Earlier this year, we announced an initiative for consumers to apply for one of five free consumer registrations for the ACTA International Clinical Trials Conference. This was to celebrate consumer involvement in clinical trials, and to make it clear that we welcome and encourage consumers to attend and participate at the Conference.

We received a high volume of quality applications, so thank you to everyone who applied. We’d like to extend our sincere congratulations to the following successful consumers:

Jo Cockwill is a member of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) steering group promoting investigator-initiated clinical trials, and a consumer representative on the trial selection panel, which decides which local trials will be supported. She was previously the Education Officer for the Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (now Breast Cancer Trials).

Leslie Gilham is Chair of the Consumer Advisory Panel for Breast Cancer Trials (BCT). Leslie is also involved with educating and training other consumers through BCT’s IMPACT (Improving Participation and Advocacy for Clinical Trials) Advocate Program, which is held annually as part of the BCT Annual Scientific Meeting.

Grace Malanos is a member of the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of the Cancer Council NSW, reviewing all research proposals and monitoring the progress of clinical studies. Grace also has professional experience as a pharmacoeconomist.

Nicole Scholes-Robertson is a patient partner with the Centre for Kidney Research, and also holds roles with The Australasian Kidney Trials Network (AKTN) and the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry (ANZDATA).

Brian Wall is currently a member of the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG) Consumer Advisory Panel, a member of Cancer Voices, and has held consultancies in the clinical trials space, including consultation work for the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) regarding funding for clinical trials.