Pioneering researcher’s farewell after cancer battle
Alex Mitchell |
A pioneering pathologist credited with saving thousands of lives through groundbreaking melanoma research is set for a state farewell.
Richard Scolyer, the 2024 Australian of the Year, will be honoured with a state memorial service on Monday, having died from brain cancer on June 7 aged 59.
Dignitaries including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, NSW Premier Chris Minns and Governor-General Sam Mostyn will attend the service at the Sydney Opera House.
Professor Scolyer will be remembered as the pathologist that turned melanoma from being a common death sentence into a largely curable disease, through treatment that activated a patient’s immune system.
Loving family members will also remember his own inspirational battle with an incurable and aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma, where he underwent experimental treatment based on his own research.
“Rather than just accepting the terminal prognosis, he applied the same driven, interrogating, science-based attitude to his own cancer battle,” brother-in-law Charlie Nicoll said on his death.
“His rationale was simple – he wanted to continue to make a difference and he wanted cancer patients to know they weren’t alone.”
Prof Scolyer was given as little as six months to live in 2023 but survived for almost three years.
He won his Australian of the Year gong with colleague Georgina Long.
Prof Long described him as “the pathologists’ pathologist”.
“His knowledge was vast, his skill exceptional, with an unparalleled eye for accurate tissue diagnoses, and the precision to apply decades of experience where it mattered most,” she wrote on Instagram after his death.
Prof Scolyer penned a letter to all Australians to be published upon his death, where he urged governments and the wider community to continue funding science and medical research.
“To my research and clinical colleagues, I implore you to stay inquisitive and brave and keep striving to break new ground,” he wrote.
“To all cancer patients, I encourage you to consider enrolling in research and clinical trials, if on offer.”
The prime minister called Prof Scolyer one of Australia’s brightest lights and biggest hearts.
“Every day, this remarkable man – the cancer specialist who became his own subject – took us into his confidence and he lifted us all in the process,” Mr Albanese said.
AAP