Ireland Joint Symposium Celebrates Training Partnerships
, by Jennifer K. Loukissas, M.P.P.
Participants at NCI-Ireland symposium.
Investigators from Queen's University Belfast (QUB) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) gathered in March for a joint symposium entitled “Cancer Knows No Borders – Celebrating Tripartite Cooperation to Enhance Cancer Research,” held on the NIH campus and virtually.
The hybrid meeting highlighted the success in cancer research and cancer care on the island of Ireland achieved through the Ireland - Northern Ireland - National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium, which grew out of the Good Friday Agreement.
The symposium was held during St. Patrick’s Week and the 25th anniversary of the Agreement. Participants showcased the work of doctoral students who are co-mentored by supervisors from QUB and NCI. Speakers from QUB, the NCI, and University College Dublin (UCD) presented on current and future initiatives.
Aidan O'Brien, third from left. On the far right, Lee Mason, Jackie Lavigne, and Stephen Chanock (fourth from right).
Stephen J. Chanock, M.D., Director, and Jackie Lavigne, Ph.D., M.P.H., Director of the Office of Education, presented on the joint doctoral training program in precision cancer medicine. The first students in DCEG will be completing their doctoral programs this year—Aidan O’Brien, M.Pharm., MSc., in the Laboratory of Translational Genomics, and Lee Mason, M.S., predoctoral fellow in the Data Science & Engineering Research Group in the Trans-Divisional Research Program.
The meeting was co-hosted by Dr. Satish Gopal, Director, Center for Global Health, and Dr. James Gulley, Deputy Director, Center for Cancer Research.