Ex-Australian of the Year honoured as 'end point' nears

He and fellow researcher and professor Georgina Long have saved thousands of lives from melanoma through their skin cancer research.

When Prof Scolyer was diagnosed with incurable stage four brain cancer in June 2023 and given months to live, the pair developed a series of world-first treatments based on their melanoma breakthroughs.

He became the world's first brain cancer patient to receive combination immunotherapy before surgery and a personalised vaccine to treat his glioblastoma.

But in March, he revealed a recurrent tumour was quickly growing in the left side of his brain after a complex surgery was unable to remove the entire mass.

"To be honest, it's a tough journey up and down," he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday.

"As an end point - who knows how far it is away - but we're definitely getting closer."

The prime minister celebrated Prof Scolyer and Prof Long as representative of "the very best of this country".

"Skill, tenacity and courage are embodied in this fine Australian inspiring so many Australians through his own cancer journey," he said.

Just before the funding announcement, the researcher continued to insist the position should not be named after him, Mr Albanese said.

"It's not what I was aiming to do," Prof Scolyer said.

"I want to make a difference for people and I've dedicated my life to doing that, particularly in adulthood when I became a doctor.

"My name or not, it's not where the difference happens"

Brain cancer kills more people under 40 in Australia than any other cancer and its survival rate is similar to that of stage four melanoma almost two decades ago.

But discoveries made by Prof Scolyer and other colleagues have helped improve the melanoma survival rate.

"We've got to try and push things forward in brain cancer," he said.

"Some of the challenges that we couldn't address 15 years ago, we can potentially address much better now, so I sincerely hope that's what happens over the next few years."