’Near patient’ research program targets blood cancer

Research into blood cancer will be boosted with a new high-level appointment at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute. Haematologist Professor Maher Gandhi is the institute's new Leukaemia Foundation of Queensland Chair in Blood Cancer Research. The position has been created to establish and coordinate a world-leading program in "near-patient" research into blood cancer. Professor Maher said his research would aim to understand the basis of blood cancer. "I will seek to devise less toxic and more effective treatments, to establish new biomarkers which will help determine the most effective treatment strategies, to monitor response and relapse, and to understand the development of blood cancers," he said. Near-patient research involves clinicians treating patients in close proximity to their research laboratories. One of Professor Maher's patients, Lorna, is a blood cancer survivor.