In his spare time, billionaire Andrew Forrest has been undertaking a PhD in marine ecology and he's visibly annoyed by how long it's taken.
The impatient and self-described "hard-edged entrepreneur" told a room full of Australian and American cancer experts he was passionate about not wasting time.
"I can't stand the fact that my PhD in marine ecology has taken four years. I'll never get that back," he told the audience at the US embassy in Canberra on Thursday.
The mining magnate and philanthropist was imploring the researchers and bureaucrats to help change the shocking - and he acknowledged, unfair - reputation the cancer industry has for collaboration.
While there is social collaboration, structural collaboration is rare - especially given concerns about intellectual property - but sadly, that's where solutions are found.
The chairman of Minderoo urged other countries, such as the US and China, to step up and do more and called on the UK to match Australia's $100 million commitment to brain cancer.
Mr Forrest say's he's disappointed how long it takes to get clinical trials off the ground and the bureaucratic hoops that need to be jumped, especially around ethics.
"If we were that dying patient, if we were looking down at ourselves at that potential and closing last breath, would we really be giving a damn that we've got to put this off through the governmental health departments," he argued.
He cited the example of GBM Agile, a new clinical trial program for brain cancer therapies, which he says has taken too long to get started.
"I nearly threw up when I got told that for the $185 million we're not going to see a patient out of the new GBM Agile program maybe until the end of next year."
"I said 'you're all fired if I don't get a different result very fast'," he told those gathered.
Similarly, he said he's been told getting the collaborative approach of his Eliminate Cancer Initiative going in the US will take a minimum two years.
"I'm not going to get violent about it, but inside I will be because so many cancer patients are going to die while we work out how to do this," he said.
A spokeswoman later clarified that Mindaroo and the Eliminate Cancer Initiative are working with the Australian government and the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation to start the GBM Agile program in the second half of 2018.
Mr Forrest said the private sector and patients needed to take a lot more control through a new patient-driven data collection service.
He's already had discussions with the Governor of Texas and next month's Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London will see Baroness Tessa Jowell, a former Labour minister diagnosed with brain cancer, become the first signatory to give over her data.
Mr Forrest said he comes at cancer research from a personal perspective, with many in his family lost to cancer in every generation.
Last year he handed over the single biggest philanthropic donation in Australia's history, including $75 million for cancer research.
