Two doctors who have saved tens of thousands of lives by revolutionising melanoma treatment – and are now devoting themselves to finding a breakthrough cure for brain cancer as one of them stares down a terminal tumour – have been named 2024 Australians of the Year.
Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer, the pioneering co-medical directors of the Sydney-based Melanoma Institute Australia, turned a diagnosis of advanced melanoma from a death sentence into a curable disease for more than half of patients. “Our goal is now to cure the other 50 per cent and, in doing so, hopefully help other cancers as well,” Long said.Alex Ellinghausen But now, their mission has become personal. Scolyer, 57, was diagnosed with one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of brain cancer last June. The average survival time is 12 to 18 months. Accepting the award on Thursday night, Long turned to Scolyer and said she hoped “for nothing more than the both of us, in 12 months’ time, to be standing here, passing the baton to the next Australian of the Year