Speakers.
GAC2020 Speaker Bios
Dr Scheryll Alken
St James’s Hospital
Dublin
Dr Scheryll Alken, MB BCh BAO MRCPI, is the Aspire Clinical Fellow in Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Medical Oncology at St James’s Hospital and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. She received her medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She then obtained membership of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (MRCPI) and entered specialist medical oncology training, both in Ireland on the Higher Specialist Training (HST) Scheme and in the UK as Clinical Fellow in Neuro Oncology and Drug Development in the Royal Marsden Hospital. Having completed her HST, she was awarded an inaugural Aspire Clinical Fellowship. She is a member of the NCCP Children, Adolescent & Young Adults Clinical Leads Group. Her current research interests include the disparities in care of the AYA Oncology patient. She has presented her research on disparities in outcomes for the AYA patient both nationally and internationally.
Dr Richard Bambury
Cork University Hospital
Cork
Dr Bambury is a Medical Oncologist at Cork University Hospital since July 2015. After completing
medical oncology training in Ireland in 2012, he worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in
New York with a focus on prostate and bladder cancer. He is heavily involved in patient care and
academic research. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Ainsworth Scholarship in
2012, the John Quale Travel fellowship in 2013 and was a lead co-investigator on a Prostate Cancer
Foundation-Movember Challenge Award in 2014. In his career to date he has presented over 40
original research abstracts at national and international oncology conferences including ESMO,
ASCO and ASCO GU. He is dedicated to improving cancer patient care through ongoing innovation
and research.
Dr Dean Bajorin
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York
Dr Dean Bajorin, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
Dean F. Bajorin, MD, FACP is Attending Physician and Member, Memorial Hospital,
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Professor of Medicine at Weill
Medical College of Cornell University in New York and serving as a member of the
MSKCC Genitourinary Oncology faculty. He has been the Principal Investigator for
multiple US National Cancer Institute grants designed to train future leaders in cancer
research and has served as MSKCC’s Director for the Medical Oncology/Hematology
Fellowship Program since 1994, the Advanced Oncology Fellowship since its creation in
2005, and MSKCC’s Clinical Research Methodology Curriculum for cancer research
investigators since its inception in 1999. He is past Chair of the Professional
Development Committee of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), past
member of ASCO’s Board of Directors, and past Chair of ASCO’s Oncology Training
Programs Committee. He also served as past Chair of ASCO’s Workforce Committee
during which time ASCO pursued initiatives identifying oncology staffing shortages in
the US and assessments of burnout in oncologists and hematology/oncology trainees.
Dr. Bajorin has a long-standing research focus in the development of novel treatments for
patients with genitourinary cancers, tumor biological characteristics predictive of patient
outcomes to treatment, and risk-directed chemotherapy. He is past Chair of the
AJCC/UICC Testicular Cancer Subcommittee, past cadre leader for bladder cancer in the
CALGB GU Committee, and immediate past Co-Chair (Oncology) of the NCI Bladder
Cancer Task Force. He is the Principal Investigator, along with David Solit, MD, for the
MSK NIH P50 Specialized Project of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Bladder Cancer.
He has held multiple other grants in bladder cancer research and has authored or co-
authored 350 publications and book chapters, served as an Associate Editor for the
Journal of Clinical Oncology, and as a reviewer for genitourinary cancer research in
international journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Journal of
the National Cancer Institute, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Cancer Research.
Mr Donal Buggy
Irish Cancer Society
Ireland
Donal Buggy is Director Services Delivery & Innovation with the Irish Cancer Society. In his 8 years at the Society, he has previously led the advocacy and strategy development functions.
He was a member of the Irish National Cancer Strategy 2017-2026 steering committee, and currently sits on national policy groups on cancer survivorship, palliative care and psycho-oncology.
Donal was invited by the Minister for Health to sit on the Cervical Check Steering Committee and to establish a patient support group for the 221 women identified as having upgraded results as part of the Cervical Check audit.
He holds a BSc from University of Cardiff and an MBA from Smurfit Business School, UCD.
Dr Susan Bullman
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Seattle
Dr. Susan Bullman studied at University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology where she earned her doctorate degree in 2013. She went on to complete her postdoctoral fellowship at Dana-Faber Cancer Institute in Boston and was Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School before joining the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as Assistant Professor in 2019. Dr. Bullman’s laboratory, funded by the US National Cancer Institute, studies the translational impact of the tumor microbiota in human cancers and aims to delineate specific mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of microbe-associated human cancers. She combines pre-clinical cancer models, molecular microbiology, in-situ imaging and high-throughput sequencing approaches to understand host-microbial interactions within the tumor microenvironment. Through such efforts, Dr. Bullman aims to unlock the molecular mechanisms behind bacterial-associated malignancies and identify targets for risk assessment, early detection, prevention and patient treatment.
Prof. Oscar Breathnach
Beaumont Hospital
Dublin
Prof Oscar Breathnach, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin
Prof. Oscar S. Breathnach graduated from UCD in 1991, trained in Medical Oncology within Ireland
and North America. He worked in Cork and Kerry prior to his current position in Beaumont Hospital
where he has been located since 2005.
He is committed to the Dept. of Health's E-Health Strategy and is Chair of the Implementation Board
of the NCCP's National Cancer Information System (NCIS). He is also a member of the NCCP's
Technology Review Committee since its foundation.
