Alan Coates

Alan Stuart Coates AM FRACP (born 27 June 1943) is an Australian professor of clinical oncology, medical researcher and administrator. He was the inaugural CEO of the Cancer Council Australia (1998–2006),[1] former president of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia (COSA),[2] and co-chair of the St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference.[3] He was also the first non-American to be elected to the board of directors of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.[4]

Alan Coates

AM FRACP
Alan Coates (2015)
Born (1943-06-27) 27 June 1943
Kew, Victoria, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne
AwardsOrder of Australia
Scientific career
FieldsClinical Oncology
InstitutionsUniversity of Sydney
Garvan Institute
Cancer Council Australia

Medical training and practice

Coates graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1966 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree and trained in internal medicine and immunology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research in Australia, then at the Wisconsin Clinical Cancer Center in the United States. He returned to Australia in 1978 and for 25 years was a medical oncologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. In 1985, he was appointed Associate Professor in Cancer Medicine in the University of Sydney. Since 1998 he has been a Clinical Professor at that university in the School of Public Health.[4] He is an accredited statistician (AStat) with the Statistical Society of Australia and is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP).[5]

Cancer research

Professor Coates' research specialises in melanoma, breast cancer and tumour immunology.[2] He is a visiting scientist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research[6] and the Kinghorn Cancer Centre in Sydney.[7] His collaborations with international organisations in clinical trials include the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, and the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, USA.[4]

During his term as CEO of the Australian Cancer Council he was responsible for reports to Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council,[8] Senate Inquiries[9] and briefing the Minister for Health.[10]

Professor Coates was until 2015 a co-chair of the biennial St. Gallen Breast Cancer Conference and one of the primary authors of its resulting "consensus paper",[3] a publication that is the "...clinically useful updated breast cancer treatment consensus for the majority of patients treated outside of clinical trials (>90%) in most countries."[11]

His published research papers appear across a wide range of journals, among which are Annals of Oncology, Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, Journal of Clinical Oncology, The Lancet Oncology and The New England Journal of Medicine.[4]

Awards and recognition
External video
video icon Interview on targeted breast cancer treatment, Milan Breast Cancer Conference (2008)
video icon Discussing screening for prostate cancer on Insight (2010)
video icon "The evolution of the St. Gallen consensus process for the optimal treatment of women with breast cancer": Opening address at the St. Gallen Breast Cancer Conference (2015)
  • 2002, appointed Member of the Order of Australia for "service to medicine in the field of oncology, particularly through breast cancer research".[12]
  • 2003, the Medical Oncology Group of Australia Pierre Fabre Cancer Achievement Award lecture.[13]
  • 2006, the American Society for Clinical oncology (ASCO) Distinguished Service Award for Scientific Leadership;[14] the gold medal of the Australian Cancer Society; the Tom Reeve Oration Award of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia (COSA)[5]
  • 2015, the St.Gallen Breast Cancer Award for his "commitment to international scientific trials and his focus on the quality of life of women afflicted with this cancer".[3][15]

The Australia & New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZBCTG) offers an annual award "The Alan Coates Award for Excellence in Clinical Trials Research".[16]

The "Alan Coates Cancer Centre" in Dubbo, New South Wales, part of the Western Local Health District, has a Chemotherapy Unit that provides outpatient chemotherapy for adult patients[17] and multidisciplinary teams that consider patient management and treatment options.[18]

Bellringing

Coates is an accomplished church bell change ringer and member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers (ANZAB). He rang his first full peal in 2008,[19] has rung approximately 244 quarter peals and conducted 53.[20]

Personal

Alan and his twin brother Roger were born on 27 June 1943 at St George's Hospital in Kew, Victoria[21] to parents Thomas and Joan (née Courtney-Pratt) Coates, who had been married the previous year.[22] Younger brother Gordon was born three years later on Boxing Day in the same hospital.[23] On 2 January 1967, Alan married Marylon Slade Bodkin, who was born in Canberra 31 August 1943.[24] They have three children. Also a bellringer and statistician, Marylon Coates is the author of many statistical studies on the incidence and mortality rates from cancer in Australia.[25]

External video
video icon "St Mary's Cathedral Rescue" Nine News Sydney (24 April 2015) via YouTube

