For the past 20 years, Launceston-born pathologist Richard Scolyer has been at the centre of melanoma research.
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In that time the life expectancy for people diagnosed with advanced melanoma has tripled.
It's a statistic largely attributed to professor Scolyer's work as co-director of the Melanoma Institute of Australia.
Considered one of the world's leading melanoma pathologists, the former Riverside student is now on a mission to make death from skin cancer obsolete.
"It has been unbelievable what has happened over the last decade," he said.
"To be at the centre of those developments, really around the world, has just been an amazing opportunity.
"Up until 2009, if you had advanced melanoma, less than a quarter of people would be alive within the year.
"In fact if you had brain metastasis, where the melanoma spread to the brain, most would be dead in six weeks.
"Now we have 75 per cent of people who have stage four or advanced melanoma, who are still alive a year later."
Each year professor Scolyer receives more than 2000 cases for review and opinion from around the world.
He also recently co-edited the new World Health Organisation's Classification of Skin Tumours, 4th Edition.
In 2019 he was awarded the Professor Rob Sutherland AO Make a Difference Award, in recognition of his impact and sustained progress to cancer care and research.
Alongside fellow MIA co-medical-director Georgina Long, Professor Scolyer was also awarded the GSK Award for Research Excellence.
The team were credited with transforming the diagnosis and treatment landscape of melanoma world-wide.
Professor Scolyer said targeted therapy and immunotherapy had changed the game when it came to treating cancer.
"Up until this time, for people whose melanoma had been spread throughout the body, there weren't any effective therapy," he said.
"We had to cut things out, but that didn't stop it from progressing.
"Now we have two types of drugs that are very effective.
"One, targeted therapy, which targets the genetic alterations within the tumour itself.
"The other, immunotherapy, which perhaps is more famous now because it is effective in many types of cancer.
"We led the cancer field in melanoma, showing that immunotherapy works."
In other news:
A largely preventable disease, melanoma remains the most common cancer diagnosed in Australians aged between 15 and 39 years.
Despite advancements in treatment, one Australian dies from melanoma every five hours.
As professor Scolyer explained, the disease does not discriminate, and despite progress, Australia has maintained its title for having the most cases of melanoma worldwide.
"It is true that all of Australia, we are exposed to the sun more," he said.
"Yet we have so many people with pale skin, people who are not suitable for the climate they live in.
"Queensland has the highest incidence in the country, it gets less in NSW, Victoria, to Tasmania.
"Still, in Tasmania the incidence of Melanoma is very high compared to most other parts of the world."
On Sunday, March 3, professor Scolyer will return to Tasmania to take part in Launceston's Melanoma March.
The event aims to raise life-saving funds for melanoma research and to provide support to melanoma patients.
Professor Scolyer said there were still many misconceptions around the disease.
"Definitely people aren't heeding the sun smart message, so we still have a lot of work to do," he said.
"Elderly males, over 60, is the group that the incidence of melanoma is increasing the highest.
"There is this idea, I presume, that they think that I've done my damage now, so it doesn't really matter what I do.
"But that's wrong. Your skin is still susceptible to damage.
"By exposing your skin to the sun, you will breed melanoma still even when you are over 60.
"Prevention will always be better than the cure."
- Launceston's Melanoma March will take place on March 3 at the Heritage Forest Trail. For more information visit launceston.melanomamarch.org.au.