Dr. Karen Cadoo
St. James’s Hospital
Ireland
Dr. Karen Cadoo is a consultant Cancer Geneticist and Medical Oncologist at St. James’s Hospital,
Dublin. She recently returned to Ireland from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in
New York where she had a joint appointment in the Clinical Genetics and Gynecologic Medical
Oncology Services and was the lead of the Inherited Gynecologic Cancer Genetics Program. She
was awarded the Irish Society of Medical Oncology Visiting Scholar Fellowship to MSK and
during her fellowship she received an ASCO Young Investigator Award for research in HSP90
inhibitors in breast cancer. Her research is centered on drug development, inherited genetics, the
interplay with somatic genetics, and the potential to target these therapeutically. She has served
as principal investigator for multiple therapeutic trials in ovarian cancer and is a member of the
NRG Oncology Ovarian Cancer Committee. She was awarded a place on an Advanced
Sequencing Technologies & Applications Program in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and as a
member of the Niehaus Center for Inherited Cancer Genetics at MSK, she has explored the role
of inherited mutations in gynecologic cancers and across multiple cancer types.
Dr Daniel Cagney
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Boston
Dr Daniel Cagney is Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School and an attending Radiation Oncologist at Brigham & Women’s/Dana-Farber Cancer Center. He currently serves as Co-Director of Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy and clinical lead in the MR guided radiation program at Brigham & Women’s/Dana-Farber Cancer Center. Dr Cagney has a specialist interest in stereotactic radiation clinical trials, leveraging new technologies to combine stereotactic radiation treatments with novel agents as well as on the use of biomarkers to predict treatment outcomes and to guide therapy.
Ms Frieda Clinton
Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin
Dublin
Ms Frieda Clinton, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin, Dublin
In 2007 Frieda was accredited as the first paediatric Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Ireland.
In her day-to-day role as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Paediatric Haematology Oncology,
she provides care for children/adolescents and their families supporting them through this
challenging time of diagnosis, treatment and management during their cancer journey with the
multidisciplinary team. Frieda works in a tertiary centre where the patients’ care is shared with 16
paediatric units around Ireland, enabling the children, adolescents and their families to receive
some of the care and treatment in the community and closer to the home setting.
Frieda has been involved locally in developing a paediatric chemotherapy induced peripheral
neuropathy tool to assess our patient cohort. She has also been involved in setting up anti-emetic
guidelines based on best practice and research within our clinical setting. Frieda’s other areas of
interests are long term follow up care and survivorship.
She has been a committee member on the SIOP Scientific Nurses Group from 2017-to the present
date. She has acted as the link with the Childhood Cancer International committee (CCI- parent
group) throughout her time on the committee and helped organize the joint nurses’/parents’
session. Frieda has also had the opportunity to co-ordinate the education day programme for SIOP
in Lyon in 2019 and for the virtual conference in 2020.
Dr Louise Connell
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York
Dr Louise Connell is an Assistant Attending in the Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Service in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York. Her research career and clinical practice are focused on improving treatment outcomes for patients with GI malignancies, in particular colorectal cancer, appendix cancer, anal cancer and primary peritoneal disease. She graduated from University College Cork in 2007, and went on to complete her general internal medicine residency and oncology training at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. She further specialized in Gastrointestinal Oncology as an Advanced Oncology fellow at MSKCC from 2014-2016, after receiving the Irish Society of Medical Oncology (ISMO) Visiting Scholar fellowship award. She has presented research at several international meetings including ASCO, ASCO GI and ESMO, and has authored and co-authored numerous peer reviewed publications and book chapters. Among other accolades during her training, she was awarded the Ainsworth Scholarship from University College Cork 2014-2015 and an ASCO Young Investigator Award in 2016 for her research work on immunotherapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Her primary specialty on the GI service at MSKCC is to incorporate the use of locoregional chemotherapy directly into the liver and peritoneal cavity in patients with metastatic colorectal and appendiceal cancers. Her research work is focused on liver directed chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer, with the use of hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy.
Dr. Mark Doherty
St Vincent’s University Hospital,
Dublin, Ireland
Dr. Mark Doherty graduated from University College Dublin in 2006. He completed Basic Specialist
Training in Medicine through the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2008 followed Higher Specialist
Training in Medical Oncology in 2015. This was followed by a Clinical Fellowship in Medical Oncology at
the Princess Margaret Hospital, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2017 he was awarded a Master’s degree
in Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research at the University of Toronto. Following this, he was
appointed as Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, and Staff Medical Oncologist at Sunnybrook
Odette Cancer Centre from 2017 to 2020. In 2020, he returned to Ireland to an appointment as a
Consultant Medical Oncologist at St Vincent’s Hospital Group. His academic focus is on developing
therapeutic clinical trials to answer vital clinical questions, and using observational data to better
understand treatment responses. He has published academic papers in important medical journals and
regularly attends and presents at international oncology meetings.
Dr Austin Duffy
The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital
Dublin
Austin Duffy studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in June 1998, and became a member of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2001. Between June 2002 and July 2006 he completed specialist registrar training in medical oncology before moving to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York where he completed a subspecialty fellowship in Gastrointestinal Oncology. In 2008 Dr Duffy was recruited to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Washington DC where he started a translational program in tumor immunology, focusing on gastrointestinal cancers. In 2014 he became Clinical Director of the GI Malignancies Section at NCI and in 2016 was awarded the National Cancer Institute Director’s Award for Innovation in cancer research. In 2017 Dr Duffy returned to Ireland as a consultant medical oncologist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. He is Associate Professor of Translational Oncology at UCD and The Mater and Chair of the GI DSSG with Cancer Trials Ireland. Dr Duffy’s research interests are in immune-based approaches for liver cancer and to improve early-phase experimental options for Irish patients with advanced cancer.
