What the $100 million Brain Cancer Mission means for Brain Matters


A note from our Executive Director and Connor’s Mum, Liz Dawes.

Last weekend’s Government announcement of the Australian Brain Cancer Mission and $100 million dollars for brain cancer was extraordinary.

The collective voice of the brain cancer community, including yours, was too loud to ignore. It’s a proud and hopeful moment for everyone involved and I truly hope all of you who made this possible are filled with a sense of pride and accomplishment.

The last few days I’ve been reflecting, what does this really mean? (The Government Fact Sheet can be viewed here).

I’ve even been asked if we still need to be raising money. The answer is yes, and even more so! $100 million is a lot of money but spread over 10 years, spilt across adult and paediatric brain cancer and with multiple desired outcomes, there’s still plenty for us to do.

I am meeting with the Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt in a few weeks. At our meeting we will be discussing the Government’s priorities specifically for paediatric brain cancer and ways we can continue to work together. Our collaboration on the AIM BRAIN Project is a wonderful beginning that we’re looking forward to building on.

Funding innovative new research, promising clinical trials, forging international collaborations and helping educate the next generation of researchers are all areas we will continue to focus on and I will share the results of our meeting with you.

In the meantime, I soon head to SNO in San Francisco where CERN (The Collaborative Ependymoma Research Network) will be announcing the Robert Connor Dawes Fellowship jointly funded by our Australia and US charities. This will be awarded to the world’s top young researcher studying paediatric ependymoma, who could be anywhere in the world! It’s a fantastic example of true, global collaboration and is personally rewarding to be doing something so meaningful in Connor’s name, which would not have been possible without you.

Thank you all for believing in what we are so passionate about doing and for helping us do it! You are awesome.

Aeternum Fortis,
Liz