Presentation of the Centre

The Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute integrates the long tradition of outstanding comprehensive cancer care delivered at Ireland’s largest academic health campus at St. James’s Hospital in central Dublin. In 2016, Trinity College Dublin and St. James’s Hospital established a joint initiative to develop the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute, bringing together the unique and complementary attributes of both institutions in the field of cancer.

Main Research Activities

Research at the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute is an integrated, thematic programme which involves fundamental science, translational medicine, health economics and planning, and global health. Our research strategy builds on existing strengths and integrates key research areas across 4 main themes, namely cancer prevention, molecular and precision oncology, cancer immunology and cancer survivorship and supportive care. Clinical research spans the breadth of these 4 themes and results in a horizontally and vertically interwoven, multidisciplinary, vibrant cancer research network based on the infrastructure provided by the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Smurfit Institute for Genetics, CRANN and Trinity Translational Medicine Institute.

Core Facilities

Primary core facilities exist at the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute and the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute – comprising Biosafety facilities, The Irish National Centre for High Content Screening and Analysis, Bioresource units and Laboratory for Characterisation of Advanced Biological Materials in addition to the Centre for Advanced Medical Imaging, and the Wellcome Trust – HRB Clinical Research Facility.

Education

The Institute provides extensive education programmes in Translational Oncology for undergraduate and postgraduate students, scientists, clinicians, nurses, healthcare professionals and allied healthcare workers. These programmes are also designed to engage with public-patient involvement (PPI activities). The Institute offers scholarships and fellowship opportunities in clinical and translational research and directs a career development programme for young investigators.

Presentation of the Centre

The Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre is made up of Beaumont Hospital, the Royal College of Surgeons In Ireland (RCSI) and St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network. Beaumont Hospital is one of 9 designated cancer centres in Ireland under the auspices of the National Cancer Control Programme, one of eight regional centres with a full diagnostic and treatment pathway for breast, rectal and prostate cancers; one of four centres that treat patients with cancers of the upper gastrointestinal system and one of two centres that have a full pathway for patients with neuro-oncology tumours. The Beaumont RCSI Cancer centre aims to work closely with other hospitals and community services to ensure appropriate aspects of patient care are delivered as close to home as possible

Main Research Activities

The Beaumont RCSI Cancer Centre has a strong reputation in translational research, the university’s field-weighted citation impact is the highest in Ireland. The mission of the Centre is to provide innovative evidence-based care to our cancer patients. Our strategy is to undertake patient centric research to cement our international standing in systems medicine, imaging and integrative genomics. Research programmes are based on disease area and are underpinned by our clinical trials and translational research platforms. The Centre will build on key national and international partnerships to enable us to lead investigator initiated clinical trials and large-scale epidemiological studies. We will collaborate across academia, patient groups, charities and industry to rapidly develop our cancer innovations for the clinic

Education

Beaumont Hospital and the RCSI have been partners in the delivery of high-quality education for many years. As a cancer centre we are committed to providing excellence in cancer education to patients, their families and all staff involved in cancer care, services and research. On a greater scale our ambition is to collaborate with leading cancer centres in Europe to continuously improve and develop in order to respond to the needs of our patients, offering high quality care in an environment in which research and education flourish.

Presentation Of The Centre

The HSE West North West, University of Galway, Cancer Centre provides cancer care to the West and Northwest of Ireland. Governance is through a Cancer Managed Clinical and Academic network (MCAN) led out of the Cancer Centre at Galway University Hospital (GUH) - designated cancer centre in the National Cancer Control Programme (Ireland) since 2006 - and affiliated regional hospitals.

Main Research Activities

Research is an integral part of the HSE West North West, University of Galway, Cancer Centre in collaboration with the academic partner, University of Galway. Key enablers of cancer research are the Lambe Institute for Translational Research and the Health Research Board-funded Clinical Research Facility, both co-located with the GUH Cancer Centre.

These centres facilitate cancer clinical trials including first in human studies, a cancer biobank (biological samples and data for breast, colorectal, prostate, lung, and endocrine tumours), and medical device research and application.