Dr Patricia Fox
UCD School of Nursing Midwifery & Health Systems
Dublin
Patricia trained as a registered general nurse in St James’s Hospital and worked for over 10 years as an oncology nurse in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York.
She has been based in the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems since 2003 where she works as an assistant professor and programme director of the Post Graduate Diploma in Cancer Nursing.
Patricia received her BSc in Nursing at Pace University, New York and her MA in Advanced Practice Nursing from New York University. She subsequently completed a Higher Diploma in Nursing Education and a PhD in Nursing in UCD.
She is a member of the European School of Oncology distance learning committee.
Prof David Gallagher
St James’s Hospital
Dublin
Professor David Gallagher is a Consultant Medical Oncologist and Consultant Medical Geneticist, and a Clinical Professor of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin. He graduated from University College Dublin Medical School, and trained on the Irish specialist registrar scheme in medical oncology. He was awarded the first ISMO Fellowship to MSKCC in 2006, and completed training in both Medical Oncology and Medical Genetics between Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, and New York Presbyterian Cornell University Hospital. Professor Gallagher worked in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre for four years before returning to Ireland in 2010 where he established a Medical Oncology and Medical Genetics practice at the Mater Private Hospital, the Hermitage Medical Clinic and Blackrock Clinic. He is the National Clinical Lead in Cancer Genetics and runs the Cancer Genetics Services in St James’s Hospital. He remains actively involved in cancer research and has retained a number of research collaborations in North America, in addition to establishing new collaborations with colleagues in Dublin, and the UK.
Dr Jack Gleeson
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York
Dr Jack Gleeson is currently a medical oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, after receiving the Irish Society of Medical Oncology (ISMO) Visiting Scholar fellowship award for 2019-2021. He graduated with an Honours degree from University College Cork in 2012 and completed his oncology training in Ireland through the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, Cork University Hospital and St. Vincent’s University Hospital, before moving to New York to complete his subspecialist training. Among other accolades during his training, he was awarded the Ainsworth Scholarship from University College Cork 2019-2020 and obtained CSCST certification from the RCPI in July 2020. His active research interests include investigation of the underlying genomic changes that impact therapeutic outcomes in patients with genitourinary malignancies and developing new therapeutic approaches for these patients.
Dr Liam Grogan
Prof Liam Grogan
Beaumont Hospital
Dublin
Dr Liam Grogan MD FRCPI graduated from UCD in 1985, trained in medical oncology in the Mater
Hospital and the National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA. Current appointment as a Consultant Medical
Oncologist in Beaumont Hospital and as an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in the Royal College of
Surgeons in Ireland.
Dr Helen Greally
Cancer Care West,
NCCP
Galway
Dr Helen Greally is National Clinical Programme Lead in Psycho-Oncology at The National Cancer Control Programme. Psycho-Oncology is concerned with the psychological, social, behavioural, and ethical aspects of cancer. This role was created to oversee the implementation of key recommendations in the current National Cancer Strategy, including providing clinical leadership for the Psycho-oncology programme, by steering the work of the Psycho-oncology programme and collaborating amongst clinical colleagues including other clinical leads. The Clinical Lead contributes to on-going planning for implementation and also works strategically with other areas of NCCP programming to improve patient psychological and social wellbeing and to improve patient outcomes. Adopting a strategic and integrated approach to planning and developing cancer services that will meet the needs of the population of Ireland over the coming years and decades is one of the key areas as is the development of evidence-based patient pathways and models of care/service delivery relevant to psych-oncology. The role also ensures that Psycho-Oncology services are developed in a way that is equitable, accessible, quality driven and effective and to align developments with evolving models of care in mental health services across the HSE.
Dr Greally is also Director of Psychology and Support Services at Cancer Care West, a charity whose main focus is residential and psychosocial support services for cancer patients and their families. The role is clinical, managerial and strategic. Strategically, the last two years has seen the development of Cancer Care West support services to include extensive Psycho-Oncology services in the West of Ireland, the development of pre and post rehabilitation supports for cancer patients and the opening of a second support centre in Co.Donegal.
Dr Megan Greally
The Mater Private Hospital
Dublin
Ireland
Dr Megan Greally graduated from the National University of Ireland, Galway in 2008. She obtained membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (MRCPI) in 2011 and completed Higher Specialist Training in Medical Oncology in 2017. In 2012, she was awarded a diploma in Clinical Education at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She was the recipient of an ISMO visiting scholar fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and undertook an advanced oncology fellowship with a clinical and research focus in gastrointestinal malignancies and breast cancer. She has presented research at international meetings including ASCO, ASCO GI and SABACS and has authored and co-authored numerous peer reviewed publications and book chapters. In 2020, she was appointed as a Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Mater Private Hospital. She is a member of ESMO, AACR and ASCO.
