IRELAND-NORTHERN IRELAND-NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE www.allirelandnci.org SPRING 2008 

Inside this Issue:

Prevention Fellowship 

Awarded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Summer Scholars. . . . . . . . . 2

CCRCB Opening . . . . . . . . 2

Nursing WG Update. . . . . . 3

Palliative Care . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Leadership Changes . . . . . . 4

Consortium Leadership. . . . 4

Nurses Visit the NCI . . . . . 5

Announcements . . . . . . . . . 6

What's Next . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

About the Consortium . . . . 6

The Consortium welcomes 

your comments and suggestions.

Please direct all communications 

to the Consortium at:

E-MAIL

consortium@cancer.gov

TELEPHONE

(from Ireland/Northern Ireland)

001-301-496-5534

ADDRESS

Ireland-Northern Ireland-NCI 

Cancer Consortium

6130 Executive Blvd.

Suite 100

Bethesda, MD 20892

WEB SITE

www.allirelandnci.org

I

n recent years, the need to 

increase research capacity 

in health economics and 

cancer policy analysis has been 

identified by the Department 

of Health and Children (DoHC), 

Ireland and the Department of 

Health, Social Services and Public 

Safety (DHSSPS), Northern 

Ireland as a priority to improving 

the quality of cancer care on the 

island of Ireland. As a result, health 

economics and cancer policy analysis were added to the renewed Memorandum of 

Understanding signed in Belfast on 13 November 2006, which re-established the IrelandNorthern Ireland-National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Consortium. 

Under the auspices of the Consortium, the NCI organized an All-Ireland Health Economics 

Workshop on 21-22 May 2007 to facilitate information sharing on potential areas of health 

economics and policy research between Consortium participants and NCI staff and grantees 

with relevant expertise and experience in this area. The workshop goal was to determine specific 

research topics and identify potential projects and venues where Irish fellows may participate 

and receive mentoring. The meeting promoted substantial interchange between more than 

twenty delegates from Ireland and Northern Ireland and staff and grantees of the NCI on the 

similarities and differences in regard to policy questions, organization of healthcare services, and 

data sources between the national settings. 

The first day of the workshop focused on how cancer-related health economics and health 

services research data is used to inform cancer control policy makers and to describe national 

sources of data for obtaining descriptive estimates of cancer-related economics parameters and 

patterns of care. The second day illustrated how these estimates are then utilized in the context 

of policy-oriented models. An evening reception was held at the Embassy of Ireland. 

As a consequence of the workshop, Queen’s University Belfast held an international seminar on 

health policy and health system decision making on 6 November 2007, with an NCI grantee in 

attendance as presenter. The program and presentations from the Northern Ireland Health 

Economics Workshop are available on the Consortium Web site.

Health Economics and Cancer Policy Analysis 

 See Health Economics, Page 2

Attendees at the May 2007 All-Ireland Health Economics Workshop
2 SPRING 2008 

Official Opening of the CCRCB Building

The new Centre for Cancer Research 

and Cell Biology (CCRCB) was 

officially opened on 28 November 

2007. Declaring the Centre officially open, 

Queen’s University Belfast Chancellor Senator 

George Mitchell said, “It is through 

international research partnerships and the 

sharing of information that we can create a 

powerful synergy to combat cancer for the 

betterment of everyone. Professor Paddy 

Johnston’s international reputation and that 

of his team are a catalyst in the forging of 

global partnerships to relieve the human 

suffering from cancer.” Key partnerships include the CCRCB’s association 

with the Ireland-Northern Ireland-National Cancer Institute Cancer 

Consortium and the recently announced agreement with the National 

Institute of Immunology in New Delhi, India.

To mark the official opening, a two-day international scientific symposium 

at the Medical Biology Centre featured top scientific research and cancer 

experts from around the world. A highlight of the symposium was the 

inaugural Mitchell lecture, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and delivered 

by Dr. Neal Rosen, Head, Developmental Therapeutics, Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center, New York.

