First winners of Joly Cancer Leadership Programme award named

Posted on: 03 November 2023

Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute (TSJCI) has announced the inaugural recipients of a new programme to enable exceptional academic cancer clinicians to dedicate protected time to focus on advanced research and clinical trials to improve treatments and outcomes for cancer patients in Ireland.

The first two awardees under the Joly Cancer Leadership Programme are Dr Nina Orfali, Consultant Haematologist (pictured above on left), and Mr Michael Kelly, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon (above on right).

Dr Orfali is a medical graduate of NUI Galway, who has trained and worked at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Weill Cornell University in New York.

Commenting on her award, she said: "TSJCI recognises that meaningful improvements in patient outcomes rely on combining research with existing high standards of clinical care delivery. In a pioneering move for Ireland, the institute has harnessed the strengths of the internationally-renowned scientific core at Trinity College and the clinical cancer teams at St James's Hospital, uniting them with renewed motivation and vigour in working towards a common vision. Our understanding of blood cancers is improving at a phenomenal pace. It’s such an exciting time to be a leukaemia physician as personalised medicine offers tangible hopes of cures. I feel delighted and privileged to receive this award, which will allow me to develop my translational and clinical research interests alongside my clinical practice."

Mr Michael Kelly, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, said: "The Joly Cancer Leadership Programme has provided me with the unique opportunity to launch my academic career after returning to Ireland. After working at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, a comprehensive cancer centre in Australia, and seeing its meaningful impact on patient care, I am truly excited to be involved with TSJCI because we have an opportunity and a common aim to improve all aspects of cancer care in Ireland for our patients."

Professor John Kennedy, co-director of TSJCI said: "To develop real excellence in cancer services for patients we need to be able to recruit, retain and foster the best young talent. The Joly Cancer Leadership Programme is critical to ensuring recently appointed cancer specialists at TSJCI have the protected time to develop their research programmes. As such, it is an essential initiative for nurturing the cancer leaders of the future, for the benefit of patients now and in the years to come."

Professor Maeve Lowery, academic director of TSJCI said: "These two exceptional clinicians are now establishing their research programmes in surgical oncology and haematology at TSJCI, we are delighted to support their academic career development through the Joly Fellowship and look forward to seeing the positive impact of their clinical and translational cancer research on outcomes for our cancer patients over decades to come."

The Flood Family Charitable Trust is the founding patron of the Joly Cancer Leadership Programme and is funding the inaugural awards to Dr Kelly and Dr Orfali.

Tadhg Flood is a Trinity graduate and member of the Provost’s Council. On behalf of the Flood family, he says: "We are delighted to support the Joly Programme and TSJCI. Like many families, we have felt the impact cancer can have on both young and old and we applaud John and Maeve’s vision to build a cancer centre of international repute that will positively impact outcomes for patients. We would like to congratulate Michael and Nina on their awards and wish them every success in their research programmes."

The Joly Cancer Leadership Programme is named in honour of John Joly, a Trinity graduate who pioneered the earliest effective radiation treatment for cancer. He earned international acclaim for developing a method for extracting radium and, in collaboration with another Trinity alumnus, Walter Clegg Stevenson, pioneered its use in cancer treatment. This became known as the ‘Dublin Method’ and has formed the basis for modern radium needle treatment.

TSJCI is a national initiative to transform cancer care in Ireland by combining excellent research, patient care and education to pioneer new ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer. It is led by Ireland’s leading university, Trinity College Dublin, and Ireland’s largest public hospital, St James’s Hospital.

TSJCI is the first cancer centre in Ireland to be accredited by the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI), a fellowship of Europe’s leading cancer centres. It is now working towards becoming Ireland’s first Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Pictured (l to r) at the naming of the winners of the Joly Cancer Leadership Programme wre Dr Nina Orfali, Consultant Haematologist, Prof. Maeve Lowery, Prof. John Kennedy and Mr Michael Kelly, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon

• Tags:
• Health
• Research
• Science