Westmead Melanoma Program
The Westmead Melanoma Program is a multidisciplinary service involving collaboration between medical and surgical teams to provide a full range of services for the management of melanoma, including prevention, early diagnosis, surgical and medical treatments and palliative care. The Westmead Melanoma Program members assess and manage patients who have different stages of melanoma. This means that we not only treat melanoma of the skin, we also treat melanoma that has spread to other parts of the body.
Our mutual goal is to provide optimal care to patients in the Western Sydney area and the wider community who will benefit from services such as dermatology, surgical oncology, medical oncology and radiation oncology. Our team provides education on prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treatments for melanoma.
Every fortnight Melanoma experts (from all specialties mentioned above, as well as pathologists and nuclear medicine physicians) meet at the Melanoma Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meeting to discuss the best management of patients to ensure that patients receive the most up to date and optimal care.
The Westmead Melanoma Program participates in various research projects with a goal to to improve our knowledge about melanoma for other health professionals and to ultimately benefit patients. Clinical and research staff regularly attend conferences world-wide where their ground-breaking research is showcased.
The clinicians of the Westmead Melanoma Service are affiliated with various prestigious research and teaching institutions such as:
Many staff of The Westmead Melanoma Program are also staff, members and affiliates of the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) and a number of MIA staff are based within the Westmead Melanoma Program ensuring patients of the service have access to world leading research led by the MIA. One such position is the Westmead Melanoma Clinical Nurse Consultant, whose position is partially funded by MIA.
Westmead Hospital is one of the MIA’s major hubs. Clinical trials, including pioneering trials of BRAF inhibitors and immune check-point inhibitors, both conducted at Westmead, have led directly to life-saving new melanoma treatments on the PBS, including dabrafenib, trametinib and pembrolizumab. Westmead is also the home of MIA’s long-standing investigations into the genetic basis of melanoma and the management of familial melanoma through the Australian Melanoma Family Study.
Referral Process
The Westmead Melanoma Program referrals are triaged by our medical staff. Please send us a referral with as much information as possible to assist us with managing your referral appropriately.
How to refer
Please ask your doctor (e.g GP or Specialist) to contact us by:
Emailing a referral to [email protected]
Download a referral proforma here
Or
Phone us to book an appointment: (02) 8890 5200
Urgent Referrals
For urgent referrals, a referring doctor can phone the Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre Westmead on 02 8890 5200 to speak to the Surgical Oncology Clinical Nurse Consultant, Westmead Melanoma Clinical Nurse Consultant or the relevant clinician; or phone Westmead Hospital 02 (8890 5555) and ask for the Dermatology Registrar on-call.
Routine Referrals
All referrals must include:
- Level of urgency
- Name, age, date of birth, address
- Contact telephone numbers
- Doctor’s referral number (for Medicare)
- Specific clinical problems requiring consultation
- Preferred Language. Please indicate if interpreter is needed
- Copy of results of relevant investigations performed within the previous 12 months
- List of current medications
Clinics
Dermatology clinics are located in the Department of Dermatology (D5a). All other clinics are located in the Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre, Westmead Hospital.
- Dermatology-Oncoderm-Triage
This clinic is a general dermatology clinic where a patient with a skin lesion suspicious of skin cancer can be seen by the dermatology team. The patient needs to be referred by a General Practitioner or a Specialist.
- High Risk Melanoma Clinic (Professor Fernandez-Penas)
This clinic is a dermatology clinic designed to maximise skin cancer and melanoma detection rate by performing full body photography, sequential digital dermoscopy and regular full skin examinations for patients who would be considered high risk of developing another melanoma. For detailed information on the availability and the cost involved in attending the clinic, please ring us on 8890 5686 or email us on [email protected]
- Onco-dermatology Clinic (Dr Raquel Ruiz Araujo)
This clinic is a dermatology clinic specifically designed to treat oncology patients who develop skin side effects from oncology systemic drugs. The clinic is open from 8:30am to 4:30pm Thursdays and Fridays.
Once a patient is referred to onco-dermatology clinic, our dermatology medical team will review the patient and provide appropriate treatment for the patient’s condition. Our onco-dermatology team conducts multiple research projects and clinical data collected from patients may be used for research purposes if informed consent is given by the patient.
- In vivo Confocal laser microscopy (Dr Raquel Ruiz Araujo)
This non-invasive technology (no surgical procedure involved) allows the visualization of the skin with microscopy resolution of the epidermis and upper dermis to aid in the diagnose of some pigmented lesions and to delineate extension of lentigo maligna prior to treatment and follow up.
- Surgical Oncology Clinic (Dr Julie Howle, Dr Eva Wong, Dr Muzib Abdul Razak, Dr Gideon Sandler)
This clinic is a surgical speciality clinic where patients with melanoma or other skin cancers are seen. Patients are seen before surgery, in order to plan their procedure and in follow-up, after surgery has been performed.
- Medical Oncology Clinic (Dr Matteo Carlino)
In the medical oncology clinic, patients with advanced melanoma or high risk resected melanoma are seen for consideration of systemic therapy more commonly known as chemotherapy. The medical oncology team have had a leading role in the two recent significant developments in the treatment of melanoma: targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Patients attending the medical oncology clinic continue to be offered the opportunity to participate in clinical trials of new drugs and drug combinations.
- Radiation Oncology Clinic (Dr Tim Wang)
Patients with melanoma may benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy to prevent local or regional relapse after surgical resection of primary melanoma or any nodal disease. Also patients with metastatic melanoma also benefit from palliative radiotherapy or stereotactic radiosurgery for symptom palliation or local disease control of metastatic disease. This clinic is a new patient and follow up clinic for patients with melanoma requiring radiotherapy treatment.
STAFF
Dermatology
– Dermatologist: Professor Pablo Fernandez-Penas (Head of Department), Dr Raquel Ruiz Araujo
– Dermatology Clinical Trials & Research Unit Manager: Rupal Patel
– Dermatology Clinical Research Fellows
– Dermatology Registrars
– Dermatology Research Team secretary: Monika Thakur
Surgical Oncology
– Surgical Oncologist: Dr Julie Howle, Dr Eva Wong, Dr Muzib Abdul Razak, Dr Gideon Sandler
– Surgical Oncology Fellows
– Surgical Oncology Registrars, Senior residents
Medical Oncology
– Medical Oncologist: Dr Matteo Carlino
– Medical Oncology Clinical Trial Fellows
– Medical Oncology Registrars
Radiation Oncology
– Radiation Oncologist: Dr Tim Wang
– Radiation Oncology Registrars
Clinical Nurse Consultants (CNC)
– Sue-Ellen Delforce (Surgical Oncology CNC)
– Nicki Taylor (Advanced Melanoma CNC)