Abstract
As acting CEO in mid-2024, when this yarn was filmed, Joanne Cory engages in a conversation with Madison Shakespeare about the GI Cancer Institute and the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG). At the time of the film’s release in December 2024, Joanne Cory had been appointed CEO of the GI Cancer Institute. Inspired by the dedication and wisdom of her predecessor, Russell Conley, who led the Institute for 22 years, Joanne continues to champion patient-centred strategic approaches within AGITG’s clinical trials. This yarn highlights the organisation’s focus on supporting all cancer patients to achieve self-determined cancer journeys.
This film is essential viewing for people with cancer and those supporting loved ones on a cancer journey. It offers valuable community insights into how the organisation addresses equity and diversity, building meaningful relationships with First Nations patients and communities to combat health inequities. For researchers, the yarn underscores the critical need for cultural proficiency in clinical trials, demonstrating how culturally safe engagement practices with First Nations cancer patients enhance recruitment, retention, and trust-building.
This film is essential viewing for people with cancer and those supporting loved ones on a cancer journey. It offers valuable community insights into how the organisation addresses equity and diversity, building meaningful relationships with First Nations patients and communities to combat health inequities. For researchers, the yarn underscores the critical need for cultural proficiency in clinical trials, demonstrating how culturally safe engagement practices with First Nations cancer patients enhance recruitment, retention, and trust-building.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Place of Publication | Online |
| Publisher | GI Cancer Institute AGITG |
| Edition | 1 |
| Media of output | Film |
| Size | 9 min 27 sec |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Seedpod of Yarns is an innovative video resource series produced and directed by Indigenous academic Madison Shakespeare, a proud Gadigal saltwater woman. Hosted and published by the GI Cancer Institute and the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG) in 2024–2025, the series focuses on gastrointestinal cancers with a particular emphasis on culturally safe communication and self-determined cancer journeys for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Madison Shakespeare traveled extensively across Australia over a 15-month period to yarn with First Nations patients, kin, community, and healthcare professionals to create this series. The works center Indigenous research methodologies and First Nations’ knowledge systems, aiming to improve health equity and culturally responsive cancer care. The films are widely disseminated through digital platforms and integrated into ongoing public health advocacy.One major yarn within the series features a conversation with Joanne Cory, then Acting CEO and currently CEO of the GI Cancer Institute. This yarn highlights the institute’s robust commitment to patient-centred care, equity, diversity, and culturally safe clinical trials, particularly for First Nations Australians. Seedpod of Yarns stands as a significant Non-Traditional Research Output (NTRO), exemplifying Indigenous-led creative practice as both culturally expressive and methodologically innovative in addressing health disparities.
Research Statement
This short film, produced by Indigenous academic Madison Shakespeare and published by the GI Cancer Institute and Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG), is a significant entry in the Seedpod of Yarns series—an exemplar of audio-visual storytelling as an impactful digital communication strategy for translational medicine. Madison Shakespeare engages with Joanne Cory, then Acting CEO and now appointed CEO of GI Cancer Institute, in a conversation that illuminates the organisation’s commitment to patient-centred care and self-determined cancer journeys for all patients, with a focused emphasis on First Nations peoples.
Inspired by the long-serving leadership of Russell Conley, Joanne Cory’s strategic approach integrates equity, diversity, and culturally safe practices across AGITG clinical trials. This yarn provides vital community perspectives on how the organisation works to combat health inequities by building respectful, culturally proficient relationships with First Nations patients and communities.
For researchers and healthcare clinicians, this work highlights the essential role of cultural proficiency in clinical trials. It demonstrates that culturally safe engagement is critical to supporting recruitment, retention, and trust-building among First Nations cancer patients. As part of a suite of 14 interlinked works, this film’s institutional commissioning, publication, and broad digital dissemination qualify it as a Standard output—an accessible, focused piece embedded in ongoing public health advocacy.
Rooted in Indigenous research methodologies that prioritise First Nations’ knowledge systems, this work exemplifies a transformative NTRO. The Seedpod of Yarns project as a whole stands as a model for how Indigenous-led creative practice serves both as cultural expression and as rigorous, ethical research that catalyses systemic change and advances health equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Keywords
- Indigenous communities
- cancer care
- cancer diagnosis
- self determination
- bridging the gap
- yarning
- Indigenous methodologies
- decolonial research methodology