Dr. Kirsty O’Brien Health Economics, From Page 1

Awarded Cancer 

Prevention Fellowship

Dr. Kirsty O’Brien was awarded a 

fellowship through the National Cancer 

Institute (NCI) Cancer Prevention 

Fellowship Program in 2007 and is the 

fourth fellow to be funded by the Health 

Research Board, Ireland. Dr. O’Brien has 

a BS in Biomedical Science from the 

University of Aberdeen, Scotland and a 

PhD in Molecular Genetics from Newcastle 

University, England. She is currently 

undertaking a Masters in Public Health 

at University College Dublin, Ireland and 

will participate in the NCI Summer 

Curriculum in Cancer Prevention before 

beginning the mentored research phase 

of the program. Dr. O’Brien has an interest 

in pursuing research in the areas of 

epidemiology, nutrition, epigenetics, and 

cancer prevention. 

NCI Summer 

Curriculum in Cancer 

Prevention Hosts 23 

Island Scholars

Twenty-three health and cancer care 

professionals from the island of Ireland 

participated in two National Cancer 

Institute (NCI) Summer Curriculum in 

Cancer Prevention courses. A four-week 

Principles and Practice of Cancer 

Prevention and Control Course was held 

2-27 July 2007 at the NCI, followed by a 

one-week Molecular Prevention Course 

from 30 July-3 August 2007. 

Course and application details are available 

on the Consortium Web site. 

The Health Research Board (HRB) and the NCI also launched the HRB/

NCI Health Economics Fellowship Program as a pilot program in 2008. 

The program aims to encourage applicants to pursue careers in health 

economics on the island of Ireland and culminates in a PhD in health 

economics. This four-year doctoral development program will be 

administered through the HRB PhD Scholars Programme in Health Services 

Research coordinated by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Ten 

proposals were received in 2008 and two awards were offered. For more 

information, contact Dr. Sallyann O’Brien (saobrien@hrb.ie).

The DHSSPS, DoHC, and NCI look forward to continuing collaboration in 

the area of health economics and cancer policy analysis. For more 

information about the Consortium’s activities in health economics and cancer 

policy analysis, visit http://www.allirelandnci.org/programs/health_

economics.shtml.
Below are recent activities of the Ireland-Northern IrelandNational Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Consortium 

Nursing Working Group (NRS WG). The NRS WG 

focuses on expanding educational opportunities for Irish and 

Northern Irish nurses and promoting nursing and palliative care 

activities within the Consortium and across the island of Ireland. 

Clinical Trials E-learning Module 

Launched in January 2007, the Queen’s University Belfast 

(QUB) Clinical Trials E-learning Module enrolled a total of 

twenty students, sixteen from Northern Ireland and four from 

Ireland. Thirteen students successfully completed the program 

in May 2007. 

Overall, student feedback was very positive, full of praise for the 

course’s relevancy and highly recommending it to other clinical 

trials nurses or other professionals interested in working in clinical 

trials. Some participants described the challenges with using the 

online module as ‘easy but very inconvenient’ and expressed that 

the face-to-face learning was more beneficial. Students found they 

were most engaged in discussion around the assignment. 

Since the completion of the 2007 course, QUB reviewed the trial 

design and statistical elements and shifted emphasis to critical 

appraisal. The next module, which commenced in January 2008, 

had a total of four face-to-face lectures/sessions instead of two 

over the two-day period to make better use of travel time. For 

more information, visit the QUB School of Nursing and 

Midwifery’s Web site at www.qub.ac.uk/schools/

SchoolofNursingandMidwifery/.

