Over the last decade, almost 200 peer-reviewed publications have used linked data to study cancer in Australia. If you get cancer in Australia, when you’re diagnosed, how you’re treated, and your chances of survival can depend on where you live. People in regional areas are 20-30 per cent more likely to die within five years of a cancer diagnosis than people in the city. Professor David Preen, the Chair in Public Health at The University of Western Australia, is trying to change that. He was an investigator on a UWA and University of Melbourne study that used a randomised control trial and linked data to address  outcomes for cancer patients in rural areas.