Annual Scientific Meeting

John Zalcberg AO Award for Excellence in GI Cancer Research

This award recognises a member of GI Cancer Trials who has made a significant and outstanding leadership contribution to GI Cancer Trials research over a sustained period.

Nominations may recognise the contributions of investigators, research staff, and community members of GI Cancer Trials.

The recipient will be announced at the Gala Dinner of the 28th ASM in Nipaluna / Hobart. A complimentary ASM registration will be provided, along with an opportunity to deliver an address (up to 10 minutes) at the meeting, highlighting appropriate aspects of their area of interest. Travel support may be available for non-clinical award recipients.

For any enquiries, please contact GI Cancer Trials.

Submit a nomination form

Submission deadline: Monday 7 September 2026, 9:00am AEST

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible, nominees must:

have made a significant and outstanding leadership contribution to GI Cancer Trials research over a sustained period;
be a GI Cancer Trials member; and
be nominated by a GI Cancer Trials member

About John Zalcberg

Professor John Zalcberg AO was a founder and past Chair of the Board of the GI Cancer Trials. He served in the Chair role for over 18 years until May 2014.

He was the Director, Division of Cancer Medicine, at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia for 17 years prior to recently taking up the position of Professor of Cancer Research at Monash University.

After earning a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Melbourne and a PhD in cancer immunology, he served as Director of Medical Oncology at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and as Director of Cancer Services at the Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre.

He was a founder of the Lorne Cancer Conference and a past Board Member of Cancer Trials Australia. He is the current Co-Chair of the Cancer Drugs Alliance and Interim Chair of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance. A past Board Member of the NSW Cancer Institute, past President of the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia, and a past Member of the Consultative Council of the Victorian Cancer Agency, he has received a Medal of the Order of Australia Award (OAM), the 2011 Cancer Achievement Award from the Medical Oncology Group of Australia, is the recipient of the 2014 Tom Reeve Award awarded by the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia and in 2023 he was awarded Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

Professor Zalcberg’s immense contributions to GI Cancer Trials were recognised in 2015 with the establishment of the John Zalcberg AO Award for Excellence in GI Cancer Trials Research.

Professor Zalcberg remains an active medical oncologist, currently at The Alfred Hospital, Victoria.

Past recipients

Professor Tim Price received the award at the 2025 ASM awards ceremony, held in Adelaide on Wednesday 26 November.