Cancer Council CEO Sanchia Aranda nominated for Australia Day Honours award
Cancer Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Professor Sanchia Aranda is passionate about making a difference to the lives of cancer patients.
- Animal activist PETA barbecues ‘dog’ in Pitt St Mall
- Australia Day 2019: Vegemite pizzas, Tim Tam margaritas and DJs on deck
- Police search for bad Santa after theft of high performance Mercedes from Zetland
- Thousands marched in Sydney for pill testing at festivals and raves
CANCER Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Professor Sanchia Aranda is passionate about making a difference to the lives of cancer patients.
The Alexandria resident has spent her life studying and working to improve the survival rate of cancer, and now she has been nominated for an Australia Day Honours award, for her significant service to community health, particularly to cancer control and nursing.
It was her love of helping people and the stimulation of learning about disease and the impact it had on the human condition that inspired her to pursue a career in health.
When she moved to Melbourne in 1979, her intention was to work in a burns unit.
She was instead assigned to an oncology unit.
“To my surprise I loved the experience of working with people with cancer and in that unit particularly leukaemia.
“You were able to build ongoing relationships with patients across their cancer journey and through this really make a difference.”
After a year at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, she moved to the UK where she completed a premier cancer nursing course at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
“I learnt so much about the emerging sophistication of cancer treatment,” she said.
Her time in London really hooked her into the reality that “to make a difference, we need to change systems and to do that we had to ensure nurses were at the table of decision making,” she said.
“To this day it is still often the case that nurses are not invited into the forums that make decisions or given advice to governments yet we are the largest workforce and the closest to knowing the experience of patients.”
Once back in Australia, Prof Aranda undertook a degree in nursing then a Masters and PHD, all focused on improving nursing capacity to make a difference for patients.
Looking back on her life, she said her biggest achievements has been leading Cancer Council Australia as the first nurse and woman to hold the role.
She said it has given her the “opportunity to highlight that while cancer outcomes are the best in the world this is not the case for everyone with outcomes poorest for the most disadvantaged in our communities,” she said.
“When I first started in cancer, overall survival was under 40 per cent, and today it is 68 per cent and rising.
“For some cancers, the change has been remarkable.”
She said the most remarkable has been that of cervical cancer.
“In my working career we have gone through the discovery that most cervical cancers are caused by a virus and that this virus can be prevented with vaccination — Australia being part of the discovery of the vaccine and the first country to introduce it into our schools vaccination program.”
She said Australia will set to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem within 20-years.
“This is in contrast to the situation globally where almost 600,000 women die of cervical cancer every year either because these tools are unaffordable or because there is no political will to implement them,” she said.
“The exciting thought is how many other cancers can we get to this point in my lifetime and how can we make sure that these advances are for everyone, not just those who are wealthy or live in wealthy countries.”
Prof Aranda said the nomination was humbling, but alsoa reflection of the work of many along the way.
“As an Australian by choice not birth, this country has given me so many opportunities and to be recognised in this was means I hope that I made the most of the opportunities given to me,” she said.
“There are so many deserving individuals and so am very grateful to all who made this possible,” she said.
Meet the talented young artists from ARTEXPRESS 2025
The annual art exhibition which shows some of the most outstanding and exemplary artworks across NSW by HSC visual arts students has opened. Meet the students and see their amazing works.
Backflip on Harbour Bridge bike ramp night works after local uproar
Transport for NSW has confirmed it will not proceed with accelerated night works to build a new bike ramp connection for Sydney Harbour Bridge following opposition from residents in Milsons Point.