News & stories

We continue to commemorate our 150th year, looking back on the remarkable history of The Alfred and celebrate the extraordinary stories of human spirit from over the years.

This year, The Alfred is celebrating 150 years of operation. It is a celebration of the human spirit, a celebration of community and of coming together.  For some time as part of the Alfred Appeal on Fathers’ Day, The Alfred has put on a breakfast for hospital staff to say thanks for all they do. For the second year in a row now, we wanted to extend the invitation out to everyone in the community to hold their own Breakfast Party fundraiser in support of all those who provide critical care at The Alfred, from our dedicated nurses and doctors to other staff as well! This year, it will also be a celebration of 150 years of lifesaving work at The Alfred! This years event, is proudly supported by Bulla. 

It was a pleasure to speak with Jacquie to hear her story. And what a story it is!  For the past 5 years Jacquie, now aged 70, has been sailing around the world on her boat. Her boat’s name is Shanti, which means peace, tranquility, bliss & the ability to rise above stress and adversity. As Jacquie says “kind of sums up my circumnavigation as well as my current journey with Leukaemia.”

Through a substantial commitment from The James Foster Foundation in 2019, The Alfred’s Oncology Department was able to establish The Alfred Cancer Biobank (ACB). The ACB is now fully operational, with the first collection taking place in February 2020 and three major projects underway at the time of writing.

Lisa has three grown children and lives with her husband Shane in Mildura, a 6-hour drive from Melbourne. Her and her husband have a morning ritual to get up early and go for a walk along the beautiful Murray River. In late 2019 & early 2020 it became increasingly difficult to go for those walks. She says, “I was just in so much pain, those morning walks became impossible.” When physio and pilates made no difference, Lisa went to her doctor. After a series of tests and scans she received the devastating diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma – A type of blood cancer.

We are continually in awe of the generosity and kindness demonstrated by people who choose to support The Alfred by leaving a gift in their Will.

In 2008, The Alfred established a Chair in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, thanks to generous funding from the James and Elsie Borrowman Trust. This distinguished position was a major career development milestone of one of Australia’s leading infectious diseases experts – Professor Allen Cheng.

The Alfred’s helipad provides a lifesaving service for all Victorians. For over 30 years it has received more than 10,000 patients requiring critical lifesaving care, including from the Bali bombings, the Longford gas explosion, Black Summer and Black Saturday bushfires and more recently the White Island volcano eruption in New Zealand.

Celebrating 150 years of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Victorians

The Victorian Melanoma Service (VMS) at The Alfred was founded 25 years ago as the state’s first and only comprehensive multidisciplinary service for people with melanoma. Our team is globally renowned for its expertise in enhancing detection and improving patient outcomes in Australia where one person is diagnosed with melanoma every half an hour*.