Professor Patrick G. Johnston Award

About this award

The Inaugural Professor Patrick Johnston IACR Award for Excellence in Cancer Research Outreach was presented at the 55th IACR Conference in Belfast 2019, to remember the legacy of Prof. Johnston.

Six early career researchers are selected based on their lay abstract submissions to IACR. Those selected take part in a patient communication workshop prior to IACR conference and are asked to prepare a lay presentation on their work.

Each year the award is given to the best early stage investigator for excellence in cancer research communication and outreach to the public. The award is unique as the winner is selected based on the majority vote by the panel of scientists, patients and the general public during the dedicated award session at the annual conference.

IACR 2022 Nominees

Charlotte Andrieu

Charlotte Andrieu

DCU

Charlotte is a postdoctoral researcher in bioinformatics and cancer genomics. She works in Assoc. Prof. Naomi Walsh's lab in Dublin City University. Her research involves exploring the clinical potential of in vitro cancer models and their impact on personalised medicine.

Christina Cahill

Christina Cahill

Trinity St James's Cancer Institute

My name is Christina and I am a fourth year PhD student from Kildare. I graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2018 with a BA in Molecular Medicine. Following my undergraduate degree, I worked as a research assistant before beginning my PhD in 2020 in Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute. Here I work with Dr. Niamh Lynam-Lennon and Prof. Jacintha O’Sullivan in the Department of Surgery to investigate the role of microRNA in the treatment response of oesophageal and gastric cancer.

David Hackett

David Hackett

TCD

My name is David Hackett, and I'm a second year PhD student from Kildare. I graduated with a BSc in Pharmacology from University College Dublin in 2022. During my undergraduate studies, I undertook an Erasmus semester at the University of Copenhagen, where I worked within a translational cancer research group. This experience marked the true beginning of my passion for cancer research. I was awarded the Musgrave Breakthrough Cancer Research PhD scholarship in 2022 to undertake a PhD with Dr. Stephen Maher and Dr. Adriele Prina-Mello at Trinity College Dublin. My project focuses on exploring the potential of a new type of synthetic genetic drug to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in pancreatic cancer.

Faye Lewis

Faye Lewis

TCD

My name is Faye, and I am a second year PhD student from County Laois. I completed a B.A. (Mod) in Physiology and M.Sc. in Immunology in Trinity College Dublin. After completing my master’s degree, I started my PhD in the Trinity Centre for Health Sciences on the St. James’s Hospital campus. I work in the area of gynaecological oncology, focusing on the clinical utility of liquid biopsies in ovarian cancers.

Niamh McAuley

Niamh McAuley

RCSI

My name is Niamh and I am a second year PhD student at RCSI. I graduated from TUD in 2021 with a BSc in Pharmaceutical Healthcare. Following this I worked as a research assistant developing my skills in the laboratory with Dr. Sinead Toomey. In late 2022 I began my PhD in cancer research, supervised by Prof. Ann Hopkins and Prof. Siobhan Glavey. My project focuses on designing and testing new drugs for potential use in Multiple Myeloma (MM). MM is an incurable blood cancer which is unfamiliar to most people. Accordingly, one aspect of this project that I am most passionate about is spreading MM awareness in our community. To achieve this goal, our group and a patient panel co-created a lay-friendly MM booklet for distribution to hospitals and GP surgeries across the country.

Niamh Scully

Niamh Scully

RCSI

My name is Niamh, and I am a 2nd year PhD student in the Royal College of Surgeons. I graduated with an MSc in Molecular Medicine from Trinity College Dublin in 2021. I then worked as a chemical analyst in an industrial chemical engineering company called Schlotter for one year before beginning my PhD studies in September 2022. I work with Professor Brona Murphy in the department of Physiology & Medical Physics, where we focus on investigating the effects the hypoxic tumour microenvironment has on drug response and disease behaviour in a clinically relevant 3D model of a complex brain tumour called Glioblastoma.

IACR 2022 Presentations

Who was Professor Johnston?

Professor Patrick G. Johnston

Professor Patrick G. Johnston

Patrick G. Johnston 
FRCP FRCPI FMedSci
14 September 1958 – 4 June 2017

Professor Johnston 
was an Irish physician and world-leading expert in cancer research.

He was a Professor of Oncology at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), where he served as Vice-Chancellor and President from March 1, 2014. Professor Johnston’s research focus was on the understanding of mechanisms of drug resistance to therapeutic agents.

His philosophy placed the cancer patient at the center of the cancer care and research agenda.

Professor Johnston also had a passion for engaging and invigorating young early-stage cancer researchers and he mentored many great clinicians and scientists.

 

Award Gallery

Shannon Nelson

Shannon Nelson

2020 Winner of Prof. Patrick G. Johnston Award

Presented by Dr. Iseult Wilson and Prof. Amanda McCann

2020 Six chosen early career researchers

2020 Six chosen early career researchers

Ms. Eve O’Reilly (UCD)Ms. Anu Prakash (NUI Galway). Dr. Karima Khalifa (UCD). Dr. Neil Conlon (DCU). Ms. Naomi Algeo (St James’ Hospital/TCD). Ms. Shannon Nelson (DCU).

Romina Silva

Romina Silva

2019 Winner of Prof. Patrick G. Johnston Award

Presented by Dr. Iseult Wilson, wife of the late Prof. Patrick G. Johnston

Donate to Cancer Research

All donations to the IACR go directly towards supporting early-stage oncology scientific researchers in their work.

IACR 2023 Carer’s Bursary €300

Apply for funding towards additional costs of care while attending conference. Five Bursaries Available. 

Registration/ Membership for IACR 2023

Registration for the 59th Annual Conference in the Radisson Blu hotel, Athlone is Now Open.

EACR Membership is Included

The IACR is an affiliated national society and its members benefit from full membership of the EACR.

Biomedical Session Abstracts

Deadline: Midnight, Friday, 20th January 2023

Please note:
- Patrick Johnston Lay submission category is now closed
- Late Breaking Abstracts submitted to the Biomedical Sessions will be considered for Display Poster Presentation. 

Social Nursing and Allied Health (SNAH) Abstracts

Deadline: Midnight, Monday, 9th January 2023

SNAH abstract submissions will remain open until Monday 9th January.

Any questions?
Please contact Sinead on: sinead@sineadcassidy.com

Contact Us

Contact Us
Irish Association for Cancer Research
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T: +353 (0)1 295 8859
E: info@iacr.ie

Irish Association for Cancer Research (IACR) is a registered charity on the Register of Charitable Organisations.

Registered Charity Number (RCN): 20030117

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