A Deakin University-led project working to close the cancer survival gap for rural and remote Australians has been internationally recognised in the inaugural Lancet–Elsevier Foundation Evidence to Impact Awards, a global award acknowledging research teams that translate health evidence into real-world change.
The Equitable Cancer Outcomes across Rural and Remote Australia (ECORRA) Trial, led by Professor Anna Ugalde from the Deakin Institute for Health Transformation, was selected for its work co-designing solutions with rural health services, clinicians and consumers to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment timeframes.
The award follows Professor Ugalde and colleagues’ Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific series, which found people with cancer in rural Australia have 15% lower odds of all-cause survival and 10% lower odds of cancer-specific survival compared with those in urban areas. Living in a rural area remained an independent predictor of survival even after socioeconomic, clinical and other demographic factors were considered.
Professor Ugalde said the team was truly honoured to be one of three recipients of the 2026 Elsevier Foundation-Lancet Evidence to Impact Award.
‘This project represents a national partnership of collaborators from across the Australian cancer control sector, including academia, health services leadership and management, people with a lived experience, policymakers, and advocacy groups who are dedicated to reducing the inequities experienced by people living in rural and remote areas of Australia,’ Professor Ugalde said.
The ECORRA Trial, funded by Australia’s Medical Research Future Fund from 2024–2029, brings together more than 80 collaborators nationally, including a 17-member Consumer Advisory Committee, and will trial a co-designed implementation package across 14 rural and remote health service sites from 2027.
While the full findings of the trial’s Discovery Phase are still to be published, the research is already telling the team a great deal about what stands in the way of timely rural cancer care, and what helps overcome it.
‘Our research is telling us that rural and remote health services are contending with a stack of compounding barriers, from limited diagnostic and treatment equipment and specialist shortages to service scarcity, long travel distances and the financial burden placed on patients,’ Professor Ugalde said.
‘For patients living in rural Australia, a cancer diagnosis often brings the logistical and financial strain of coordinating travel and appointments and being away from support networks they’d usually lean on. But we’re also seeing what works: regional hubs, rapid-access clinics, dedicated care coordination, telehealth and outreach services, and strong local clinical leadership and multidisciplinary teamwork are already making a difference in the services that have them.’
Zoe Mullan, Editor in Chief of The Lancet Global Health, said the winning teams, including Tanzania’s ‘Implementing Essential Emergency and Critical Care’ and Sierra Leone’s ‘2YoungLives: Reducing Adolescent Maternal and Perinatal Mortality’, showed what it took to turn evidence into impact.
‘These three winning teams have demonstrated everything we wished to champion when it came to turning evidence into impact: a demonstrated need from the community, meaningful co-design within those communities, clear implementation strategies and outcomes, and long-term partnerships for sustainability, Ms Mullan said.
Read more about the Equitable Cancer Outcomes across Rural and Remote Australia (ECORRA) project.
Read more about Professor Anna Ugalde‘s research.
Read the Lancet series on Equitable Cancer Outcomes for Rural and Remote Communities
The Equitable Cancer Outcomes across Rural and Remote Australia (ECORRA) project is situated within the Deakin Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research.
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