On Friday 1st May Dr John Leyden (Unicorn Foundation), Rosanne Robinson (ANSTO), Dr Geoff Schembri and Elizabeth Bailey (Royal North Shore) hosted twelve ‘senior’ students from Mosman Public School in the Nuclear Medicine Department of Royal North Shore Hospital Sydney.
Organised by Tina Bradstreet this excursion was a wonderful opportunity for students from Mosman Public school to gain an understanding and a greater awareness of the importance of nuclear medicine techniques in the diagnosis, management and treatment of patients with Neuroendocrine cancers (NET).
Engaging presentations, especially from Dr Geoff Schembri regarding the merits of nuclear medicines had the students reconsidering careers as ‘reality TV stars’ for more stimulating roles as nuclear medical scientists. The students were also provided an insight into the production of Lutetium-177, the active radioactive particle in Lutate by Rosanne Robinson from the Australian Nuclear and Scientific Technology Organisation (ANSTO) at Lucas Heights in Sydney. Overall, it was a great morning.
These students will go back to Mosman Public and present their new knowledge to the school and encourage them to fundraise for the Unicorn Foundation and its involvement in supporting a world first clinical trial comparing a nuclear medicine therapy – peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT – “Lutate) with conventional chemotherapy in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine cancers (GEPNETS).
This trial is will be commencing in June with Royal North Shore as a principal site for patients to be enrolled in the study.
The Unicorn Foundation is grateful for the support of Mosman Public’s Mini-Mos Community Fun Run and Fair which have raised over $25,000 for the CONTROL NETS clinical trial which is commencing soon as a result of the $200,000 grant from the Unicorn Foundation.
We encourage everyone to join the Mini-Mos Community Fun Run and run in either the 2km, 5km or 10km on Sunday June 14th 2015 – go to www.mini-mos.com and fundraising for the Unicorn Foundation.
