Dr. Cathy Richards completed her undergraduate Genetics (Hons) Degree in University College Dublin, which led to her undertaking a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Ann Hopkins in the area of cell adhesion in difficult-to-treat cancers. This work led to the development of a novel weight-ranking method for assessing heterogeneously expressed proteins in tumours. In 2020 she went on to begin a Post-Doctoral role under Dr. Sinead Toomey/Prof. Bryan Hennessy, where she continued to work in the area of difficult-to-treat cancers, focusing on the innovation of 3D in vivo models for improved therapy response predictions.

In 2023, she was part of the group in RCSI who co-ordinated the establishment of a dedicated Chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) laboratory. This laboratory now hosts her research focused on the interactions of cancer-associated fibroblasts with tumour cells in 3D co-culture systems. Cathy has previously won outreach awards for the dissemination of scientific research to the wider public and is also the President of the Post-Doctoral Society in RCSI.