Hope for the future of cancer research, from a surgeon knighted in today's New Year Honours.

LISTEN: Murray Brennan talks to Newstalk ZB about his New Year's Honours Knighthood

FULL LIST: New Year's Honours Recipients

US-based Sir Murray Brennan has played a leading role in international cancer research.

He says medical research has come a very long way, and effective personalised treatments are now a reality.

"We now know cancer is not one disease - it's a thousand diseases.

"Every individual cancer is different, every individual person is different."