In 2015 Coates survived a serious heart attack while at bellringing practice in St Mary's Cathedral and had to be winched down on a stretcher by abseiling rescuers through a trapdoor in the floor of the tower.[26] It was impossible to take him down via the normal route of 120 steps in a narrow circular stairwell.[27] The persistence and skill of his ringing companions, St Mary's Tower Captain Murray-Luke Peard and bellringer Mark Ferguson, were credited with saving his life by immediately administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR.[28] In recognition of this, ANZAB now provides for first-aid and CPR training for two members in each belltower.[29] Coates had suffered a heart attack 15 years previously, when in full academic dress at Sydney University, preparing to participate in a graduation ceremony for medical students.[15]

References
  1. Lowenthal, Ray (May 2006). "Alan Coates and The Cancer Council Australia". Cancer Forum. Cancer Council Australia. 30 (2). Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  2. Silver, Sue (December 2000). "Alan Coates – CEO of the Australian Cancer Society". The Lancet. Oncology. 1 (4): 242–245. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(00)00155-8. PMID 11905642. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  3. "News: Alan Coates receives the St.Gallen Breast Cancer Award 2015". St. Gallen Oncology Conferences. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  4. "Professor Alan Coates, Academic Profile". University of Sydney. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  5. "Alan Coates". NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre. University of Sydney. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  6. "Translational Breast Cancer Research". Garvan Institute of Medical Research. 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  7. "Translational Research". The Kinghorn Cancer Centre. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  8. "Cancer Council Australia Submission to the National Health and Medical Research Council public consultation: "Preventive Health Care and Strengthening Australia's Social and Economic Fabric"" (PDF). www.cancer.org.au. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  9. "Joint submission to Senate Inquiry: Services and treatment options for persons with cancer" (PDF). The Cancer Council et al. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  10. "Funding for breast cancer research set to rise". The Canberra Times. 16 May 1993. p. 3. Retrieved 7 June 2015 – via Trove.
  11. Professor Hans-Joerg Senn, quoted in Coates, Alan (18 March 2015). "Evolution of the St. Gallen Consensus process for the optimal treatment of women with breast cancer" (PDF). The Breast. 24 (Supplement 1): S1. doi:10.1016/S0960-9776(15)70003-2. ISSN 0960-9776.
  12. "Professor Alan Stuart COATES". It's An Honour. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  13. Coates, Alan (November 2003). "Constructive collaborations: the 2003 Medical Oncology Group of Australia Pierre Fabre Cancer Achievement Award Lecture". Cancer Forum. 27 (3): 166–7. ISSN 0311-306X.
  14. "ASCO Recognizes Oncology Leaders for Outstanding Achievements". Genome.gov. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  15. Margo, Jill (28 April 2015). "Cardiac victim who 'died' twice has a simple message on survival". AFR Weekend. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  16. "Travel Grants & Awards". Australia and New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  17. "Alan Coates Cancer Centre Chemotherapy Unit Dubbo". Canrefer. Cancer Institute NSW. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  18. "Alan Coates Cancer Centre General Multidisciplinary Team – Dubbo Hospital". Canrefer. Cancer Institute NSW. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  19. "The Ringing World 5083". ringingworld.co.uk. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  20. "BellBoard". bb.ringingworld.co.uk. The Ringing World. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  21. "Family Notices". The Argus. 30 June 1943. p. 2. Retrieved 13 June 2015 – via Trove.
  22. "Family Notices". The Argus. 23 February 1942. p. 5. Retrieved 13 June 2015 – via Trove.
  23. "Family Notices". The Argus. 4 January 1947. p. 18. Retrieved 13 June 2015 – via Trove.
  24. "Family Notices". Perth Gazette. 4 September 1943. p. 1. Retrieved 14 June 2015 – via Trove.
  25. "People and organisations: Coates, Marylon S." Trove. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  26. Levy, Megan (24 April 2015). "Volunteer bell-ringer rescued from St Mary's Cathedral tower". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  27. "Quick Thinking Action Saved Bellringer's Life". Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese. 24 April 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  28. "Un-bell-ievable Luck For Church Bellringer". Coastal First Aid. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  29. "CPR and First Aid Training". The Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
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