Ms Helen Hancock
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York
Helen Hancock graduated from the nursing program in Trinity College Dublin in 2006. She then
practiced as a RN in oncology care & the clinical trials department in the Mater Misericordia
University Hospital. In 2012, she was awarded a graduate diploma in adult cancer care from
University College Dublin. Helen graduated from the Gerontological / Adult Nurse Practitioner
Program at Hunter College, CUNY in 2016 with the Ann Dillon Award for Caring and has since worked
in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in clinical trials
specializing in T-Cell Lymphoma & Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She works alongside Dr. Alison Moskowitz
& Dr. Steven Horwitz in the management of patients on predominantly phase I and II clinical trials
exploring novel targeted and immunotherapy based trials for T Cell Lymphoma and Hodgkin’s
lymphoma. Helen is committed to oncology education for both patients and healthcare
professionals and has contributed to an online learning module from Clinical Care Options Oncology
in the subject of New Agents and Therapeutic Combinations for the Frontline Treatment of
Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma; specifically on how to manage the side effects of the treatment with a
focus on Peripheral Neuropathy.
Dr Emer Hanrahan
St Vincent’s University Hospital
Dublin
Dr Emer Hanrahan, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin.
Dr Emer Hanrahan is a consultant medical oncologist at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, with a
special interest in Thoracic, Head and Neck oncology. She trained
in medical oncology as a specialist registrar in Ireland (2002 to
2004), and as a fellow in the USA at the National Cancer Institute,
Bethesda, Maryland (2005-2006) and at M. D. Anderson Cancer
Center, Houston, Texas (MDACC, 2004-2005, 2006-2008). She held
a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Thoracic,
Head and Neck Medical Oncology at MDACC (2008-2009) before
returning to her current position in Ireland in February 2010.
Dr Anne Horgan
University Hospital
Waterford
Anne Horgan is a medical oncologist based in University Hospital Waterford, South East Cancer Centre, Ireland. She graduated from University College Cork, completed her medical oncology specialist training in Ireland then undertook a fellowship in the Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto, Canada. Her fellowship research was centred on GI malignancies and geriatric oncology and she has numerous peer reviewed publications on these topics. She took up her consultant post in Ireland in 2011. Her clinical practice covers GI malignancies, and she established the GOAL (Geriatric Oncology Assessment and Liaison) clinic which runs on a weekly basis. She is a member of Cancer Trials Ireland, is chair of the Irish Geriatric Oncology Meeting and National Representative for the International Society of Geriatric Oncology (SIOG).
Dr Yelena Janjigian
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York
Yelena Y. Janjigian MD, is Associate Professor and Chief of Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology Service in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) Her research career and clinical practice are focused on improving treatment outcomes for patients with GI malignancies. She is an international expert in the management of cancers of esophagus and stomach and is leading several seminal studies that will impact the standard of care for these diseases. She produced high impact publications describing the genomic basis for esophagogastric cancer pathogenesis and secured federal grants to fund future studies. Her research is focused on developing new treatments, with a special emphasis on defining the therapeutically relevant molecular characteristics of tumors in the GI tract, with 100 peer-reviewed publications to date.
Dr Emmet Jordan
University Hospital
Waterford
Dr Emmet Jordan graduated from U.C.D and upon completion of the basic specialist training program embarked on an oncology career working as a registrar in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. He enrolled on to the Oncology Specialist Registrar Program thereafter working in various cancer centres in Ireland as well as completing a graduate certificate in Palliative Care in U.C.D. In 2013, he was awarded a three year Advanced Oncology Fellowship in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York with a focus on translational research based in Dr David Solit’s laboratory. Under the mentorship of Dr David Solit, Director, Marie-Josée & Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology and Dr Gopa Iyer M.D he has worked on appraising molecular approaches to cancer therapy in the laboratory and clinical setting. In 2016, he was awarded an Americal Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Young Investigator Award for his project assessing molecular alterations in bladder cancer. During his time at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr Jordan has published his research in peer reviewed journals and completed an M.D. thesis program. In August 2017, Dr Jordan has returned to Ireland working as a Consultant Medical Oncologist in University Hospital Waterford.
Dr Fergal Kelleher
St James’s Hospital
Dublin
Fergal Kelleher MSc, AFRCSI, FRCPI, FRCP(London), MD, MRCP(Medical Oncology) is a Consultant Medical Oncologist in St. James’s Hospital Dublin. He graduated in medicine from University College Cork and did initial training in surgery and medicine in Dublin's Major Academic Teaching Hospitals. Subsequent to completion of training in medical oncology he undertook a fellowship at Peter MacCallum Cancer Center in Melbourne Australia where he worked in the divisions of melanoma, and sarcoma. His research has been published in journals including Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Letters, and the European Journal of Cancer.
Dr Deirdre Kelly
Princess Margaret Cancer Center
Toronto
Dr Deirdre Kelly achieved Medical Oncology CCST accredited by The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, July 2020. She was awarded an ESMO-ESO Honorarium 2017 for her work on breast cancer. She was the Chief Resident in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital 2015 / 2016 and won the Health Service Executive National Leadership Award 2016 for her work on Quality Improvement. She is a fellow of the Princess Margaret Global Oncology Leadership Development Program and is completing an MSC in Clinical Epidemiology through University College london. Dr Kelly is currently undertaking her medical oncology subspecialty fellowship at The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMCC) and collaborating with The Princess Margaret Bioinformatics and Computational Genomics Laboratory. Dr. Kelly’s current research focus is precision medicine-based clinical trials and correlative studies emphasizing biomarker identification. She is focused on patient-centered care delivery and is collaborating to develop the Professional Wellness Program at PMCC.
