July 2026
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Developing a new cancer treatment takes years of sustained work. But in Australia’s current research funding environment, most grants last one to three years. When funding runs out, labs lose momentum, lose staff and research stalls before it can save lives.
That is the reality Dr Kara Vine-Perrow describes from her lab at the University of Wollongong, where she leads research into drug delivery for inoperable pancreatic cancer. Dr Vine-Perrow is a Par 5 Business Ambassador and Group Leader of the Targeted Cancer Therapeutics Research Laboratory.
“Developing a new therapeutic or a new treatment for a disease, in particular cancer, requires long-term, sustainable funding,” she says. “If you’re not successful in attracting further funding, that has a direct impact on the progress of your research, because you lose momentum and you’re unable to support the running of those experiments. Most importantly, you are not able to retain the key staff that are vital in running those experiments.”
Upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, including pancreatic, liver, stomach, biliary and oesophageal, are Australia’s deadliest cancer group. Survival rates have barely shifted in decades. This is the problem Par 5 Business, a program of Pancare Foundation, was built to address.
Rather than relying on grants or donations, Par 5 Business connects purpose driven businesses through a commercial procurement network. When members win business through the network, a share of that revenue flows directly into upper GI cancer research, creating a funding stream that scales with business activity, not annual giving cycles.
Dr Vine-Perrow spoke at the Par 5 Business Women of Impact event in Sydney in April 2026, alongside former prime minister The Hon. Julia Gillard AC, who delivered the keynote address. “Accelerating this momentum requires funding and support and of course, that brings us right back to today and the work of Pancare,” said Ms Gillard.
Read the full Women’s Agenda article below.