Survivors as Teachers

What is Survivors as Teachers?

Cancer Voices SA’s flagship “Survivors as Teachers” program brings individuals with lived cancer experience—patients, families, and carers—into medical education. Through small-group tutorials at Adelaide University Medical School, survivors share their stories, highlighting the whole-of-life impact of a cancer diagnosis and what helped (or didn’t) in their care journey.

Why It Matters

This program helps future healthcare professionals understand:

• The human side of cancer care beyond medical treatment
• The emotional, social, and practical challenges of a cancer diagnosis
• How to treat patients with compassion, respect, and empathy

A Decade of Impact

Launched in 2012 in collaboration with Assoc. Prof. Jo Thomas, the program has since expanded to:

• Every 3rd-year medical student at Adelaide University
• Health and medical students across multiple universities, hospitals & institutions
• Special workshops for cancer survivors, researchers & policymakers

What Students Say

Feedback from participants highlights the program’s value:

“An amazing and intimate insight into the life of a family living with cancer. …Interesting factors I would not have otherwise learned or heard about.”

“…Treat a patient as a real person, rather than a case to solve.”

“…Makes you rethink how you will talk to and listen to patients when you are in the hospital.”

“…Opens your eyes to the way patients want to be treated and how much they want from the health system.”

Join Us as a Speaker

Are you a cancer survivor, carer, or family member who wants to share your story? Your lived experience can help shape the next generation of doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals.

 Email us at info@cancervoicessa.org.au to express your interest.

Publications & Research

Survivors as Teachers has been recognized in multiple publications:

→ Cancer Stories in Education: Exploring a cancer-survivor informed approach in the use of oral narratives in tertiary healthcare student education (Johnstone, D, Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Survivorship Conference, 2025). Check out the poster here.
→ A Cancer-Survivor informed approach to healthcare student education: the impact of in-person versus digital storytelling on self-reported empathy in healthcare students (Johnstone, D, Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Survivorship Conference, 2025). Check out the poster here.
→ Survivors as Teachers – Giving Patients a Voice (Thomas J, Marker J, Clin Teach, 2021:1-3). Read the article here.
→ Students’ Perceptions of a Consumer-Led Discussion Group Format to Improve Awareness of the Patient Perspective (Thomas, J, Vitry, A, Marker, J, Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Conference, 2013). Check out the poster here.
→ Raising Awareness of Undergraduate Nurses to the Psychosocial Impact of Living With Cancer: a consumer engagement in teaching initiative (Zannettino L, Thompson J, Marker J, Agius S, APJON, 3.2: 121-124, 2016). Read the article here.
→ Survivors in the Survivorship Equation: Survivor Evidence + Survivor Views = Better Outcomes (Christensen, C, Marker, J, Victorian Survivorship Conference, 2018).