Prof John Kennedy
St. James’s Hospital
Dublin
Prof. Kennedy is one of the country’s leading medical oncologists. He holds a
Bachelor of Medicine, a Bachelor of Surgery and a Bachelor of Obstetrics from the
University of Dublin, Trinity College where he was awarded a first-class honours
degree and won numerous prizes including the university Gold Medal in 1983. His
training took him from Ireland to the United States where he began a Clinical
Fellowship in Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore in 1987 and
where he ultimately rose to the position of Associate Professor of Oncology. While at
Johns Hopkins he was twice conferred with the Outstanding Teacher award by the
Osler Housestaff and was principal investigator on numerous research grants from the
National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society and the Dept. of Defence. He
returned to Ireland in 1998. He is Clinical Professor of Oncology in Trinity College
Dublin and currently holds the position of Consultant Medical Oncologist at St Luke’s
and St. James’s Hospitals where he is a past Chairman of the Medical Board and a
past member of the Board of the Hospital. He is a past Chairman of the Irish Clinical
Oncology Research Group (ICORG), past Chairman of the Irish Society for Medical
Oncology, and past Chairman of the Irish Cancer Society. He chaired the Minister for
Health’s Cancer Strategy Advisory Committee from 2015 to 2017. His major
research interest is in breast cancer.
Dr Greg Leonard
Galway University
Hospital
Dr Leonard attended medical school at University College Dublin and qualified in 1996. As a medical student he spent time in the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. His general medical training began in the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin and included a rotation in The Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. His medical oncology training started in the Mater Hospital and continued in the United States at The National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York where he did a subspecialty fellowship in GI (gastrointestinal) oncology and received an American Society of Clinical Oncology merit award for his work in colorectal cancer.
He returned to Ireland in 2004 where he took up a consultant post in Waterford Regional Hospital and subsequently to Galway University Hospital and Mayo General Hospital in April 2010. He is the medical oncology lead for GI malignancies in GUH. He is on the committees for the development of NCCP national guidelines for GI malignancies and education for medical oncology trainees. He was involved in the development of the All Ireland Colorectal Cancer meeting and was the co-chair for Cancer Trials Ireland GI subspecialty group.
Dr Melissa Lumish
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York
Dr. Melissa Lumish is a second-year fellow in Hematology and Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC). She graduated with honors from Cornell University where she studied nutrition and human biology. She completed formal clinical training in dietetics at Brigham and Women’s hospital prior to graduating with Alpha Omega Alpha distinction from the New York University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research interests involve understanding the role of the tumor and intestinal microenvironment in balancing anti-tumor activity with treatment toxicity. She is currently investigating clinical and genomic techniques to define the etiology and natural history of young onset gastrointestinal cancer. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Lumish and her colleagues led one of the first studies on the effects of Covid-19 among patients with cancer and published the findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Prof Maeve Lowery,
St James’s Hospital,
Dublin
Maeve Lowery is Professor of Translational Cancer Medicine at Trinity College Dublin and a
consultant medical oncologist at St James Hospital. Prof Lowery received her medical degree
from UCD School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University College Dublin. She
completed higher medical training in medical oncology with the Royal College of Physicians
in Ireland , followed by an advanced fellowship in gastrointestinal oncology at Memorial
Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York. She remained in New York for eight years as an
attending medical oncologist and translational researcher in the gastrointestinal oncology
service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre until returning to Dublin in September
2017. Her translational research interests use of real time genomic profiling to identify
novel therapeutic strategies for gastrointestinal cancers, identification of non coding
alterations as modifiers of the DNA damage response pathway and generation of organoid
models of cancer as a tool for precision oncology as a member of the PRECODE consortium.
Her work is supported by the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund (PCRF), Science Foundation
Ireland, through the Precision Oncology Ireland Consortium and the EU Horizon 2020 Marie
Sklodowska-Curie Programme.
Prof Paddy Mallon
St Vincent’s University Hospital
Dublin
Professor Paddy Mallon is Professor of Microbial Diseases in University College Dublin (UCD) and an Infectious Diseases Specialist at St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. Professor Mallon trained in Infectious Diseases in Sydney Australia and completed a PhD in long-term toxicities of HIV under the supervision of Professor David Cooper and Professor Andrew Carr. He is the director of the UCD Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research (CEPHR), which focuses on translational research into outcomes of infections such as HIV, COVID and tuberculosis. His own research interests include age-related outcomes in HIV and host biological determinants of outcome from infection. He chairs the European AIDS Clinical Society Comorbidities Guidelines Panel and is a Director of the Wellcome Trust / HRB Irish Clinicial Academic Training Programme.
Professor John McCaffrey
The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Dublin
Professor John McCaffrey graduated from University College Dublin and following Fellowship in
General and Genitourinary Medical Oncology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New
York (MSKCC), he was appointed Attending Physician in Genitourinary Medical Oncology at MSKCC
and the Cornell University Medical Center. He returned to the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital
in 1999, and to Cavan General Hospital where he established a Nurse-led Medical Oncology Unit as
a satellite to the Mater campus. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He is a
former President of the Irish Society of Medical Oncology (ISMO), and was previously ISMO
representative to the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO). He founded the ISMO/MSKCC
Subspecialty Fellowship with Dr. Bajorin. He is the co – founding chairman of both The Gathering
Around Cancer Conference and the John Fitzpatrick Irish Genitourinary Cancer Conference. He was
Co-National Specialty Director (NSD) in Medical Oncology and is the American Society of Clinical
Oncology (ASCO) Programme Director for the Irish College. He has served on a number of
committees advising ESMO, ASCO and the NCCP. Professor McCaffrey is Full Clinical Professor at
UCD.
