More than 800 students from second-level schools throughout Ireland will explore RCSIs state-of-the-art facilities at 26 York Street while learning about life as a medical, pharmacy and physiotherapy student at the RCSI Open Day 2019 today.

The daylong event provides Leaving Certificate students with the opportunity to hear about what it is like to study and work as a healthcare professional from doctors, pharmacists and physiotherapists. Students can explore RCSIs new building at 26 York Street, which opened in 2018, before breaking out into interactive workshops that will give them the unique opportunity to get hands-on insights into what it would be like to be an RCSI student.

In the medicine workshop, students will experience a delivery by a birthing mannequin and perform surgical stitching on dummy patients. The physiotherapy workshops will use hands-on practical methods to show students the role of a physiotherapist in the management of people with lung conditions and rehabilitation of ankle injuries. Students will also get the chance to experience the art of drug formulation and delivery in the pharmacy workshop.

Speaking ahead of the Open Day, Professor Hannah McGee, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, RCSI said: "The annual RCSI Open Day is a great opportunity for second level students to get a sense of life, both academic and social, at RCSI.

"We separately showcase our Medicine, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy degree programmes to give a more focussed insight into each of these three paths of study. We want attendees to leave with a good understanding of what a career in healthcare entails, so our hands-on workshops give these potential students a practical insight into what life really would be like, not just as an RCSI student, but in their future careers, whether that be as a doctor, pharmacist or physiotherapist.

"We are particularly proud to showcase our state-of-the-art healthcare education technologies to attendees, so they can see where RCSI students develop and practice clinical skills in a safe educational environment as part of Europes most advanced simulation facility," Professor McGee concluded.

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2019) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI has been awarded Athena SWAN Bronze accreditation for positive gender practice in higher education.

For further information on the medicine, pharmacy and physiotherapy programmes at RCSI visit rcsi.ie/undergraduate

A new study, led by researchers from RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) and the University of Surrey, has found that adults with cerebral palsy are significantly more at risk for depression and anxiety than adults without cerebral palsy. The study is published in JAMA Neurology.

As part of the first study to examine the incidence of depression and anxiety among adults with cerebral palsy, the researchers used data on 1,705 adults with cerebral palsy and 5,115 adults without cerebral palsy. They found that the risk of depression was 28% higher and the risk of anxiety was 40% higher among adults with cerebral palsy.

When researchers looked at adults who had cerebral palsy but did not have an intellectual disability, the risks increased further. The risk of depression was 44% higher and the risk of anxiety was 55% higher in people with cerebral palsy who did not have an intellectual disability, compared to people without cerebral palsy. Adults with cerebral palsy who also had an intellectual disability did not have a higher risk of depression or anxiety than adults without cerebral palsy.

"These findings support the need to consider cerebral palsy as a lifelong condition and to identify and address mental health problems among people with cerebral palsy alongside physical health problems," said Dr Jennifer Ryan, study co-author and StAR Research Lecturer at RCSI.

"Despite historically being considered a paediatric condition, the majority of adults with cerebral palsy live well into adulthood, and many adults with cerebral palsy experience a worsening of impairments, including a decline in mobility. We hope that the findings of the study will help accelerate a response to adults with cerebral palsy who report inadequate provision of coordinated health services worldwide."

Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of childhood physical disability worldwide, and has a lifelong impact on the individual and health system. The core feature of cerebral palsy is abnormal motor functioning; however, the severity of motor impairment varies considerably amongst people with cerebral palsy.

Lead author Dr Kimberley Smith, Lecturer in Health Psychology at the University of Surrey, said: "More needs to be done to understand why those with cerebral palsy have a greater risk of developing depression and anxiety. People with cerebral palsy face unique challenges as they age, which could be linked with this increased risk of developing anxiety and depression. This study has allowed us to define the issue; the next step will be to better understand why it happens so we can develop targeted mental health interventions for this population."

In addition to RCSI and the University of Surrey, the study included researchers from Brunel University London, Queen Mary University London and the University of Michigan. The research was funded an interdisciplinary award from the Brunel University London Research Catalyst Fund.

