David Elder

@ProfRAScolyer Happy to see these old images of our little group, including Daniela Massi and Rein Willemze as well as Ian Cree, working on this important project, which took the classification of melanoma and other skin cancers into the current century!

I am incredibly proud of my contributions to the World Health Organisation (WHO) over more than 20 years! Whilst in 2004, I was thrilled to be able to share our knowledge of a rare subtype of melanoma (that is now treated differently), as a chapter writer (3rd edition), my subsequent roles got way harder but also more critical. I was appointed as a senior editor on the last 2 editions (4th & 5th editions over >10 years) of these life changing skin cancer, including diagnosis, books. It has been incredibly tough and challenging work at times but something that makes me and the other individuals involved extremely proud. Ultimately it undoubtedly saves millions of lives worldwide and improves outcomes worldwide! Many more than a million people are diagnosed with various skin tumours each year! The WHO Classification of Skin Tumours (centred/based in Lyon, France) plays a critically important role for all people worldwide to ensure they get the correct diagnosis (& subsequently correct treatment & outcomes). The WHO brings together >100 worldwide experts representing every continent to discuss hundreds of conditions and until agreement is reached. This pushes the field forward by recognising, sub-classifying and carefully defining categories of cancer that are needed to identify new cancers, subcategories & how to recognise every tumour subtype. I was initially invited to contribute to WHO in 2004 to join my Sydney colleagues, including Stan McCarthy and Kerry Crotty, to write a very special chapter on “desmoplastic melanoma”, a fairly rare type of melanoma but relatively more commoner in Australia. But then things changes! In about 2013, I was invited with an opportunity to become a senior editor (there was 4 of us worldwide). This meant that with only a very small number people, I was invited to lead the 4th & 5th of the WHO Classification of Skin Tumours (the 5th edition is finalised & out but not the hard copy!). It created an enormous amount of committed, hardwork over years but would literally change many skin diseases (and their treatment). Whilst it has taken me many thousands of hours, I couldn’t be prouder of the results and outcomes and their effects on people worldwide! WHO’s committed hard work has been amazing. I could not be prouder of my contributions! Thank you Dr Ian Cree and your team for your support, commitment and hardwork. I was very touched by you and your team’s incredibly kind comments that I received recently! @WHO @SydneyLHD @Sydney_Uni @AllenAndUnwin @gmaddox #skintumour #Brainstorm #glioblastoma

@ProfRAScolyer So sorry to see this, Richard. You are and will remain a hero. All the very best to you.

Unfortunately there is a larger volume of quickly growing brain cancer (glioblastoma, IDH WT, unmethylated etc) in my left brain. The prognosis is poor. Whilst some of my recurrent tumour was removed last week, some of it couldn’t be because of its site. While the neoadjuvant triple doses of immunotherapy &/or anticancer vaccination I received may have made a difference in my brain tumour & survival, more work needs to be done in a clinical trial to prove this. Either way, I am proud of the data produced after treatment with neoadjuvant immunotherapy (and recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine) which I hope will make a difference for others. I greatly appreciate the support of all my family, friends & colleagues who have been looking after me so well & the incredible research that has been performed. I hope the latter will change the field & patient outcomes in the not too distant future. @SydneyLHD @Sydney_Uni @NthSydHealth @COBLH @AllenAndUnwin @gmaddox @Channel9 @AllisonLangdon @smh @Dr_Brindha #glioblastoma

@ProfRAScolyer All the very best to you, Richard!

Thankyou to everyone for your kind thoughts and well wishes. I have undergone what is a complex surgery and am incredibly grateful to my medical team at Chris O’Brien Lifehouse for their exceptional care and support, particularly A/Prof Brindha Shivalingam. I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to my family & friends for their unconditional love and unwavering support throughout this journey.  Now I am focused on my recovery and will share more updates when I am able. Thankyou in advance for your patience and understanding. @COBLH @SydneyLHD @Sydney_Uni @Dr_Brindha

@ProfRAScolyer You sound ( i.e. write) and look good Richard ! All the very best, David

It’s planned that I will have further neurosurgery early next week to help the brilliant team looking after me try and sort out the nature of the changes in my brain detected on various recent scans. All my fingers & toes will stay crossed for the next week or so! Thanks everyone for your kindness and support. The last few weeks have been tough. (I half wonder if Garry & I will have to update my memoir, Brainstorm!! 🤭) @ausoftheyear @SydneyLHD @NthSydHealth @Sydney_Uni @Dr_Brindha @gmaddox @AllenAndUnwin #glioblastoma #Brainstorm

@ProfRAScolyer Good to see you moving well Richard . All the very best to you.

