Associate Professor Craig Underhill speaks candidly with Professor Sanchia Aranda AM.
You may know Sanchia from her long-accomplished career in cancer nursing and key leadership roles such as the CEO of Cancer Council Australia. She is a nurse, professor, researcher and influencer.
Sanchia shares insights from her early days when she left banking to take up nursing training. Intending to nurse burn victims, she instead found herself working alongside the ‘witch doctor’ otherwise known as the oncologist.
It’s a fascinating listen charting the beginnings of the oncology specialty. We explore Sanchia’s entry into academia, the taboo of friendship with patients and her incredible work in global equity.
You’ll also find out why she is still a proud heretic.
Compliment today’s listen with The OJC Meets Nathan Cherny and The OJC 52: Do Steroids Matter? + No-Go, Slow-Go, Go-Go + Essential Medicines Access.
This Week’s Papers:
- Aranda SK, Street AF. Being authentic and being a chameleon: nurse-patient interaction revisited. Nurs Inq. 1999 Jun;6(2):75-82. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1800.1999.00019.x. PMID: 10696199. Access online here.
- Aranda S, Brown R. Nurses must be clever to care. The Complexities of Care (book chapter). Cornell University Press, 2012.
- Aranda S. The tyrannies of palliative care. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 2001, vol. 7, no.12, p. 12.
- Bygrave A, Whittaker K, et al. Australian Experiences of Out-of-Pocket Costs and Financial Burden Following a Cancer Diagnosis: A Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Mar 2;18(5):2422. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18052422. PMID: 33801282; PMCID: PMC7967550. Access online here.
- Tervonen HE, Aranda S, et al. Cancer survival disparities worsening by socio-economic disadvantage over the last 3 decades in new South Wales, Australia. BMC Public Health. 2017 Sep 14;17(1):691. doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4692-y. PMID: 28903750; PMCID: PMC5598077. Access online here.
- Tervonen HE, Aranda S, et al. Differences in impact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status on cancer stage and survival by level of socio-economic disadvantage and remoteness of residence-A population-based cohort study in Australia. Cancer Epidemiol. 2016 Apr;41:132-8. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2016.02.006. Epub 2016 Mar 5. PMID: 26953842. Access online here.
This Week’s Team:
Associate Professor Craig Underhill
Craig Underhill
Associate Professor Craig Underhill completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1987 at Melbourne University. He completed medical oncology training in Melbourne and worked as the Senior Clinical Research Registrar at Guy’s Hospital, London.
In 1998 arrived in Albury-Wodonga and established a medical oncology practice and clinical trials unit which has developed expertise and infrastructure to ensure the initiation of high quality trials. The research Unit lead by Dr Underhill has twice been awarded NSW Premier’s Award for Innovation in Cancer Clinical Trials, the inaugural award in 2009 and then again in 2012.
Dr Underhill is the VCCC Regional Oncology Lead and advocates for the increased access to clinical trials for regional Victorians and leads the VCCC teletrials program. You can find Craig on Twitter here: @CraigUnderhill
Professor Sanchia Aranda
Sanchia Aranda
Professor Aranda has worked in cancer and palliative care settings since 1979, predominantly in research and teaching roles between 1989 and 2010. Her research interests centre on the development of an evidence base to enhance supportive care outcomes for people affected by cancer.
She has conducted several randomised controlled trials of novel nursing and supportive care interventions. Between 2001 and 2011 Professor Aranda led a multidisciplinary research group based at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne in a joint appointment with the University. She has received in excess of $12 million in competitive research funding as a Chief Investigator. Professor Aranda is a successful research student supervisor having supervised 11 doctoral and 9 master by research students to completion.
Since 2010 she has worked outside of the academic sector, first as Director of Cancer Services and Deputy CEO of the NSW Cancer Institute (2010-2015) and most recently as CEO of the Cancer Council Australia (August 2015 to November 2020). She now works part-time in a joint appointment between the Department of Nursing and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre as Professor of Health Services Research.
Professor Aranda is an experienced board director and is currently the Board Chair of Scope Australia, Victoria’s largest disability service provider. She is also Board Chair for the City Cancer Challenge Foundation, is on the board of the International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting and on the NSW Dust Diseases Board. She is a Past President of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care and a Past President of the Union for International Cancer Control.
Find Sanchia on Twitter: @SanchiaAranda
Rachael Babin
Rachael Babin is Editor-in-Chief of The Oncology Newsletter, Publisher of Oncology News Host of The Oncology Podcast and Producer of The Oncology Journal Club. For regular oncology updates for healthcare professionals, please subscribe to The Oncology Newsletter.
With thanks to Craig Underhill, Sanchia Aranda and Graham Knowles.
Connect with us on Twitter @OncologyNewsAus