Core Facilities

Clinical cancer core facilities include surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology (soon to be delivered from the new GUH National Radiation Oncology Facility) and a North-South healthcare agreement which allows access to radiotherapy services at Altnagelvin Hospital in Northern Ireland.

Cancer research cores include the HRB-Clinical Research Facility; cancer biobank; bioinformatics, flow cytometry; bioresource unit; microscopy and imaging; mass spectrometry; patient and public Involvement (PPI Ignite); and the Centre for Cell Manufacturing Ireland (CCMI), a licensed GMP facility for stem cell manufacture.

Education

The education mission of the HSE West North West, University of Galway, Cancer Centre is led out of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at NUI Galway, with regional reach provided via hospital co-located Medical Academies.

The College delivers and supports accredited undergraduate degrees and research programmes for nursing, medical, and health and social care students, and taught and research higher degrees to a multidisciplinary cohort of graduate students.

Presentation of the Centre

Cork University Hospital (CUH), supported by its’ academic partner University College Cork (UCC), is one of the largest university teaching hospitals in Ireland and the largest National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) designated cancer centre in the South of Ireland. The CUH/UCC Cancer Centre provides high-quality care for patients at risk of and diagnosed with cancer, serving a wider population of approximately 1.1 million. The centre treats all major cancer subtypes and is one of only two cancer centres nationally managing surgical care of hepatobiliary/pancreatic and central nervous system tumours.

Core Facilities

Core clinical facilities include inpatient, outpatient and chemotherapy day ward services, alongside surgery and a state-of-the-art Radiation Oncology Centre - one of the largest single-site facilities in Ireland. Multidisciplinary diagnostics are embedded in cancer services and supported by dedicated nursing, allied health, and psycho-oncology teams.

Research and Education

All aspects of cancer prevention and clinical care are integrated with innovative research, education, and training to advance the quality of patient care. CUH houses a robust cancer clinical trials unit (Cancer Trials Cork, site of the UCC Cancer Trials Group) to ensure access to novel diagnostics and therapies for patients with cancer. The broad portfolio encompasses phase I-III therapeutic trials in haematologic/solid malignancies, radiation therapy and surgery; including academic collaborative trials via Cancer Trials Ireland and industry trials, with a developing portfolio of patient-focused investigator-initiated trials. Clinical and translational research currently spans the areas of cancer biology, the microbiome, synthetic biology, precision oncology clinical trials and cancer outcomes research including an expanding portfolio of studies in the cancer survivorship space.

Presentation of the Centre

The St Vincent’s UCD Cancer Centre - a joint venture between St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (comprising St Vincent’s University Hospital and St Vincent’s Private Hospital) and University College Dublin (UCD) - is one of eight designated adult cancer centres in Ireland and is the nationally designated centre for neuroendocrine tumours (NET), pancreatic cancer and sarcoma. In addition, the centre is one of the largest providers of care for patients with breast, prostate, colorectal and lung cancer and is one of three adult stem cell transplant centres in the country.

Main Research Activities

The Cancer Centre’s Cancer Research Committee coordinates research programmes across the St Vincent’s UCD Cancer Centre. The Research Committee reports into the Cancer Centre Executive and has the aim of integrating cancer research with clinical oncology by bringing together leading cancer researchers and clinical oncology to develop improved prevention strategies, diagnostics and treatment options, that can be rapidly translated to patient benefits. The St Vincent’s Cancer Centre encompasses all cancer research activity at the hospital campus, including a specialised cancer trials unit, as well as several UCD based research groups including:

• All-Island Cancer Research Institute (AICRI): A UCD established all-island collaborative cancer research project.
• Precision Oncology Ireland: A UCD based precision oncology research cluster.
• Centre for Colorectal Disease: A centre with IBD and colorectal cancer as its twin areas of focus.

Education

The St Vincent’s UCD Cancer Centre is committed to providing world-class cancer training and education for all specialities involved in cancer care. In partnership with University College Dublin and other relevant training and accreditation bodies, like the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, the Cancer Centre educates and trains the next generation of cancer researchers, clinicians, and health care professionals.