Professor Ray McDermot
St Vincent’s University Hospital,
Dublin
Professor McDermott trained in Medical Oncology in Dublin during which time he completed an MBA in Health Services Management. From there, he went to the Institut Curie, Paris where he earned a PhD. He completed his clinical training at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia where he further an interest in Genito-Urinary Oncology. He then returned to Ireland as Consultant Medical Oncologist.
Professor McDermott subsequently took over as Clinical Lead of Cancer Trials Ireland and facilitated an organisational restructure with appointment of an independent Board of Directors and development of a strategic vision for cancer trials in Ireland. He then successfully led the grant renewal programme with an award of €9,000,000 over 3 years.
He continues to pursue research interests in genito-urinary and pancreas cancer and has received awards to run clinical trials in Ireland with associated funding of several million euros. He has been devised and been national co-ordinator on multiple clinical studies. He is currently accruing patients to over 30 studies and estimates to accrue 15% of patients seen on trial.
In 2016, he was appointed Clinical Professor in Medical Oncology by University College Dublin. He is committed to improving outcomes for Irish patients with cancer through clinical and translational research.
Dr Patrick Morris
Beaumont Hospital
Dublin
Professor Patrick G. Morris is a Medical Oncologist with special interests in Breast Cancer and Neuro-
Oncology. He graduated from UCD and trained in several Academic Centres in Ireland. In addition to
his undergraduate training, he has BMedSc, MSc and MD degrees. In 2007, he was awarded a
Fellowship by the Irish Society of Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre
(MSKCC) in New York. This allowed him to complete his training in Medical Oncology and Fellowships
in Medical Oncology and Neuro- Oncology. Under the supervision of his mentor, Clifford Hudis MD,
he was involved in a range of clinical and translational research projects, focusing on novel drug
development, cardiotoxicity in breast cancer and the testing, validation of biomarkers to predict
response to treatment and subsequently the link between obesity, inflammation and cancer. In
total, he has almost 100 pubmed-listed, peer reviewed papers, which include several publications in
high profile journals such as Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer and Clinical Cancer Research. He
recently served as a 3 year member of the ASCO Scientific Program Committee on Breast Cancer and
completed a 3 year term on the Editorial Board of Journal of Clinical Oncology. He is currently a
member of the Editorial Boards of Anti-Cancer Drugs and regularly peer-review manuscripts for
other journals. He is the Medical Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials and Research Unit, RCSI
Hospital group and is the Chair of the breast research group in Cancer Trials Ireland. Currently, his
research focuses mostly on clinical and translational studies for patients with breast cancer, GI
malignancies and brain tumours. His other roles include Clinical Director for Cancer Services and
Secretary of the Medical Board, Beaumont Hospital, and Medical Oncology Advisor to the HPRA
Clinical Trials Committee.
Mr Jurgen Mulsow
The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital
Dublin
Mr Mulsow was appointed to the Mater Hospital in 2012 and has played a leading role in the development of a national multidisciplinary programme treating patients with advanced abdominal and peritoneal malignancy. The department attracts international Fellows and has established collaborations with units in the UK, Europe, and Australia. Mr Mulsow is a member of the Peritoneal Malignancy Committee of the Association of Coloproctology GB & Ireland, a member of the EURO Cost Action for Pseudomyxoma Peritonei, the outgoing National Representative for the European Society of Coloproctology, and a board member of the Irish Society of Gastroenterology. He has published widely on the treatment of peritoneal malignancy.
Dr Jarushka Naidoo
Beaumont Hospital
Dublin
Dr. Jarushka Naidoo is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin (Ireland) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and Bloomberg-Kimmel Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, MD.
Dr. Naidoo graduated with her medical degree (MB BCh BAO) from Trinity College Dublin, and completed both internal medicine training and a medical oncology fellowship through the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. She then completed an awarded advanced fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York), and joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in 2015. At Johns Hopkins, she led a portfolio of clinical trials and translational studies focused on immunotherapy for lung cancer and immune-related adverse events, and was the co-chair of the multidisciplinary Johns Hopkins Immune-related Toxicity Team. She has returned to Ireland as of September 2020 to Beaumont Hospital (Dublin) and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, and serves as the new lung cancer chair for Cancer Trials Ireland
Dr. Naidoo currently leads investigator-initiated trials for patients with lung cancer, specifically for those with stage III non-small lung cancer, and those with CNS metastases. She is the Chair of the Immunotherapy Subcommittee of the NRG Clinical Trials Cooperative Group and serves on the ASCO and SITC Immune-Related Toxicity Guideline Panels. She is the recipient of several grants and awards including an NIH KL2 Clinical Scholar Award, as well as a Lung Cancer Foundation of America/IASLC Young Investigator Award on biomarkers of immunotherapy response and toxicity.
Ms Catherine O’Brien
St James’s Hospital
Dublin
Catherine qualified as a Registered General Nurse in Cork University Hospital in 1993. She moved to London where she worked in a Bone Marrow Transplant unit in UCLH. Since returning to Dublin in 1997 Catherine has continued to work in cancer services and has been in St James’s Hospital since 2001. She completed a 3 month Cancer Clinical Trials programme in National Cancer Institute Washington in 2002. In 2011 she won the Irish Association of Nurses in Oncology President’s Prize for her research on Febrile Neutropenia Risk Assessment, the prize being a secondment in Memorial Sloane Kettering in New York.
