Peter Mac is one of the world’s leading cancer research, education and treatment centres globally and is Australia’s only public hospital solely dedicated to caring for people affected by cancer. There are over 2,500 staff, including more than 600 laboratory and clinical researchers, all focused on providing better treatments, better care and potential cures for cancer.

The centre is named after Sir Peter MacCallum who in 1949 founded a dedicated cancer care and research facility in Melbourne, Victoria. In 2019, Peter Mac marks 70 years of building on Sir Peter’s Vision of a “cancer centre unsurpassed in the world, where humanity, caring service and relentless research share equal value”.

Peter Mac is a professional oncologist training centre and Australia’s only public hospital (in-patient and out-patient services) dedicated to cancer treatment, research and education. The integrated model includes medical and radiation oncology facilities along with allied health services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, speech therapy and social services.

It is also one of the few cancer treatment facilities in the world to have a fully integrated clinical and laboratory program situated alongside a hospital. This co-location facilitates the translation of research findings into clinical outcomes within the single site. Research programs at the centre include the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) Cancer Cell Biology Program and the ACRF Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics in Cancer.

In June 2016, Peter Mac relocated to and became the major occupant of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) building, a purpose-built $1.1 billion facility in Melbourne’s biomedical precinct. Peter Mac is also a member of the broader VCCC Alliance – a multi-site, multi-disciplinary initiative which brings together ten successful Victorian organisations committed to cancer control.

The VCCC Alliance also includes Melbourne Health (The Royal Melbourne Hospital), The University of Melbourne, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, The Royal Women’s Hospital, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Western Health, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (St Vincent’s Institute), Austin Health (Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and Austin Lifesciences) and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

This brings together cancer experts dedicated to the use of research discoveries to accelerate improvements in prevention, patient care and education on a large scale. The Alliance also bolsters the global competitiveness of member organisations by creating a critical mass that can overcome the problems of scale and geography to attract international clinical trials.