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2019) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI is a signatory of the Athena SWAN Charter and was awarded Investors in Diversity accreditation in 2018.

Led by researchers at RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), a team of researchers has developed a new treatment for tuberculosis (TB). This work could offer a practical treatment that has the potential to be scaled-up and mass-produced for clinical testing.

The treatment, which patients will take using an inhaler, works by reducing the bacteria in the lungs that causes tuberculosis while also helping the patient’s immune system fight the disease.

There is only one vaccine for tuberculosis, developed in 1921. It is unreliable in preventing the most common form of TB, and is not suitable in all patient groups. The vaccine works best against specific forms of TB and is usually given to infants in at-risk populations.

Tuberculosis is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) data show that 10 million people fell ill with TB and 1.6 million died from the disease in 2017. WHO estimates that there were 558,000 new cases with resistance to the most effective first-line antibiotic. Of those resistant to the drug, 82% were resistant to multiple antibiotics.

Funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) and the Royal City of Dublin Hospital Trust, the research is published in the European Journal of Pharmaceutics & Biopharmaceutics.

The work, led by Dr Gemma O’Connor and Prof Sally-Ann Cryan in RCSI, was carried out in collaboration with research teams in St James Hospital, Trinity College Dublin and Imperial College London. Prof Joseph Keane and Dr Mary O’Sullivan led the team at St James Hospital and Trinity College Dublin with Dr Brian Robertson and Dr Nitya Krishnan leading the team at Imperial College London.

Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is seen as both a public health crisis and a health security threat. Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is listed among the health targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The pathogen that causes tuberculosis spreads by people breathing infected droplets into their lungs, where the disease can remain dormant or spread further. The research makes use of a derivative of Vitamin A called all trans retinoic acid, atRA, which previous studies have shown is an effective treatment for tuberculosis.

“Many cases of TB are now becoming resistant to existing antibiotics. This new treatment could be used alongside antibiotics to treat drug-resistant TB and also possibly reduce the rate of antibiotic resistance resulting from conventional antibiotic treatments,” said Prof Cryan, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics in RCSI School of Pharmacy and the study’s senior author.

Using a spray-drying process, the researchers packaged atRA within safe-for-consumption particles that are small enough to use in an inhaler. These particles efficiently delivered the treatment and significantly reduced tuberculosis-causing bacteria and associated lung damage, which supports their potential for clinical testing.

“Unfortunately, tuberculosis remains a significant problem for world health. We urgently need innovative treatments like this one if we are to achieve the UN 2030 health targets,” said Prof Keane, Professor at Trinity College Dublin School of Medicine and Consultant Respiratory Physician in St James’s Hospital.

Oran Timoney from Holy Cross College in Strabane, Co Tyrone has won the RCSI Award for the "Project with the Best Impact on Human Health" at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in the RDS on Friday 11 January 2019. His winning project was entitled "Categorising CVD patient risk using machine learning tools".

Professor Mary Cannon, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health presents the RCSI Special Award to Oran Timoney from Holy Cross College in Strabane, Co Tyrone

The award was presented by Professor Mary Cannon, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health, RCSI. Speaking after the awards ceremony Professor Cannon said: "RCSI is delighted to be associated with the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, in particular the events role in fostering an interest in human health.

Oran is a very impressive young individual and his project was very informative and grounded in excellent science. It was well thought out and involved sophisticated application of machine learning tools to gain insights into cardiovascular disease risk which is a public health issue with global relevance. We look forward to hearing more about his work when he visits RCSI to present at our Research Day in March."

The RCSI award for "Project with the Best Impact on Human Health" was awarded to the project with the best potential to impact on any area across the spectrum of human health and supports RCSIs mission to educate, nurture and discover for the benefit of human health.

The 55th BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition saw 1,137 students exhibit 550 projects across four categories: Biological & Ecological Sciences; Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences; Social & Behavioural Sciences; and Technology.

Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, Pat Breen TD, has announced the investment for 20 projects through Science Foundation Irelands (SFI) Starting Investigator Research Grant (SIRG). With awards ranging from €376,000 to €425,000 over four years, the projects funded will support 20 researchers and a further 20 PhD students.

Dr Sudipto Das, Principal Investigator and Honorary Lecturer, Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics, RCSI has been awarded a grant of €424,989 under the programme. Despite ongoing efforts, approximately 40% of patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis) fail to respond to standard-of-care biologic treatment. Dr Das and his team, through their research programme DETECT, will attempt to identify genes that could inform treatment approaches for patients with ulcerative colitis, ultimately leading to an overall improvement in well-being of patients.

Dr Gary Brennan, Research Lecturer and Principal Investigator at the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, RCSI and FutureNeuro has received a grant of €419,472. The funding will enable Dr Brennan and his team at FutureNeuro to study how gene regulation and protein generation could inform new treatments for epilepsy.

Speaking on the research grants, Professor Ray Stallings, Director of Research and Innovation, RCSI, said: "These grants will help us continue our mission of leading impactful research and exploring new treatments for chronic diseases including epilepsy and ulcerative colitis. I congratulate Dr Das and Dr Brennan on their achievement of securing funding, which is a testament to the high quality of their research, and I look forward to the results of their studies."

Also speaking of the awards, Minister Breen said: "I am delighted to announce these SFI Starting Investigator Awards which allow researchers to advance their work and further develop their careers as the next research leaders in Ireland and internationally. These innovative projects demonstrate the impressive cutting-edge research taking place across Ireland, which has significant potential to positively advance Irelands economy and society, and further solidify its reputation as a world-leader in scientific advancements."

Welcoming the announcement, Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland said: "Science Foundation Ireland supports researchers at every stage of their careers. The SIRG awards help early-career researchers develop the essential skills and experience necessary to lead Irelands future research in areas such as health, energy, materials and technology. Having passed through a rigorous competitive international merit review process, these projects continue to advance Irelands international research reputation and I wish each awardee every success."

The 20 research projects supported by the SFI SIRG programmes will be funded through ten research bodies, as follows: Trinity College Dublin (6); University College Dublin (3); RCSI (2); University College Cork (2); University of Limerick (1); Dublin City University (2); Tyndall National institute (1); National University of Ireland Galway (1), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (1) and Teagasc (1).

RCSI researchers, alongside researchers from the University of Manchester, have reviewed alternative ways of organising health services in order to determine appropriate pressure ulcer treatment and prevention measures.

Pressure ulcers, otherwise known as bedsores, are injuries to the skin and/or the underlying tissue that are caused by prolonged pressure being placed on the more bony areas of the body, such as the hips and shoulder blades. These types of wounds are common and costly, negatively affecting both patients and health care systems globally — it costs the HSE an estimated €119,000 to treat just one Grade 4 pressure ulcer.

It is thought that the way in which health services are organised can affect the chances of bedsores developing for those already at risk. The research, published by the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, looked at alternative methods of delivering care by analysing the data recovered from four clinical trials, totalling 499 participants.

One trial looked at ‘transmural care’, a model of health service delivery that engages patients and family members in activities, supporting them and promoting long-term care. Another explored the impact of ‘hospital-in-the-home’ care, which is focused treatment by healthcare professionals in a patient’s home rather than in hospital. The remaining studies compared standard care to care provided by a team of professionals within different areas of healthcare.

“While the results remain largely unclear, this is due to a lack of in-depth research into alternative health service organisation. This should be a focus for future research studies, as the cost of pressure ulcer treatment and prevention to healthcare services both nationally and internationally needs to be addressed,” said Prof. Pauline Joyce, Academic Director of the MSc Physician Associate Studies at RCSI.

The review was led by researchers from RCSI’s School of Medicine and School of Nursing & Midwifery, in collaboration with the Division of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work at the University of Manchester.

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2019) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI has been awarded Athena SWAN Bronze accreditation for positive gender practice in higher education.

