Report June 2025 - Medical Oncology Group of Australia (MOGA)
12 June 2025
MOGA is the national professional organisation for Australian medical oncology and profession, and a Special Society of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP). This report outlines highlights of our activities over the first half of 2025.
Workforce, Workload and Wellbeing
MOGA members manage the national medical oncology workforce, workload, and well-being daily. On a practical level this entails establishing national and local initiatives to support wellbeing and safe, productive cultures within Australian workplaces. The MOGA-led National Oncology Mentorship Program (NOMP) guided by Drs Jenny Liu and Udit Nindra has entered its third successful year and is proactively providing workplace and training support to our members.
MOGA is responsible for monitoring and planning the workload, wellbeing and workforce needs of the Australian profession to ensure the membership can sustainably, deliver clinical best practice given the ever-increasing complexity and burden of cancer care. Since the start of the year our Workforce Committee has been expanding its representation and work to include all practice settings (metropolitan/regional/ remote/international) and private, industry, public and academic sectors. They are also aiming to develop national benchmarks of Medical Oncologist workload as it pertains to the increasing complexity in cancer care, identifying workforce gaps and future challenges.
Advocacy
MOGA has been monitoring and proactively responding to the recent negotiations taking place in NSW with regards to the new industrial award for medical staff ongoing in the first half of 2025 and will continue to be supporting our members as well as providing responses to the State Health Minister.
Our Oncology Drugs Working Group continues to provide regular feedback to the PBAC about proposed new listings and has met several times this year with the new chair Professor Robyn Ward. Drs Anupriya Agarwal and Lucy Corke currently lead the development of submissions provided to the PBAC, highlighting medicines that are of high priority nationally for PBS listing. The group has also been actively collaborating with the TGA Shortages Section to develop better policy regarding national drug shortages to ensure patients can access key cancer medicines when they need. Dr Jennifer Soon contributed to the recent review of minimum stockholding requirements in Australia aimed at attempting to avoid the shortages in important drugs such as the recent problems with carboplatin and capecitabine. The group has also commenced work with the TGA to develop an essential oncology drugs list for the TGA.
Educational Initiatives
In March the MOGA Medical Ethics Group, led by Dr Tam Bui, convened the first session in our Medical Ethics webinar series, on the topic of Conflicts of Interest in Medical Oncology; Prof Michael Millward, Chaired the session and Prof Wendy Lipworth and Dr Lisa Parker shared insights on the definition and clinical implications of COIs, and how medical oncologists can identify and manage them. Our panel, which also included Prof John Zalcberg AO and Cancer Voices consumer representative, Ms Karen van Gorp, concluded with a very lively and spirited interactive session with the large audience.
In late May,30 young medical oncologist and trainees, participated in the 2025 Sciences of Oncology Workshop, Convened by A/Prof Connie Diakos, MOGA’s Education lead. This one-day program offered practical, real-time education focussing on the emerging developments in the sciences that underpin oncology and how they are currently transforming clinical practice. The educational sessions were presented by leading Australian oncology experts. Travel support was provided to interstate participants, including a large group from Western Australia.
From 12-14 August Drs Miles Andrews and Lavinia Spain, will convene the 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting Beyond the Checkpoints – Navigating the Immunotherapy Revolution. The meeting will explore how immunotherapy has not replaced, but enriched cancer care alongside more established treatment approaches. This will include the dual challenges of immunotherapy failure and immune-related adverse events, insights to stay ahead of the next wave of Immunotherapeutics and how to navigate ever-changing treatment options, moving goalposts of survival, and access to evolving standards of care. International speakers will include Dr Ecaterina Dumbrava, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr Andrew Furness, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Fay Hlubocky, University of Chicago Medicine and Dr Ishwaria Subbiah, The US Oncology Network, Sarah Cannon Research Institute. The meeting will draw national and international experts.
Planning has been finalised for the next MOGA Breast Cancer Preceptorship (Convenors A/Prof Diakos and Dr Lina Pugliano) scheduled from 31 October-1 November. Up to thirty-five young medical oncologists can register as preceptees for the program and, up to twelve early to mid-career medical oncologists with breast experience will participate as preceptors. Registration is open and travel support is available for interstate and regional participants.
Representing the profession
In the first half of 2025 the MOGA leadership participated in major international and national initiatives representing the Australian medical oncology profession.
From 6-8 March Chair, A/Prof Melissa Eastgate attended the Japanese Society of Medical Oncology Annual Meeting in Kobe, and had discussions with colleagues in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea about the workforce issues that are impacting medical oncologists in our region and globally.
Later in March Prof Phil Parente participated in the Council of Presidents of the Medical Colleges and Special Societies meeting regarding the critical issue of the supply of specialists in Australia and potential solutions. A/Prof James Lynam then attended the RACP and Societies Presidents' Forum. At the latter current education, training, leadership and development collaborations for trainees and Fellows were reviewed including the Advanced Training Committees, the Curriculum Review process and the CPD Program. The forum also included a Workforce breakout which identified priorities across sub-specialties encompassing National clinical needs, international benchmarking, mapping, and measuring demand.
In early May, the MOGA leadership joined the Federal Health Department to review Medicare compliance in the Medical Oncology Sector and plan for future collaboration. On 20 May A/Prof Tim Clay attended a Medicines Australia’s Oncology Industry Taskforce meeting which considered the challenges of the national regulatory system and applications for combination therapies where there is more than one sponsor and cross industry support for liquid biopsy for lung cancer patients.
A/Prof Melissa Eastgate, MOGA Chair
Ms Flavia Portela, MOGA General Manager