Catherine completed her Masters in Clinical Practice in 2010 in UCD and more recently the Certificate in Advanced Practice Nursing in 2017 also in UCD. Her current role is as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Cancer Survivorship in St James’s Hospital where she is responsible for her own caseload of patients including those with Lymphoma, Breast & Testicular cancers.
Dr Martin O’Connell
The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital
Dublin
Consultant Radiologist with Specialist Interest in Nuclear Medicine at the Mater Misericordiae
University Hospital and Mater Private Hospital.
Qualified in UCD, trained in Internal Medicine on the Federated Hospital training scheme. Radiology
training RCSI program with Fellowship training in Interventional Radiology, Musculoskeletal
Radiology. Additional Fellowships in Abdominal Imaging and Nuclear Medicine at Duke University
Medical Centre. Chairperson of the Irish Nuclear Medicine Association and Irish National Delegate to
the EANM. Keen interest in Isotope therapies for 16 years.
Dr Dearbhaile O’Donnell
Consultant Medical Oncologist
St. James, Dublin
Dr Dearbhaile O’Donnell, M.D., F.R.C.P.I. is a Consultant Medical Oncologist in St. James’s Hospital, Dublin. During specialist training, she was awarded a Cancer Research UK (initially ICRF) Clinician Scientist post for translational research in cancer immunology. Her role as Senior Lecturer in Medical Oncology in the University of Leeds included translational laboratory research, teaching and clinical trials. In her current clinical post, she specialises in gynaecological and urological cancers. She is also co-supervising a PhD in physical activity and cancer, is co-chair of the gynaecology group of Cancer Trials Ireland and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Gynaecological Cancer Intergroup and of the Board of St James’s Foundation.
Dr Grainne O’Kane
Princess Margaret Cancer Center
Toronto
Dr. O’Kane graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2007 and went on to complete her general internal medicine residency and oncology training at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. While in Ireland, completing her last two years of training, Dr. O'Kane chaired the national trainee committee. She then completed a post-doctoral degree in mismatch repair deficiency and Lynch Syndrome, before commencing her Clinical Research Fellowship at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in January of 2016. Dr. O’Kane completed a two-year fellowship in thoracic and GI malignancies and thereafter focused her research in pancreatic and hepatobiliary tumors during her final fellowship year. Dr. O’Kane is a Clinician Investigator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She leads a number of clinical trials and main research interests are in biomarker driven clinical trial design and molecular characterization of tumours.
Prof Risteárd Ó Laoide
National Cancer Control Programme
Ireland
Prof Risteárd Ó Laoide
National Director of the National Cancer Control Programme, Clinical Professor of Radiology, UCD
and Consultant Radiologist at St Vincent's University Hospital. Dean Emeritus, Faculty of Radiologists
RCSI.
Dr Brian O’Neill
St Luke’s Hospital
Dublin
Dr Brian DP O’Neill is a Consultant Radiation Oncologist at St Luke’s and Beaumont
Hospitals, and at the Mater Private hospital, where his specialist interests are Gastro-
Intestinal and Genito-Urinary Radiation Oncology. Dr O’Neill is a Graduate of the Royal
College of Surgeons in Ireland. He completed general medical training in Beaumont Hospital,
Dublin and a Specialist Registrar Radiation Oncology programme at the St Luke’s Radiation
Oncology Network, followed by Fellowships in Gastro-Intestinal and Genito-Urinary Clinical
Oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London.
Dr O’Neill is the National Lead for GI Radiation Oncology and an Author of the National
Cancer Control Programme clinical guidelines for upper and lower Gastro-Intestinal cancers,
and for Prostate Cancer. He is co-Chair of the Cancer Trials Ireland Gastro-Intestinal disease-
specific subgroup. Dr O’Neill is a board member of the St Luke’s Institute for Cancer
Research (SLICR) and leads the GI research group at the St Luke’s Radiation Oncology
Network.Dr O’Neill has led multiple national and international trials with Cancer Trials Ireland. He has
published numerous articles and has lectured extensively.
Prof Seamus O’Reilly
Cork University Hospital
Cork
Prof Seamus O’Reilly graduated in Medicine from the National University of Ireland in Galway and completed Medical Oncology training and PhD at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Post fellowship he was an Associate Professor there specialising in Cancer Pharmacology. In 1998 he established a Medical Oncology programme and Cancer Clinical trials unit at Waterford University Hospital and subsequently moved in 2001 to Cork University Hospital establishing a Medical Oncology programme and a Health Research Board funded clinical trials unit there. In 2014 he was appointed as associate Professor at University College Cork and since 2013 has been co National Director in Medical Oncology at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. He is a founding trustee and co Chairperson of Cork ARC Cancer Support House. He has been Disease Specific Lead in Gastrointestinal Cancers at Cancer Trials Ireland and is co-author of over 100 peer reviewed publications.
