Scott Macfarlane. Photo: Child Cancer Foundation / supplied
A doctor who dedicated his career to improving cancer treatment for children is among those recognised in the New Year Honours.
Dr Scott Macfarlane is being made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health.
He said the biggest change over his 40-year career as a paediatric oncologist was the lift in the five-year survival rate for children diagnosed with cancer, from half to 85 percent.
"There is more hope but it's still just as hard when you don't succeed," he said.
"The difference is the ratio. Back in the '70s, we would see a new family with a newly diagnosed child with cancer and know that 50 percent of those families were going to be bereaved.
"Now it's 15 percent, but that 15 percent is just as hard. You do identify very strongly with those families who struggle with a diagnosis and then don't have a successful outcome from treatment."
The difference in outcomes were a result of a nationally coordinated approach to child cancer, which he led.
Sir Scott, who retired in 2021, said he was privileged to work with many talented, caring and skilled people - the knighthood came as a surprise.
"I feel almost speechless and overwhelmed, it was completely out of the blue.
"One of my immediate thoughts was huge gratitude to people who had nominated me for the honour, because I had felt it was a huge privilege to work with so many incredibly talented and caring and skilled individuals over the years. The fact that they felt the same about me was, I felt, very warming."
A highlight of his career was working alongside a "huge number of young people and families", he said.
Sir Scott started as a paediatric oncologist at Waikato Hospital, before taking up a role at Starship Hospital in Auckland, where he became clinical leader and clinical director.
He was instrumental in establishing the National Child Cancer Network in 2011, and was announced its national clinical lead at an international conference held in Auckland, by then-Health Minister Tony Ryall.
He led the network until his retirement in 2021, overseeing access to child cancer treatment in New Zealand.
The work included addressing postcode healthcare and survival rates - which required a well-organised network in New Zealand and international collaboration.
"One of the things that we've been able to do over the years is change from five fairly independent paediatric oncology centres in New Zealand to an extremely well-coordinated national service," Sir Scott said.
Starship Hospital. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
There are now two main treatment centres, Starship and Christchurch Hospital, which share care with around a dozen paediatric centres around the country.
"Doing that we've been able to cut across some of the major concerns that affect just about every aspect of social service in New Zealand," Sir Scott said.
"We've been extremely proud of the way we've been able to counter all of the demographic differences that usually characterise inequality in health in New Zealand."
Sir Scott was made a life member of the Child Cancer Foundation in 2015. He was president of Australia New Zealand Children's Haematology Oncology Group and remains a trustee of the World Child Cancer Charitable Trust.
Health sector awards
Three other health professionals are being made Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Paediatric anaesthetist and intensive care specialist Brian Anderson is recognised for services to paediatrics and anaesthesia.
He has advocated for and led the development of paediatric intensive care and anaesthesia in New Zealand for more than 30 years.
Anderson was a founding consultant at Auckland's Starship Hospital and is one of two doctors who co-established the hospital's Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, providing care for critically ill children throughout New Zealand and the Pacific.
He is professor of anaesthesiology at the University of Auckland and has taught, mentored and supervised junior doctors, nurses, students and researchers.
His research in children's pharmacology has had a global impact, having had his work published widely in international journals and textbooks.
Anderson is a member of international review and safety committees, grant assessment boards and sits on national advisory committees.
He has volunteered to provide paediatric anaesthesia and intensive care assistance to surgical teams working in the Pacific.
Vanessa Beavis. Photo: Supplied / Sophie Jane Photographer
Dr Vanessa Beavis is recognised for services to anaesthesia. A specialist anaesthetist at Auckland City Hospital, Beavis has contributed to anaesthesia in New Zealand and internationally since 1993.
She helped establish an anaesthesia service in Auckland to facilitate New Zealand-based access for people requiring a liver transplant.
She is a fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) and was a member of the college's examining body from 2002 to 2014.
She joined the New Zealand National Committee of ANZCA in 2004 and was Chair from 2008 to 2011.
Beavis is inaugural executive committee chair of the International Academy of Medical Colleges of Anaesthesiologists (IACA), which she helped develop and launch in 2021.
Graeme Bydder is recognised for services to medical imaging. An award-winning radiologist, Bydder has made fundamental contributions to medical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in particular.
With others at the Mātai Medical Research Institute, he recently developed an MRI technique using bipolar filters which improved the contrast shown on MR images 10 to 15 times and clearly showed abnormalities not detected using conventional advanced MR systems.
Most of the techniques used in modern clinical MR examinations of the brain were first described by him and his team.
He was responsible for the development of the Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery sequence, which is currently included in most clinical MRI examinations of the brain and is essential for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders.
Bydder co-developed the Short Inversion Time Inversion Recovery sequence in 1985, which suppresses fat signals and shows injuries, inflammation, infection and tumours in bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons with very high contrast.
He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers on MRI techniques, clinical applications of MRI and image interpretation, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Mātai Medical Research Institute.
He was awarded the Royal College of Radiologists gold medal in 2001, the British Institute of Radiology's McKenzie Davidson Medal in 1995 and the Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine's gold medal in 1987.