Liaison for 

Palliative Care

I

n recognition of the importance of 

palliative care initiatives, Professor 

Judith Hill, Chief Executive of 

Northern Ireland Hospice Care, has 

been invited by the Board of Directors 

of the Ireland-Northern Ireland-National 

Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium to 

act as liaison on new initiatives and 

educational opportunities in palliative 

care on the island of Ireland. Professor 

Hill has previous experience working 

with the Consortium as the Nursing 

Working Group chair. Professor Hill’s 

knowledge of and familiarity with 

palliative care will support the 

Consortium goals to promote education 

and improve palliative care on the island 

of Ireland. 

More information on palliative care 

activities can be found on the 

Consortium Web site at http://www.

allirelandnci.org/programs/palliative_

care.shtml. 

Nursing Working 

Group Update

Island Nurses Complete 6th Round of NCI Clinical 

Trials Training

Two island oncology nurses completed the five-week NCI 

clinical trials training program in the fall of 2007, bringing 

the total number of Consortium-facilitated island trainees 

to eighteen. Program coordinators served as mentors to the 

two island nurses during their U.S. stay. The Consortium 

plans to continue facilitation of this training opportunity 

for island oncology nurses. Please check the Consortium 

Web site for future calls for applications. 

Nursing Research Workshop Held

On 23 November 2007, the NRS WG conducted

 a workshop in Belfast to explore a range of issues 

on palliative care nursing and influence resources and 

capacity, which is building across the island of Ireland. 

Approximately 60 key stakeholders and nurse leaders 

from both the university and service sectors participated. 

Brendan McCormick, Professor of Nursing Research, 

University of Ulster, facilitated the workshop. 

Discussions centered on the potential for a collaborative 

cancer/palliative nursing research program, how nurses 

might influence cancer research strategies in order to 

secure resources, and opportunities for capacity building 

in cancer nursing research.

3 SPRING 2008 
Boardof Directors

Dr. James Kiely (Chair 2008)

Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health and Children, Dublin

Dr. Michael McBride

Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Belfast

Dr. John Niederhuber

Director, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda

Strategic Advisory Group

REPRESENTATIVES OF PARTICIPATING JURISDICTIONS

Dr. Joe Harford (Chair)

Director, Office of International Affairs, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda 

Dr. Anne Cody

Head of Unit Research Infrastructure and Special Initiatives, Health Research 

Board, Dublin

Dr. Michael Neely

Operational Director, Research & Development Office, Northern Ireland Health and 

Personal Social Services, Belfast

WORKING GROUP CHAIRS

Cancer Registries/ Epidemiology

Dr. Anna Gavin

Director, Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, Belfast

Clinical Trials 

Dr. Anne Cody

Head of Unit Research Infrastructure and Special Initiatives, Health Research 

Board, Dublin

Information Technology

Professor Donal Hollywood

Professor of Clinical Oncology, Head of the Academic Unit of Clinical and Molecular 

Oncology, Trinity College, Dublin

Nursing

Mr. Martin Bradley

Chief Nursing Officer, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Belfast

Prevention

Dr. Fenton Howell

Director of Public Health, HSE Population Health Directorate, Navan

Scholar Exchange & Training

Professor Mark Lawler 

Director of Post Graduate Teaching and Learning, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, 

St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 

OTHER STRATEGIC ADVISORY GROUP MEMBERS

Dr. Oscar Breathnach

Consultant Medical Oncologist, Cancer Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin

Professor Charles Campbell

Professor of Surgery, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast

Professor Peter A. Hall

Musgrave Professor of Pathology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast

Dr. Lee J. Helman

Scientific Director for Clinical Research, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, Bethesda 

Dr. Mary Hynes

Assistant Director, National Hospitals Office, Health Service Executive, Merlin Park 

Regional Hospital, Galway

Professor Richard Kaplan

Associate Director, National Cancer Research Network (UK), Leeds and London

Professor Elaine Kay

Consultant Histopathologist, Beaumont Hospital, The Royal College of Surgeons 

in Ireland, Dublin

Consortium Leadership

Consortium Leadership Changes

The Ireland-Northern Ireland-National Cancer Institute 

Cancer Consortium welcomes the latest additions to its 

governing team: Dr. Fenton Howell, Professor Mark 

Lawler, and Ms. Sheila O’Malley. 