Derek Power
Cork University Hospital
Cork
Derek Power graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1994
with a BSc in Pharmacy. He graduated from the Royal College
of Surgeons in Ireland in 2001 with a medical degree. He
completed his medical oncology training in Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Centre, New York 2007-2010. He was
appointed as a Consultant Medical Oncologist in The Mercy
and Cork University Hospitals in July 2010. Interests include
melanoma, gastrointestinal and genitourinary cancers as well
as familial cancer genetics. He has over 90 citations in the
international scientific literature and has co-authored 5 book
chapters. He is a national principal investigator on several
Cancer Trials Ireland clinical trials in gastrointestinal cancers
and melanoma. He is the current Chair of the Melanoma DSSG
in Cancer Trials Ireland. He is the recipient of a Translational
Research Access Programme Application grant from UCC for
‘Neuroendocrine and Gut Microbiome Biomarkers in Pancreatic
cancer cachexia’, and has received investigator initiated
funding for kidney cancer, colorectal cancer, and melanoma
studies.
Prof Karen Redmond
The Mater Misericordiae
University Hospital,
Dublin
Professor Redmond specializes in the surgical management of patients with lung cancer and end-stage lung failure.
After completing her specialist training in cardio-thoracic surgery in June 2007, Professor Redmond was awarded a United States Surgical Minimally Invasive Lung Cancer Surgery Scholarship and trained in her subspecialty field of thoracic surgery and lung transplantation at Toronto General Hospital, Canada. She returned to the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital’s National programme in 2011.
She is one of the first trained robotic surgeons in the British Isles with recent published comparative meta-analyses on robotic lobectomy (BASCO Award at the 2019 SCTS Annual Meeting) and thymectomy.
She is one of the first thoracic surgeons worldwide to start an iVATS programme (CT-guided localisation in the Hybrid Theatre) resecting pulmonary nodules supporting diagnosis and / or curative resection of pulmonary metastases.
Professor Redmond directs an academic programme, supervising grant-funded MD and PhD students in such areas as pulmonary rehabilitation, health economics and EVLP (ASIT Prize 2019), supporting a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals.
She is a member of a number of national and international committees, including the Board of Representatives for the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons for the UK and ROI (SCTS) and The Cardiothoracic Advisory Group in the UK (CTAG).
Prof Jeff Ross
Upstate Medical University
Syracuse, New York
Jeffrey S. Ross, M.D. is a graduate of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio and The State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine in Buffalo, New York. He served as an intern resident and fellow in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He was certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology in 1974. Following his training, Dr. Ross served as Chief of Pathology at the Moncrief United States Army Hospital in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. From 1977 until 1989 he was a member of the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Medical School reaching the rank of Professor and Assistant Dean while continuing as research Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Ross was the Cyrus Strong Merrill Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Albany Medical College and Pathologist-in-Chief at the Albany Medical Center Hospital in Albany, New York from 1989 to 2017. In 2017, Dr. became the Jones-Rohner Endowed Professor of Pathology, Oncology and Urology at the Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. Dr. Ross has received numerous academic awards, four patents in molecular diagnostics (including HER2 gene amplification detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization) and is the author of more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific articles and abstracts, 4 textbooks and numerous book chapters in the fields of pathology, molecular diagnostics, oncology and translational cancer research. Dr. Ross has been a member of the NIH Clinical Oncology Study Section and serves on the editorial boards and reviewer lists of numerous scientific journals and is Associate Editor for Basic Science of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology. He has served in multiple leadership positions for the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, the College of American Pathologists, the International Academy of Pathology, the Association of Pathology Chairs and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Ross served as Scientific Fellow and Head of Molecular Pathology at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Cambridge, MA. In 2004, Dr. Ross co-founded SYFR, Inc. an RFID Specimen Management and IHC/ISH/FISH autostainer company. In 2009, Dr. Ross became the Founding Strategic Advisor and the Medical Director for Foundation Medicine, Inc. in Cambridge, MA. In 2017, Dr. Ross was appointed a Board Observer at Celsius Therapeutics, Inc. and in 2020 he was named as Diagnostics Consultant for Tango Therapeutics, Inc.
Mr James Smith
The Hermitage Hospital
Dublin
Mr James Smith is a general & colorectal surgeon based in the Hermitage Hospital, Dublin. His areas
of interest include colorectal oncology, functional pelvic floor & perianal diseases & general surgery.
Ms Rose Mary Smyth
Cavan
General Hospital
Rose Mary Smyth. Qualified as RGN in 1992 at the Mater Hospital Dublin.
Worked as a staff nurse on St Vincent’s Ward, Mater Hospital, Dublin for 2 years.
In 1994 went to the Royal Marsden Hospital London where she worked and completed a BCs (Hon) in Cancer Care.
In 1999 established and developed the Nurse Led Oncology service in Cavan General Hospital and continues to work in this ever-evolving oncology service.
Dr. Jennifer Westrup
Beacon Hospital,
Dublin
Dr.Westrup is the Director of Oncology, and a Consultant Medical Oncologist at
Beacon Hospital. Dr. Westrup is appointed Associate Clinical Professor at
University College Dublin and sits on the steering committee of the innovative
UCD Beacon Academy. Dr. Westrup is the former Medical Director at Beacon
Hospital and currently sits on the Clinical Governance Committee of the Beacon
Hospital Board.
Dr.Westrup is the Chair of the Beacon Foundation which serves to fund
innovative healthcare initiatives.
Dr. Westrup is a member of Cancer Trials Ireland. Her research on breast cancer
has been presented at international conferences and is published in peer
reviewed journals. She is a member of the National Cancer Care Programme,
Melanoma Clinical Advisory Group.
Dr. Westrup is also an Advisor on Life Sciences to Atlantic Bridge Ventures with
a focus on funding Irish Med Tech start-ups.