Fergal O’Brien, Professor of Bioengineering and Regenerative Medicine in the Department of Anatomy; Head of the Tissue Engineering Research Group; and Deputy Director of the AMBER Research Centre, has been awarded over €450,000 in research funding as part of a tri-partite US-Ireland R&D Partnership grant funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and Invest Northern Ireland (NI).

This funding will support RCSI’s innovative research into bone repair and regeneration, using biomaterial scaffolds functionalised for gene delivery. The collaborative award, worth a total of €1 million, is split between three international groups; Prof. Fergal O’Brien in the Republic of Ireland, Prof. Helen McCarthy in QUB in Northern Ireland and Prof. Seth Donohue in the University of Massachusetts; and also involves Prof. Nicholas Dunne’s group in Dublin City University

More than two million orthopaedic procedures use bone grafts annually to repair damaged bone, at a cost of over $30 billion to global healthcare systems. There are limited supplies of bone tissue available for grafting and bone graft surgeries can cause chronic pain and other major complications such as infection and haematoma, which may require additional procedures. Recombinant (artificially-produced) proteins can be used as an alternative to grafts, but they are expensive and have potential adverse side effects. New alternatives to bone grafts for repairing large bone defects are, therefore, necessary.

This interdisciplinary tri-jurisdictional award brings together leading researchers in biomaterials, gene therapy and biomechanics, and aims to develop a novel and transformative, materials-based approach for the delivery of genetic cargo to improve the healing of large bone defects.

This project could have a transformative effect on the field of gene therapy by developing methods for the safe delivery of genetic material to enhance healing. Furthermore, this research may have a significant impact on patients and clinicians through the creation of a novel, and much-needed, genetic nano-medicine approach for healing very large bone defects, for which no satisfactory clinical solution currently exists.

Prof. O’Brien noted: “We are really pleased to have received this US-Ireland R&D Partnership grant. By partnering with leading international groups in Ireland and the United States, the team has the combined skillset to develop a transformative technology that moves beyond the state of the art which can thus have real clinical impact."

AMBER SFI Research Centre, Leinster Schools Rugby and World Rugby will support the research

RCSI and the IRFU Charitable Trust have launched a research partnership, with the support of the AMBER SFI Research Centre for Materials Science, Leinster Schools Rugby and World Rugby.

The investment from the IRFU Charitable Trust will fund two pioneering research projects.

One project, with additional funding from AMBER, will look to develop an advanced platform for spinal cord repair combining novel biomaterials, stem cells and gene therapy. Led by Professor Fergal OBrien, Professor of Bioengineering & Regenerative Medicine at RCSI and Deputy Director of the AMBER SFI Research Centre, this project proposes an advanced biomaterials approach to spinal cord repair, which may revolutionise the way spinal cord injury is treated worldwide.

The second research project will look at the training load and injury risk in schoolboys level rugby in Leinster. Researchers at the RCSI School of Physiotherapy will lead the study to increase understanding of the frequency, type and intensity of in Leinster Senior Cup Schoolboys rugby squads. The study is a crucial step in the future development of injury prevention strategies. The study will utilise an app developed by World Rugby to collect data and this is the first time the app has been used in the 15-a-side game. The lead researchers on the study from the RCSI School of Physiotherapy are Dr Helen French, Physiotherapist and Senior Lecturer and Louise Keating, Physiotherapist and Lecturer.

The partnership was announced at a special event in RCSIs state-of-the-art facilities at 26 York Street. Hosted by Tommy Bowe, former Ulster, Ireland and British & Irish Lions International, with special guests for the evening including Luke Fitzgerald, former Leinster, Ireland and British & Irish Lions International and Leo Cullen, Head Coach and former Captain Leinster and former Irish International.

As well as contributions from the lead researchers from RCSI, the event was addressed by Professor Cathal Kelly, CEO, RCSI; John Callaghan, Chairman, IRFU Charitable Trust; Mike Hislop, Technical Services Researchers, World Rugby; and Mr Cliff Beirne, Chair Care Sub-Committee, IRFU Charitable Trust and Dean of Faculty of Sports & Exercise Medicine, RCSI and RCPI.

