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The Brain Cancer Centre

Bringing together our brightest minds to end brain cancer as a terminal illness.

“The power of partnership and collaboration will accelerate discoveries and will ultimately be what helps end brain cancer as a terminal illness.”
Sam McGuane
General Manager, The Brain Cancer Centre

Collaborating to transform brain cancer research

The Brain Cancer Centre, founded by Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer and established in partnership with WEHI with support from the Victorian Government, brings together the brightest medical research minds with a single focus: that one day no lives are lost to brain cancer.

The Brain Cancer Centre logo

A shared vision

The Brain Cancer Centre emerged from a shared vision between WEHI director Professor Doug Hilton AO and Carrie Bickmore OAM, Founder and Chair, Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer Foundation.

Right: Carrie Bickmore and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced the collaboration, together with WEHI in October 2021.

“I want people with brain cancer to know that there is an army of researchers out there trying to solve the problem of how to better treat brain cancer.”
Dr Jim Whittle
Laboratory Head, WEHI

The centre marks a transformative change in Australia as one of the nation’s first multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional medical research models, specifically focused on brain cancer.

It is a bold and ambitious collaboration, sparked by a shared vision to create a world where brain cancer is a treatable and survivable disease. It has profoundly altered the landscape of brain cancer research in Australia, unlocking better treatments for brain cancer patients now and into the future.

Surgeons performing brain surgery
A new brain cancer trial has been launched in Melbourne.

A world-first clinical trial

A world-first clinical trial platform, called Brain-POP (brain perioperative), is set to transform research into new brain cancer therapies.

Unlocking the power of the immune system

Learn how WEHI laboratory head, Associate Professor Misty Jenkins and her team are harnessing the immune system to take us one step closer to understanding brain cancer.

Brain cancer Lab Heads
Dr Sarah Best, Dr Jim Whittle and Dr Saskia Freytag jointly head the Brain Cancer Research Lab at WEHI.

Hear from our brain cancer experts

WEHI celebrates the centre’s unique multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary model.

As a key founding partner, WEHI is passionate about harnessing the collective power of research collaboration to accelerate the pace of discovery. The Brain Cancer Centre brings together a growing network of world-leading oncologists, immunologists, neurosurgeons, bioinformaticians and cancer biologists.

WEHI is proud to play a pivotal role in providing scientific direction and facilitating research collaboration across multiple institutions, with a united focus to end brain cancer as a terminal illness.

Collaborators

Brain Cancer Centra collaborator logos

Four brain cancer staff members