Dr. Fenton Howell replaces long-time member Dr. Doug Weed as 

the Prevention Working Group Chair. Dr. Howell, Director of 

Public Health, Health Service Executive (HSE)-Population Health 

Directorate in Ireland, works closely with the National Director 

and Assistant National Directors to ensure a population health 

approach is considered on developments in the HSE. He has been 

very involved in the development of a National Tobacco 

Framework for the HSE.

Professor Mark Lawler succeeds Professor Patrick Johnston as the 

Scholar Exchange Working Group (SE WG) chair. Professor 

Lawler, Director of Post Graduate Teaching and Learning, Trinity 

Centre for Health Sciences, St. James’s Hospital in Dublin, 

organizes an international cancer conference yearly and is the 

President of the Irish Association for Cancer Research. His work 

on chimerism and minimal residual disease has been honored with 

numerous awards.

Ms. Sheila O’Malley began her tenure as Chief Nursing Officer in 

the Department of Health and Children (DoHC), Ireland in 

February 2008 and became a member of the Nursing Working 

Group. From 1997-2002 she was president of An Bord Altranais 

where she had a major influence in shaping the future of the 

Board in a time of significant development and challenge for 

nursing and midwifery.

The Consortium would like to thank Professor Robert Stout, Ms. 

Mary McCarthy, and Professor Patrick Johnston for their years of 

leadership and dedication to the goals of the Consortium. 

Professor Robert Stout, an integral member of the Consortium 

since 2002, recently completed his tenure as the Director of the 

R&D Office; his replacement at the Consortium has yet to be 

identified. Ms. Mary McCarthy completed her tenure as Chief 

Nursing Officer of the DoHC and began a new post at the HSE 

as Clinical Skills Development Director. She was an alternating 

chair of the NRS WG. Professor Patrick Johnston has been chair 

of the SE WG since the Consortium’s inception in 1999. He has 

been appointed Dean of the School of Medicine for Queen’s 

University Belfast and Director of the Institute of Health 

Research. The Consortium wishes Professor Robert Stout, Ms. 

McCarthy, and Professor Johnston the best in their new endeavors.

4 SPRING 2008 
All-Ireland Nurses Visit the NCI 

From 10 to 13 March 2008, the Chief Nursing 

Officers of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Sheila 

O’Malley and Martin Bradley, visited the NIH under 

the auspices of the All-Ireland NCI Cancer Consortium. 

The All-Ireland nursing delegation had several objectives 

for their visit, including raising the profile of clinical 

research nursing and clinical nursing research in Ireland 

and Northern Ireland and engaging with the NIH on 

potential research collaborations in cancer, nursing 

informatics and palliative care. The delegation met with 

various nursing leaders, including Dr. Patricia A. Grady, 

Director of the National Institute of Nursing, Dr. Clare 

Hastings, Chief Nursing Officer for Nursing and Patient 

Care Services, CRC, and Rear Admiral Carol A. Romano, 

U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps 

Assistant Surgeon General and Chief Nurse Officer, who 

gave the delegation a demonstration of the NIH’s Clinical 

Research Information System and overview of the role of 

informatics in clinical research. 

The delegation also had the opportunity to visit NCIdesignated cancer centers in the Maryland-Washington 

DC metropolitan area, including the Lombardi Cancer 

Center at Georgetown University and the Sidney Kimmel 

Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins 

Rear Admiral Carol Romano (front, c) welcomes chief nursing 

officers of Northern Ireland and Ireland Martin Bradley (front, l) 

and Sheila O’Malley (front, r). At rear are (from l) All-Ireland 

NCI Cancer Consortium Program Manager Isabel Otero, nurse 

advisor to chief nursing officer of Ireland Mary Day, nursing 

research advisor Sarah Condell and nursing officer for Northern 

Ireland Margaret O’Hagan.

