Celebrating 30 Years of Medical Oncology In Australia

I am delighted to welcome you to our Association’s 30th Anniversary Celebrations. These celebrations have great significance for MOGA as the peak professional body for medical oncologists in Australia as our anniversary also marks thirty years since the emergence of medical oncology as a speciality internationally. It is hard to believe that medical oncology is only thirty years old and in that time Australia has developed the strong and robust professional medical oncology workforce to which we belong.
 
I would like to acknowledge the enormous contribution that our members have and continue to make to the development of medical oncology in Australia. Over the last three decades our Association and medical oncology have undergone substantial changes and played an ever increasingly significant role in the treatment and management of cancer. Medical oncology in Australia is a vigorous, dynamic, exciting and above all, challenging profession and our members are involved in a vast number of areas of practice including clinical care, cancer research (including biology, therapeutics, epidemiology and clinical outcomes research), health education, ethics and clinical teaching.
 
I look forward to celebrating the achievements of our Association and our shared profession with all our members, trainees and professional colleagues in Australia and around the globe throughout 2008-2009.
 
Happy Birthday to MOGA and medical oncology in Australia!
 
Associate Professor Bogda Koczwara,
Chairman MOGA since 2006
 

Celebrating 30 years of Medical Oncology In Australia

Commencing at the Medical Oncology Group of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2008 in Christchurch, New Zealand, a series of activities will put medical oncology in the public spotlight.

• The first changes to the website will be revealed on 9 August 2008 in Christchurch and will include a special 30th Anniversary page which will focus on the Association’s history and the history of medical oncology as well as highlighting long serving members and a gallery of images from the MOGA picture archive.
• In 2009, the entirely new website will go live and will feature an improved Find an Oncologist resource for members and consumers along with a range of additional features and resources.
• An updated edition of the medical oncology trainee handbook called 'The Guide' developed by a Working Group of specialty consultants will be published.
• The 30th Anniversary special film, View from the Chair, will focus on the past chairmen of the Association, each speaking briefly about their favourite memories as leaders of MOGA
• A photographic competition, Visions of Medical Oncology, will be held for MOGA members to express their vision of medical oncology in creative terms.

 
Anniversary year celebrations will conclude at the 2009 30th Anniversary Annual Scientific Meeting in Canberra. The theme of the 2009 ASM is The Epidemiology of Cancer: From cause to care. Highlights of the 2009 Meeting will be the exhibition of selected photos from Visions of Medical Oncology and View from the Chair.
 

Anniversary Committee

Professor Ian Olver, Chair
A/Prof Bogda Koczwara, MOGA Chair
Professor Martin Tattersall
Ms Kay Francis, MOGA Executive Officer
Ms Franca Marine