WA Health Excellence Awards Announced

Known for his work in bridging the gap between patient care and technology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre operations manager, Thomas Tuchyna, was selected from a distinguished field to win the  WA Health Minister’s Award.
In presenting the inaugural Health Minister’s award at the WA Health Excellence Awards, Health Minister Kim Hames said Mr Tuchyna was a deserving recipient who had spent many years of service in cancer control, including cancer screening and early detection initiatives while at Sir Charles Gairdner’s Department of Medical Technology and Physics.
“Thomas sees challenges as opportunities and he has used his expertise and creativity to bring together advanced technology with clinical practice, delivering outstanding results that have improved the quality of life for many people,” Dr Hames said.
“He was instrumental, for example, in bringing Australia’s first CyberKnife to the cancer centre, enabling specialists to better detect, track and treat cancers, and improve treatment times.
“In addition, his work in establishing Western Australia’s first framework for a commercial cyclotron facility has enabled the Department of Health to obtain locally produced, cost-effective radiopharmaceuticals.”
The Minister said as project director for the Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Mr Tuchyna was heavily involved in every aspect of the centre’s development and expansion, and oversaw the implementation of landmark robotic radiosurgery technology, the first of its kind in Australia.
He also spearheaded the Oncology Information System project, involving the integration of clinical information for the oncology services at Sir Charles Gairdner, Princess Margaret and Fiona Stanley hospitals.
Also honoured at the WA Health Excellence Awards was the team at Royal Perth Hospital’s Department of Nephrology Renal Transplant Unit for its work in reducing the incidence of kidney transplant failure in Aboriginal patients