Prof Michael Jefford

Professor Michael Jefford is a Consultant Medical Oncologist – and Director of the Australian Cancer Survivorship Centre – at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and is a Professorial Fellow with the University of Melbourne.

He completed medical oncology training (FRACP) in 1999. He holds a PhD (2002) and Graduate Certificate in University Teaching (2013) from the University of Melbourne and Masters degrees in Health Services Management (2003) and in Public Health (2006) from Monash University. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

His major clinical focus is on the management of people with gastrointestinal cancers. 

Michael has made significant contributions around service delivery, research, policy and program development, and to the international literature regarding cancer survivorship. He co-chairs the International Psycho-Oncology Society’s Survivorship Special Interest Group and is the immediate past chair of the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA)’s Cancer Survivorship Committee and past co-chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)’s Health Equity and Outcomes Committee. He has several other committee roles with ASCO.

Amongst other leadership roles, Michael is a COSA Board Member (Director). He was previously Deputy Director of Medical Oncology at Peter Mac and has held senior leadership roles with cancer-related organisations including Cancer Council Victoria and BreastScreen Victoria, and professional organisations such as the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Medical Oncology Group of Australia.

Most of his research has a cancer survivorship focus, aiming to better understand issues affecting survivors; to develop and implement strategies to minimise post-treatment consequences; to develop improved models of care, and to better understand and minimise disparities in cancer survivorship outcomes. In addition, he is co-investigator on several cancer therapeutic and supportive care / psychosocial studies. He has been awarded over A$21m in grant funding as a chief / principal investigator.

He has been heavily involved with professional education and university teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level. In 2007 he established the Specialist Certificate in Clinical Research (Oncology), an award course of the University of Melbourne, which he coordinated for 8 years.

He is widely published (>200 publications) and has been an invited speaker / presented work at numerous international meetings covering clinical oncology, survivorship, psycho-oncology and cancer control broadly.