University. The delegation met with various nurse 

leaders at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and 

Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing in Baltimore, 

Maryland, as well as with Paula Rieger, CEO of the 

Oncology Nursing Society. 

Reflecting on the visit, Martin Bradley said, “This has 

been an excellent visit. We have been able to explore 

opportunities for nurses in Ireland to make more effective 

use of the wide range of clinical and research 

opportunities available in the States, and in turn the 

potential for American nurses to undertake learning 

placements in Ireland. We will now be following up on 

the many contacts we have made, to see now we can 

further develop the exchange between our countries.”

The delegation’s visit was recently highlighted in the 

National Institutes of Health’s publication, NIH Record. 

The article can be viewed at http://nihrecord.od.nih.gov/

newsletters/2008/04_04_2008/story6.htm. 

Rear Admiral Carol Romano demonstrates the

 NIH Clinical Research Information System

5 SPRING 2008 
IRELAND-NORTHERN IRELANDNATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

Published periodically by the IrelandNorthern Ireland-National Cancer 

Institute Cancer Consortium.

Distributed in Ireland, Northern 

Ireland, and the United States. 

NIH Publication No. 08-6210

What’s Next

Consortium Web Site Honors 

Since the November 2006 unveiling of the new look to the Consortium Web 

site, it has won two prestigious awards: (1) the Interactive Media Award for 

Outstanding Achievement for excellence in the design, development and 

implementation of a government Web site and (2) the World Wide Web Health 

Award Bronze Medal for government health Web sites for Spring/Summer 2007. 

The Consortium Web site logs approximately 1,000 visitors per month. 

Joint Research Projects in Cancer Update 

Five principle investigators were selected for the Joint Research Projects in 

Cancer in 2008: Drs. Dean Fennell, Charles Spillane, and Linda Sharp and 

Professors Ken Mills and Liam Murray. More information on their specific 

projects will be made available in future publications. 

All Ireland Cooperative Oncology Research Group (A-ICORG) 

Accepted into U.S. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG)

In May 2006, A-ICORG applied for membership in the highly respected 

ECOG and was approved as a member.

2006 Activities Report Now Available Online

The 2006 Activities Report: Adding Value Through Partnership in Cancer Research 

& Education, which highlights progress made by the Consortium in 2006, is 

now available on the Consortium Web site. To promote a healthier environment, 

the Consortium limited the number of prints this year and instead distributed 

the report electronically. You may view the report online at www.allirelandnci.

org/pdf/NCI_06AR_WholeBook.pdf.

Nursing Working Group Develops Strategic Plan

The Consortium Nursing Working Group (NRS WG) has identified its 

priorities in a strategic plan for the years 2007-2010. The NRS WG will 

continue to promote educational opportunities for clinical research nurses across 

the island of Ireland and facilitate all-Ireland collaboration in relation to nursing 

research. The NCI/All Ireland Cancer Nurses Working Group Work Plan 

(2007-2010) is posted on the Consortium Web site at http://www.allirelandnci.

org/programs/nursing.shtml.

Cancer 2008: 7-9 May 2008 at Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland. For details, see 

http://www.conferencepartners.ie/cancer2008/.

2008 National Cancer Institute (NCI) Summer Curriculum in Cancer Prevention 

o Principles and Practice of Cancer Prevention and Control Course: 7 July - 1 August

o Molecular Prevention Course: 4-8 August

The 2008 call for applications closed on 15 February 2008. For information regarding 

2009 call for applications, visit 

http://www.allirelandnci.org/fellowships_and_training/nci_summer_curriculum.shtml.

4th All-Ireland NCI Cancer Conference: 30 November - 3 December 2008 in Dublin, 

Ireland. Abstract submissions are due 17 October 2008. Check the Consortium Web site 

for more information. 

Announcements

6 SPRING 2008