Australia’s first Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre opens with $3.6 million funding boost from Minderoo
Minderoo Foundation has marked the historic opening of the Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre (MCCCC) with an additional $3.6 million commitment to boost cutting-edge research programs at the world‑leading facility.
Minderoo had previously contributed $20 million to help establish Australia’s first dedicated cancer centre for children at the MCCCC, which was officially opened in Sydney today by Dr Andrew Forrest AO alongside Federal Health Minister, Mark Butler, and NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Dr Michael Holland.
The MCCCC brings together the Children’s Cancer Institute and the Kids Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, along with researchers from UNSW Sydney, integrating specialised cancer treatment, research and education within a single, purpose‑built facility.
Dr Forrest said the new $3.6 million commitment would fund innovative research programs that accelerate the delivery of new treatments – including the incorporation of the latest AI technology – and ensure more kids beat their cancer diagnosis.
“Cancer, particularly childhood cancer, is an insidious thief. Our goal has always been to stop that thief in its tracks and make childhood cancer non-fatal,” Dr Forrest said.
“I’m proud to say the world-leading facilities now accessible for families at the Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre will give our doctors and scientists the tools and spaces they need to achieve that goal in one place.
“While the MCCCC enables a vital link between research and clinical care to drive and expedite collaboration, it more importantly serves as a beacon of hope for children with cancer and their families. It will be a place that develops and shares medical and scientific breakthroughs globally while giving its patients the very best treatment and after care possible.”
Minderoo’s extra funding will help fast-track some of the immediate priority programs for MCCCC, including immunotherapy, and liquid biopsy technology to detect cancer early or even prevent it and to help monitor cancer growth through simple blood tests rather than invasive biopsies.
The new funding will also strengthen MCCCC’s Zero Childhood Cancer (ZERO) precision medicine program, which tailors treatment to an individual’s genetic, environmental, and lifestyle data.
On average, it can take 3-4 weeks for a doctor to receive useful information from a precision medicine approach. AI will reduce this to days – or even hours.
“There is no gift more precious than a child’s life, and nothing more powerful than hope in the face of illness,” Nicola Forrest AO said.
“The new Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre will offer that hope to families at their most vulnerable, while giving children diagnosed with cancer the very best chance at life. Nothing could be more important.
“Minderoo Foundation is deeply proud to have helped bring this extraordinary facility to life, and to support the world class clinicians and researchers who dedicate themselves every day to saving young lives.”
Featuring state-of-the-art research laboratories, treatment centres and education and training facilities, as well as shared spaces designed with connection and collaboration in mind, the MCCCC has the capacity for 900 child cancer professionals: clinicians, scientists, and allied health workers.
For children with cancer and their families, the centre is set to transform the cancer journey, providing high quality child-friendly inpatient facilities and family focused amenities, as well as a virtual care centre to provide care to children living in rural and remote areas.
With the full integration of research and clinical care in the one facility, the MCCCC represents a new era of collaboration between scientists and doctors – one that will drive research discovery and move breakthroughs from the lab bench to the hospital beds of children with cancer more quickly than ever before.
Over the past five years, Minderoo Foundation has committed $134.6 million to cancer research, treatment and infrastructure.