After almost four decades of transformative contributions to the care of patients with cancer, Professor Euan Walpole is retiring from his role as the Medical Director of Cancer Services at Princess Alexandra Hospital, leaving behind a legacy of cancer care that has benefited Queensland, Australia, and beyond.
Dr. Walpole has not only advanced medical oncology outcomes for countless Australians, but also inspired a generation of trainees and young investigators, elevating evidence-based practice and research to world-leading heights.
His influence has been profound, from building the largest cancer service in Queensland and the largest cancer research centre in the state, to mentoring emerging leaders across cancer specialties. His vision and redirection for the Queensland Cancer Register enabled understanding for the first time of how patients were treated for cancer and their outcomes which has reshaped the narrative of cancer treatment.
Dr Walpole started at PAH as an intern in 1981, advancing through his training at multiple facilities, but it was in 1990 that he returned to PAH making it his clinical home.
“I chose PA specifically because it was vastly better to work at than anywhere else in Queensland – the attitude of the staff was different, it was a team working together to get the best for people,” he said. “Cancer as a specialty at PAH was also more innovative – the relationship between surgery, medical oncology, and radiation oncology existed in harmony. It was the people here that made that happen and I wanted to be part of it.”
It is a point of pride with Dr Walpole that PA’s cancer services (including the satellite services across Metro South Health) are a significant size with the largest radiation oncology service in the state by a long shot. It services the largest population in Queensland with the least private facilities in the catchment as alternatives to public care.
To answer the needs of the southside, Dr Walpole has overcome the challenges of the population size and a smaller inpatient bed platform by crafting innovative models of care that efficiently treat more patients through ambulatory services.
“The amount of effort we invest in not having people in hospital is under recognised,” Dr Walpole said. “If you look at the rest of the hospital, most things are done as inpatients and while we count chemotherapy as inpatient activity, only about a quarter of our activity is overnight stay; the rest is all ambulatory with people living at home where they prefer to be - and that’s the way it should be.”
A key part of his leadership was also about bringing together the best minds in cancer care across the professional groups with nursing, nursing research, a ‘super enthusiastic’ allied health cohort who go above and beyond what they are funded to do, and the multidisciplinary meetings to expedite the efficiency and effectiveness of individual care of patients.
“Nursing case managers, breast care nurses, and allied health specialties are essential to the collaborative approach to care, not to mention they help keep patients out of hospital which is a big benefit for the patients as well as the demands on our service,” Dr Walpole said.
A common refrain during his early cancer career aspirations in the 1990’s was ‘what’s the point? Why do you want to deal with cancer when the outcomes are poor’. This served only to inspire him into research, developing a significant list of distinguished research trials and publications alongside his clinical practice in the areas of melanoma, upper gastrointestinal cancer and cancer epidemiology.
“There's evidence that you can make a difference in breast cancer and some others if you do the right treatment - but how do you know you've achieved it?” he said. “How do we prove that we actually do something useful in cancer care and the only way you can do that is to measure it.
“I got my first money to look at cancer outcomes here in 1995, looking at how you actually get quality data so you can measure and compare it. This has been a significant part of my career.”
The legacy of this dedication to measuring ‘bits of data’ for disease prevalence, mortality, demographic data and evidence-based interventions led to relationships with CSIRO and copious specific cancer data groups, the formation of The Partnership, Qld Cancer Control and Analysis Team, which is now wrapped up into the overarching body of Cancer Alliance Queensland administered through Metro South Health and chaired by Dr Walpole.
The Cancer Alliance Queensland website lists Dr Euan Walpole as the Godfather of data and chief MDT enthusiast, and never a truer word was written with his entire career dedicated to painting the picture of disease and advocating for quality cancer care in Queensland and Australia. But his legacy is so much more than that:
- “We've delivered more treatment to more people.
- The survival of people with cancer has improved significantly in the last 20 years; both from the primary diagnosis using surgical with adjunctive treatment, and the survival of people with advanced cancer.
- We now have multiple lines of treatment with patients still remaining functionally well for a long time with the new problem being that they now have the symptoms of getting old rather than just having cancer.
- We have been able to provide long term survival to a significant proportion of patients with advanced Melanoma. Previously, primary treatment was quite successful, but if it relapsed, they were in big trouble. If it spread anywhere, they usually died.”
“The change in perspective of what cancer treatment is all about in this era compared to the approach in the 1990’s, and actually having the data to prove that alongside our research, is key to changing the perceptions of our life’s-work treating patients with cancer,” Dr Walpole said.
A quiet achiever by nature, wearing many professional hats throughout his day and well into the night with representation in international meetings, his distinguished research career has directly impacted government policies and will continue to shape the future of healthcare. Dr Walpole has held numerous senior leadership roles with major national organisations including The Therapeutics Goods Administration, Cancer Australia, Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, The Royal Australian College of Physicians, Queensland Health and the Medical Oncology Group of Australia.
While he will continue as the Chair of Cancer Alliance Queensland doing the work he loves with outcomes-based research, he will be embracing his role as a granddad where he again gets to do the best bits of his role in the multidisciplinary family team – playing and watching his grandson without the crawling on the floor or the nights of broken sleep.
In celebrating Dr Walpole’s clinical service and dedication at PAH, we honour a leader who has seamlessly combined research excellence, mentorship, and advocacy to leave an indelible mark on the global fight against cancer.