I hope everyone has had an enjoyable weekend! Our family’s fantastic addition from a year ago (& inaugural pet) Cha-Cha is fun for all of us to hang out with! We all love him so much ❤️❤️❤️ (PS. Please ignore the daggy runner accompanying the cute dog!)

@Mark_Wylie001 @elonmusk So this was investigated and it was noted that "almost none" of these discrepancies resulted in payments - so perhaps not likely to be a significant example of fraud and abuse ...

@elonmusk Here's a little reading material for you on the subject. A responsible person would have read this report *before* hurling wild charges around. oig.ssa.gov/assets/uploads…

Bruh, if I wanted to rummage through random personal shit, I could have done that at PAYPAL. Hello??? Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as “ALIVE” when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem. Obviously. Some of these people would have been alive before America existed as a country. Think about that for a second …

@ProfRAScolyer All the very best Richard.

Unfortunately my recent scans show some new changes which could be an effect of my previous treatment or recurrent brain tumour. I might need surgery in a few weeks time to obtain some tissue so the smart neuropathology team can help to figure this out (which I know isn’t always easy)! @SydneyLHD @Sydney_Uni @NthSydHealth #Brainstorm #glioblastoma

@mechbest @JesseMatchey @Cernovich @BillAckman ADSB not AVG ...

Asked about NVG he said this “Yeah flying NVG’s over dark ass water with city lights washing out your NVG’s is unsettling for people not used to it. They probably popped up in altitude unconsciously and the other pilot didn’t notice. They should have slowed down (looked like they were going pretty fast), put on their landing light (maybe the CRJ would have seen them and they would be able to see the water better), and should have had their ADSB transponder (like an iPad that has a moving map showing your position and other aircraft) operational.”

I spent about 45 minutes on a call with a former Blackhawk pilot who is currently a pilot for a major carrier. His assessment is that the crash was likely due to a cascading series of errors in part due to inadequate disclosure from the Tower about the location and altitude of the regional aircraft compounded by inadequate staffing in the Tower, and the diminished situational awareness of the pilot of the Blackhawk due to the use of night vision goggles. He further explained that automated flight sensors are generally turned off below 1,000 feet as Visual Flight Rules apply and automated warnings and systems are considered distractions and/or otherwise increase risk. He explained that the Blackhawk test runs are necessary to prepare for the potential need to evacuate the Pres/VP and others in the hierarchy of command to the airport and/or secret bunkers in the event of an enemy attack. I found his assessment to be extremely credible, which leads me to believe that this was most certainly a tragic accident. In the conversation, he also expressed his concern about how the FAA fails to act with sufficient urgency to address serious safety issues that pilots and others have raised for years until ‘blood is shed.’ He explained that the FAA’s dual missions to promote air travel and safeguard the skies are in conflict, and lead to long delays in implementing important safety changes in protocols and equipment as carriers push back against investing capital and/or introducing new procedures that cost money and/or time. He gave me a number of such examples from the past where the FAA delayed acting on pilot concerns until planes went down. He explained that the FAA has been captured by the airline industry, much like the FDA has been inappropriately captured and influenced by the Pharma lobby. While he generally believes that Air Traffic Control does ‘a great job,’ he also expressed agreement with @realDonaldTrump in how DEI has injected itself into ATC and in pilot recruitment. He gave examples of having to take over the controls within moments of landing to avoid a crash landing when a co-pilot with inadequate experience, training and capabilities was too quickly advanced into the cockpit to meet DEI goals. He also said the pilot shortage is real and we need to recruit more candidates. All of the above create a real opportunity for change in U.S. aviation in the Trump administration and speak to the importance of the selection of new leadership for the FAA and a focus on excellence and meritocracy rather than meeting quota goals. I have always believed that good comes from the bad. Let’s not let the 67 souls who lost their lives die in vain. Let’s make sure this tragedy is a catalyst for important and rapid improvements in US aviation.

@mechbest @JesseMatchey @Cernovich @BillAckman Aha! Landing lights and AVG would have prevented this travesty. They were probably practicing doing without these basic safety features, maybe would have been better done out in the countryside somewhere ...

@HewittHeiserman @SXMJohnClare what is CHI?

@SXMJohnClare Symphony Hall’s loss is CHI’s gain. Will miss your 6-12 show. Best wishes John.

@BillAckman @60Minutes 60 minutes has always been edited AFAIK ...

