:: Manager of Radiation Therapy

Stuart Greenham

Stuart trained as a Cadet Therapeutic Radiographer in Brisbane at the then Queensland Radium Institute (QRI). After working at the Queensland Radium Institute for a year following graduation he went to the Wesley Cancer Care Centre, a private facility also in Brisbane. While at the "Wesley" he completed a Computer Science degree and spent considerable time working on information management and computer issues. While at the Wesley Stuart also specialised in Stereotactic Radiosurgery.

A desire to travel and also to further develop skills in Stereotactic Radiosurgery lead to what at the time was a relatively unusual move from Australia to New Zealand. The attraction to New Zealand was Dunedin and to be a part of Dunedin's National Stereotactic Radiosurgery program as the Stereotactic Planning RT. This role provided a great opportunity to refine and learn new skills, contribute to research and then to training. After a time Dunedin also provided an opportunity for Stuart to move into a management role as the Charge Radiation Therapist, the equivalent to Australia's Chief RT. This was a new challenge and he was fortunate to have a great group of staff to lead who made the transition from specialist planner to chief easy. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, Dunedin also made the travel bug bite and having worked with so many foreigners in Dunedin there was a desire to travel. Plenty of travel was subsequently provided by the a stint as an Application Specialist /Customer support Engineer with the radiotherapy planning software company CMS Inc. Computerised Medical Systems. This involved relocation to Sydney and work travelling to Radiotherapy departments in India, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. While satisfying the travel bug, working with CMS provided the development of a whole new skill set and broadened RT horizons.

After 18 months at CMS there was a move back to Dunedin, again to take up the chief RT role as the travel was not so great for family life. Back in Dunedin as the chief RT the work was great and gave plenty of opportunity to help do interesting things like install a new CT simulator and assist with going paperless and learning to fly. The challenge of helping set up 3 new departments in friendly small communities in the idyllic North Coast of NSW seemed like an opportunity not to be missed, leading to a move to Coffs Harbour in October 2005 to start that process. The attraction to the North Coast Cancer Institute for Stuart was a chance not to be missed where he could use a variety of skills to contribute to team focused on creating a new wave in Radiation Oncology.  If you care to lend a hand setting things up then Stuart would love to hear from you.

Welcome message from Stuart

Welcome to the North Coast Cancer Institute website. I hope you will spend a few minutes reading about our centres, our plans and the opportunities they present.  It's an enormous privilege for me to have been chosen as the Area Manager and it's also a huge, exciting challenge! In the early stages of the project I have  helped with the building design, equipment selection and the Information system setup. As we moved into the clinical operations my responsibilities shifted to staffing issues across the multiple sites. A crucial part of my role is to recruit the best possible team of RTs to help make everything come together and work well. I hope to foster a friendly, congenial collaborative working environment where committed staff can, in addition to delivering excellent care, be involved in innovative clinical practice, clinical trials and research. I hope to bring my skills and experiences to the department to facilitate a Radiation Therapist team committed to the most modern radiotherapy techniques, pursuing research and avenues for role expansion.  I hope that together the North Coast Cancer Institute Radiation Oncology team will provide an innovative service that will become recognised as a leader in the field.