliative care physician, Melbourne Medical School
- Tennille Lewin - Supportive Care & Palliative Care, Nurse, PhD candidate, Monash University
- Dr Laura Forrest – Research Thesis Capstone, Genetic Counsellor & Post-Doctoral Researcher, Familial Cancer Centre, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- Giulia McCorkell - Research Thesis Capstone, Education Project Officer, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
- Associate Professor Kais Kasem – Cancer Diagnostics, Specialist Surgical Pathologist
- Dr Kate Stewart – Cancer Diagnostics, Consultant Anatomical Pathologist
- Associate Professor Aung Ko Win – Cancer Prevention & Control, Research Fellow, Genetic Epidemiology
- Dr Kanika Bhatia – Cancer Across the Lifespan (Paediatrics), Consultant Oncologist, Royal Children’s Hospital
- Dr Stacie Wang - Cancer Across the Lifespan (Paediatrics), Consultant Oncologist, Royal Children’s Hospital
- Kate Thompson - Cancer Across the Lifespan (AYA), program Manager, ONTrac, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- Sam Van Staalduinen - Cancer Across the Lifespan (AYA), Statewide Education & training Coordinator, ONTrac, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- Dr Iniyaval Thevathasan - Cancer Across the Lifespan (MFM), Obstetrician, Maternal Fetal Medicine Subspecialist, St Vincent’s Private Hospital
Tutors
- Dr Holly Barker, Research Fellow, ACRF Cancer Biology and Stem Cells division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
- Ann Byrne, PhD candidate, Cancer Therapeutics Program, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- Shannon Jones, Program Manager - Health Professionals, SunSmart
- Dr Richard To, Medical Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
- Dr Bhaumik Shah, Medical Oncologist, Private
- Theresa Connor, Researcher, Cancer Therapeutics CRC
Supervisors (Research Capstone)
- Dr Jason Wasiak, Clinical Researcher, Evidence synthesis
- Dr Nigel Anderson, Principal Research Radiation Therapist
- Daniel Hamilton. PhD candidate, Research Assistant, University of Melbourne
- Dr Chris Swain, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Cancer Epidemiology Division at Cancer Council VictoriaDr Karen Doggett, Post-Doctoral Scientist, Walter Eliza Hall Institute
Cancer Sciences Academic Unit – Department of Clinical Pathology
- Professor Frederic Hollande, Deputy Head of the Department of Clinical Pathology, Head of Board of Examiners, University of Melbourne
- Michelle Barrett, Head of Education & Training, VCCC Alliance
- Dr Sathana Dushyanthen, Graduate Programs Lead, Online Teaching & Education Specialist, VCCC Alliance, University of Melbourne
- Angela McKellar, Business Manager, University of Melbourne
- Kerry Tate, Administrative Officer, University of Melbourne
Dr David Kok
Dr David Kok, Radiation Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Master of Cancer Sciences course coordinator, talks about the program.
The Master of Cancer Sciences is Australia’s first cancer-specific, wholly online postgraduate degree. It’s aimed at cancer professionals across the spectrum, whether they be clinicians, allied health professionals, scientists, or clinical trial staff. In crafting the degree, my team and I had a very clear goal in mind— to ensure that students would walk away with the cutting-edge knowledge to excel in the field, and to do this in a way that is interesting, innovative, and flexible enough to be done while still working.
This degree is different to others in that it has been produced in partnership between the VCCC and University of Melbourne. As such, the teaching staff have all been drawn from across the 10 VCCC partners and so we’ve literally had the pick of the brightest, most passionate oncological minds in the business to teach on topics that- in many cases- they pioneered! Year-on-year these people will be here, contributing to and being at the forefront of cancer research and treatment.
We knew when designing this course that every student would have different personal and professional interests, and so have gone out of our way to cater for that. Perhaps you’re interested in the global impact of cancer– then you could take Cancer in Society. Maybe you’re looking to explore leadership opportunities in oncology, so you could take Foundations of Leadership. Or perhaps you want to stay abreast of the latest breakthroughs in cancer treatment– then Cancer Therapeutics is for you.
If you’re interested in clinical trials, two subjects that would be relevant would be ‘Cancer Research’ and ‘Drug Discovery and Development,’ which both contain detailed knowledge about the establishment and running of clinical trials.
One of the beauties of this program is that there are multiple shorter study routes you can take should you wish. Let’s say you can only commit to 6 months part-time, then you could do 2 subjects which qualifies you for a Specialist Certificate in Cancer Sciences. Similarly, if you did 4 subjects (12-months) you can exit with a Graduate Certificate. And in the future, should you wish, you could return and finish another 4 subjects to qualify for the Master’s degree.