Welcome to our new recruit, Dr Joseph Kong!

Dr Joseph Kong

Welcome to Dr Joseph Kong! 

Professor Terry O'Brien, Head of Central Clinical School, writes:

It is with great pleasure that I can announce the recruitment of Dr Joe Kong, MBChB, MS, PhD, FRACS to an 0.5 FTE academic appointment as a Senior Research Fellow (Level C) in the Department of Surgery, Central Clinical School, Monash University. 

Alfred oncology clinical trial pioneers remote treatment

L-R: Dr Mark Voskoboynik and Professor Mark Shackleton

Before COVID-19 struck, Natalia Rodriguez had been travelling from Launceston to The Alfred Hospital’s Oncology Unit in Melbourne every three weeks to take part in a clinical trial that could save her life.

The mum of two has cervical cancer, and the phase 1 trial of two immunotherapy drugs, which are still undergoing early testing, had already shown promise in shrinking the tumours that had spread throughout her body.

But with the outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia, Tasmania shut its borders. Natalia was no longer able to travel to Melbourne to continue the treatment – the only treatment that had made any headway against her cancer.