Dr. Richard Anthony Scolyer AO (born 16 December 1966[3]) is an Australian pathologist. He is a senior staff specialist in tissue pathology and diagnostic oncology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital,[4][5] co-medical director alongside Georgina Long at the Melanoma Institute Australia,[6] and Conjoint Professor, Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney.[7] He was honoured along with Georgina Long as 2024 Australians of the Year.

Career

Scolyer provides a clinical consultation service for the diagnosis of difficult pigmented lesions and receives more than 2000 cases for opinion from Australasia and beyond annually. He integrates his clinical practice with co-leading a translational melanoma research laboratory.[6]

In February 2019, he was ranked the world's 10th leading publisher on the topic of melanoma and the world's leading publisher in melanoma pathology.[8] Scolyer has co-authored more than 700 publications and book-chapters on the subject,[4][6] and was an editor of the 4th Edition of the WHO Classification of Tumours.[9]

Cancer diagnosis and treatment

in June 2023, Scolyer was diagnosed with a stage 4 glioblastoma IDH wild-type brain tumour.[10][1] With treatment for glioblastoma mostly unchanged for the last 20 years, Scolyer and Dr Georgina Long worked together to develop a world first treatment for his brain tumour based on their breakthroughs in melanoma research. Scolyer underwent experimental combination immunotherapy before and after surgical excision of the tumour; delaying his surgery to do so. Scolyer was also administered a cancer vaccine personalised to the tumour genetic markers, in order to help the immunotherapy detect the cancer cells. His treatment was documented in the journal Nature Medicine,[11] paving the way for future clinical trials. While Scolyer and his colleagues have applied these techniques successfully to melanoma, this treatment is non-standard for brain cancer due to concerns about toxicity, whether drugs will reach the brain, and speed of tumour development.[12]

Eighteen months after surgery, Scolyer's cancer had not returned, a promising result with potentially broader implications due to the pioneering approach taken, with the normal prognosis for this glioblastoma being 6–9 months; though oncologists warned that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of the treatment, compared to standard protocols.[13]On 10 March 2025, Richard announced the cancer had returned, and he was given a prognosis of 3 months.[14][15]

Awards and recognition

Scolyer received the New South Wales Premier's Award for Outstanding Cancer Research in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2020.[16]

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to medicine, particularly in the field of melanoma and skin cancer, and to national and international professional organisations" in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours.[4]

He was named 2024 Australian of the Year alongside Dr Georgina Long by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government-owned social enterprise.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b MacLennan, Leah (20 September 2023). "Cancer expert given experimental treatments for incurable brain tumour describes 'phenomenal' results". ABC News. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  2. ^ Burns, Brielle (4 December 2023). "Doctor facing 'certain death' does unthinkable". news.com.au. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  3. ^ https://australianoftheyear.org.au/sites/default/files/2024-01/media_release_-_2024_australian_of_the_year_awards_announcement.pdf
  4. ^ a b c "Professor Richard Anthony Scolyer". It's an Honour. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Tissue Pathology at RPA". www.tissuepathologyatrpa.com.au. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  6. ^ a b c "Our team". Melanoma Institute Australia. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Staff Profile". The University of Sydney. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Melanoma: Worldwide - Expertscape.com". expertscape.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  9. ^ DE, Elder; D, Massi; RA, Scolyer; R, Willemze (11 September 2018). WHO Classification of Skin Tumours. World Health Organization. ISBN 978-92-832-2440-2.
  10. ^ "World Leading Pathologist Documents His Own Cancer Journey". NSW Health Pathology. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  11. ^ Long, Georgina V.; Shklovskaya, Elena; Satgunaseelan, Laveniya; Mao, Yizhe; da Silva, Inês Pires; Perry, Kristen A.; Diefenbach, Russell J.; Gide, Tuba N.; Shivalingam, Brindha; Buckland, Michael E.; Gonzalez, Maria; Caixeiro, Nicole; Vergara, Ismael A.; Bai, Xinyu; Rawson, Robert V. (27 February 2025). "Neoadjuvant triplet immune checkpoint blockade in newly diagnosed glioblastoma". Nature Medicine: 1–10. doi:10.1038/s41591-025-03512-1. ISSN 1546-170X.
  12. ^ "Professor Richard Scolyer 'patient zero' in new frontier of brain cancer treatment". The Royal College of Pathologists of Australia. 22 February 2024. Archived from the original on 10 March 2025. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  13. ^ Turnbull, Tiffany. "Richard Scolyer: Melanoma doctor's high-stakes gamble to treat his brain cancer". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  14. ^ Langdon, Ally (10 March 2025). "Professor Richard Scolyer reveals brain cancer has returned, given just months to live". A Current Affair (Australian TV program). Nine News. Archived from the original on 10 March 2025. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  15. ^ "'I'm not ready to die': Professor Richard Scolyer reveals heartbreaking prognosis". ABC News. 10 March 2025. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  16. ^ "NSW Premier's Awards for Outstanding Cancer Research".
  17. ^ "Who are Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer, the 2024 Australians of the Year?". SBS News. 25 January 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
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