In line with CTA’s constitution, the CTA Board Chairperson was recently renewed. Here, outgoing Chairperson Professor Jayesh Desai and incoming Chairperson Dr Dishan Herath share their reflections on an organisation with a truly enviable global reputation.

Growing up with CTA

Jayesh’s six-year tenure as Board Chairperson has come to an end, but his collaboration with CTA is far from over. The mixture of gratitude and pride he feels about his time in the role is clear: “It’s a real privilege to be part of an organisation that, despite its long history, has never moved away from its membership focus,” he says.

“I kind of grew up with CTA — it’s been hugely influential in my career. To sit here now and know that as a country of only 27 million people, Australia is third in the world for Phase 1 cancer trials is genuinely incredible,” he says. “None of that happened by accident.”

Given the long working association Jayesh has had with incoming Chairperson Dishan, the handover has been seamless as they both look to the future.

Dishan is mindful of the legacy he’s inheriting while charting his own approach: “My focus now is on continuing that legacy of success that’s already been built, but also to think carefully about how I’m going to be really effective and forge my own path.

“Being a top-three destination for Phase 1 trials is an incredible legacy, and a lot is required for us to maintain that kind of reputation and effectiveness,” says Dishan.

Building a Long-Term Strategy

Jayesh is circumspect about what’s ahead and points to the importance of having developed a clear long-term strategy to ensure CTA continues to go from strength to strength. “We’re not just competing to attract trials, particularly Phase 1 trials within our own region — we’re actually competing globally.  We’ve really worked hard at a Board and management level to think through the challenges and opportunities ahead, while staying absolutely focussed on our members’ needs,” Jayesh says.

Issues such as resourcing, diversity of patient groups, geographical reach and maintaining a collaborative and well-managed professional ecosystem are all front of mind for the organisation and industry as a whole.

Additionally, Dishan also maintains an eye is on data and its security, as an ever-present and constantly evolving challenge: “We need to be laser-focused on maintaining our expertise and always improving things, and our use of technology is just one of those areas,” he says.

“As we look at issues like cybersecurity, it’s clear that we cannot think about AI as a siloed issue on its own anymore — I think about it in terms of how it relates to many other things, both in the digital and operational space,” says Dishan.

Focus Remains on Member Needs, Expands to Advocacy

Both Dishan and Jayesh are clear that even as operational issues continue to evolve, an area CTA will make more room for is in advocacy.

The membership base has grown substantially, which both Jayesh and Dishan attribute to the management team’s focus on service delivery, including systems like the Clinibase platform. CTA now also works with bodies like the Victorian Government to provide trial performance metrics — a sign, Jayesh says, of influence reaching well beyond its own walls.

“As we’ve grown, we’ve realised how important it is to help our sector grow and professionalise,” says Jayesh.

“We know we can’t just hope the work and outcomes speak for themselves. We also recognise that we need to get out there and advocate strongly for the sector.

Because we’re financially solid and appropriately governed, it means that we can continue to provide very consistent, high-level services for our member sites while expanding our role across the sector.”

Ongoing Connections

Being an enabler of collaboration and relationships across member sites remains a clear strength of CTA’s work, so Jayesh is quick to remind us that he will continue to be a firm fixture on the CTA radar.

Asked what he’ll do with the time freed up by stepping down from his role as Chairperson, Jayesh laughs: “I’ve got a bit more time now, haven’t I?”

But retirement from the Board isn’t retirement from the mission. “I’m incredibly motivated by our collective vision — it’s the reason for wanting to come to work. I care very deeply and passionately about CTA and the difference we’ve made. I’ve been involved at a pretty deep level for almost 20 years, in setting up the Phase I Group and then as a Director, so the question isn’t really what can I do next, but how can I continue to help from a different role as an active CTA member.”

That next role is already taking shape on the periphery, without formal ties to the Board. Jayesh has become increasingly involved with three of the world’s largest cancer research and clinical trial organisations: the American Association for Cancer Research, the European Society for Medical Oncology, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. His focus there is education — improving training for investigators, coordinators and nurses, both in Australia and across the broader region.

“For Australia, which is so geographically isolated, my aim is to make sure we remain front and centre — that we’ve still got our finger on the pulse of what’s going on globally, in a rapidly evolving space” he says. “We’re wanting to remain globally competitive, wanting to be right up there so that cancer patients here in Australia continue to receive the best treatment the world can offer them. To do that, we’ve got to be really good at what we do, but we also need to understand how the world is changing – knowledge is power.”

He’s quick to credit the colleagues who surrounded him along the way, describing a consistently supportive and incredibly collegial environment. And his message to others in the sector is simple: get involved.

“My message is: get involved with CTA and organisations like it — play a role, because you can give a lot, and you can get back a lot in return as well.” CTA, he notes, has helped build careers that Australia’s cancer research sector genuinely needs.

As Jayesh steps back from the boardroom table, it’s clear his connection to CTA — and to the broader mission of advancing cancer trials — is far from over. It’s simply entering a new phase.

Taking Up the Chairperson Role

Dishan is quick to reinforce Jayesh’s message: “One of our greatest strengths is our people. We’ve got a really strong team in the organisation — both management and staff are incredibly capable in their areas. But that also means there’s a risk there to manage. We want to balance keeping the right people in the right roles, providing new opportunities, and being prudent about how we grow.

Yes, we want to expand, but the question is always: Why? What’s the point? It always comes back to how we enable more Australians to access appropriate clinical trials, and how we ensure those are high-quality trials delivering outcomes for our patients.”

Solid Foundation for Growth

Both Jayesh and Dishan are clear about the solid foundations they inherited and have built on.

“Continuing to function as a highly performing organisation means holding management to account, but at the same time supporting them — we’ve had that balance, and we need to maintain it,” says Dishan.

Jayesh identifies this balance between growth and governance as an enduring challenge.

“If we continue to get that balance right — so we’re not over-governed, but at the same time we provide the governance that’s needed — we are going to continue to go from strength to strength. We have a really good Board, and a great management team.”