Incredible. I spoke too soon about @60Minutes. Also note how many breaks there are in her answers in the ‘full’ version of her interview.

@Gleason4plus5 @BenMazer Yes it is very humble when told it is wrong. The problem of course is that many of its users will not know it is wrong ...

@BenMazer I have found the LLM performance on things that you could also do a Google search on quite poor. I've tested them by giving them results of an immunostain panel and it is wrong more often than right (but always acknowledges it's wrong when I point it out). LONG way to go.

@JDVance So mean, on so many levels ...

BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview.

@elonmusk I believe that the majority of illegal votes proved in a court of law have been for Republicans - not directly relevant to your post but to most of the comments ...

When combined with mail-in ballots, the system is *designed* to make it impossible to prove fraud. Mail-in and drop box ballots should not be allowed, as cameras on the in-person voting stations would at least prevent large-scale fraud by counting how many people showed up vs ballots cast. x.com/wallstreetapes…

@LPGAMedia Bottom line it was a lost ball not an unplayable lie ...

Statement on Nasa Hataoka’s disqualification from the ShopRite LPGA Classic: During the first round of the LPGA Shoprite Classic, Nasa Hataoka played her second shot on No. 9 into the long fescue surrounding the green, her last hole of the day. After reviewing video footage provided to the LPGA following the round, it was determined that the search for Nasa’s ball lasted longer than the three minutes allowed under Rule 18.2a.  After three minutes of search, the ball is considered lost, and the player must proceed under stroke and distance (Rule 18.2b). (1/2)

@ProfRScolyerMIA @subbie @gmaddox @Dr_Brindha @NthSydHealth @Sydney_Uni @syd_health @CPC_usyd @SydneyResearch @SHPartners @PathologyRCPA Wonderful! All the best to you and family, team and friends!

I had brain #MRI scan last Thursday looking for recurrent #glioblastoma (&/or treatment complications). I found out yesterday that there is still no sign of recurrence. I couldn’t be happier!!!!! Thank you to the fabulous team looking after me so well especially my wife Katie & wonderful family! @SydneyLHD @Sydney_Uni

Does anybody else find it belittling and annoying to be constantly referred to as a "grassroots supporter'?

@ProfRScolyerMIA @JWilmott38 @inespiresilva @amenzies9 @MattCarlino @syd_health @CPC_usyd @SHPartners @SydneyResearch @SydneyCatalyst @PathologyRCPA Wonderful news! All the best to you and the family!

Fantastic news!!!!!! Amazingly, my latest MRI brain scan shows no recurrence 10 months since my #glioblastoma presented with a seizure in #Poland. Median time to recurrence is 6 months. I’m extremely hopeful that the novel #neoadjuvant combination #immunotherapy I’ve had & the scientific changes we demonstrated in my tumour post versus pre immunotherapy are being translated into clinical benefit! I’d be thrilled & very proud if this novel approach makes a difference for me & future #brain #cancer patients. Thanks @ProfGLongMIA for devising & facilitating this superb approach & other members of multidisciplinary team including the @MelanomaAus team & other specialists @Dr_Brindha, Helen Wheeler, Michael Back & many others. Well done also to our @MelanomaAus translation research team including @HelenRizos! Special thanks for the ongoing support of my wife Katie, 3 kids Em, Matt & Luce, bro Mark, @subbie & many other family & friends! @SydneyLHD @Sydney_Uni @MelanomaAus @ausoftheyear

@ProfRScolyerMIA @ProfGLongMIA @MelanomaAus @Sydney_Uni @syd_health @SHPartners @SydneyResearch @SydneyCatalyst @CPC_usyd @AAHMS_health @gmaddox @HelenRizos @Dr_Brindha Great to see you Richard, keep that good news coming!

Thks 2 amazing @ProfGLongMIA & @MelanomaAus team, cycle 12 #immunotherapy 4 me 2day. As usual, all went fine. I think even turned corner re antiepileptics side effects. Incredible it’s 9mths since #glioblastoma presented & no sign of recurrence (median 6mths). Next MRI mid March.

@ProfRScolyerMIA @ProfGLongMIA Truly brilliant! And also the Australian of the Year award! Congratulations to you both and all the best for this still new year and beyond!

Brilliant news!! Still no recurrence of my supposedly incurable #glioblastoma!! Median time 2 recurrence 4 all pts is 6 months; I’m now out to 8 months! Perhaps neoadjuv/adjuv combi immunotherapy is effective?? Need clinical trial. Thx family, @ProfGLongMIA & diverse whole team!