A team of researchers led by RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), have developed a new treatment for the particularly difficult-to-treat bone infection, osteomyelitis.

Funded by Irish Research Council, European Research Council and AMBER, the SFI (Science Foundation Ireland) research centre for materials science, the study is published in Biomaterials, the No. 1 ranked scientific journal in the field.

The new treatment has developed a one-step solution that kills bacteria and promotes bone growth without using antibiotics. To do this, researchers combined copper particles with bioactive glass - a type of glass used for bone repair - and incorporated it into an implant designed specifically for bone repair.

The copper-doped bioactive glass in the porous scaffold implant attracts blood vessels and bone cells, which accelerates bone repair. The copper ions in the implant also prevent bacteria growth. The ability of a single implant to improve blood flow and enhance bone healing as well as inhibit infection without antibiotic treatment is a significant advancement over most existing treatments.

"Osteomyelitis is notoriously difficult to treat. Further work on the back of this research could lead to the complete development of a single-stage, off-the-shelf treatment. This in turn could reduce the need for antibiotics and bone grafting - thus also addressing issues with antibiotic resistance" said first author Emily Ryan, a recently qualified PhD student in the RCSI Department of Anatomy.

People can develop this bone infection from broken bones, severe tooth decay and deep puncture wounds, among other causes. In the worst cases, osteomyelitis can result in amputations or be fatal.

The current treatment for osteomyelitis:

• Usually involves weeks of high-dose antibiotic therapy,
• Often requires removing infected bone tissue through surgery,
• May require bone grafting,
• Has a failure rate of up to 30%.

"We are looking forward to developing and testing this treatment for osteomyelitis and for other infections too. This platform system could be further modified and used to deliver a variety of other non-antibiotic antimicrobial metal ion-doped minerals," said Principal Investigator, Prof Fergal OBrien, Professor of Bioengineering & Regenerative Medicine in the RCSI Department of Anatomy, Head of the Tissue Engineering Research Group and Deputy Director of the AMBER Research Centre.

An international, interdisciplinary collaboration carried out the research. Among the collaborators were Dr Cathal Kearney, also from the RCSI Department of Anatomy, Tissue Engineering Research Group and AMBER, and Prof Aldo R. Boccaccini, Professor of Biomaterials and Head of the Institute of Biomaterials at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Prof Boccaccini is a world-leading innovator in the area of bio-glasses, ceramics and polymer/glass composites for biomedical, functional and/or structural applications.

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2019) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI has been awarded Athena Swan Bronze accreditation for positive gender practice in higher education.

Over 350 children, aged between 4 - 10, brought their sick or injured teddies to the fifth annual RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) Teddy Bear Hospital on Saturday, 2 February and Sunday, 3 February in the College at 123 St Stephens Green.

Hosted by medical, physiotherapy and pharmacy students in the RCSI Paediatrics Society, this years Teddy Bear Hospital was the biggest to date. The event is designed to help children to feel comfortable around doctors and hospitals and learn how to stay healthy through diet and exercise.

The session on Sunday is unique in Ireland, designed to host children living with special needs or experiencing chronic illness and their families in a smaller and quieter environment.

Over the course of their hospital visit, children experienced twelve stations created to mirror aspects of a real hospital. Stations focused on triage, X-rays, MRIs, pharmacy, physiotherapy, yoga, heart sounds, handwashing and even a suturing station to help restore any torn teddies.

Children learned about the effects of exercise on the heart rate at the Heart, Dance & Stethoscope station, and student volunteers educated children on the benefits of a good night sleep, regular exercise and a balanced diet, in a safe and fun environment.

All proceeds went to the the childrens charity Aoibheanns Pink Tie, which provides meaningful and practical support to children living with cancer and their families.

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2018) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI is a signatory of the Athena SWAN Charter.

Dr Hedy Fry will join Dr Ciara Kelly in conversation as part of Charter Day 2019

Dr Hedy Fry, Class of 1968, will return to RCSI tonight to address students, alumni and guests at an event to mark the opening of the RCSI Charter Day programme.

The Honourable Dr Fry is a Trinidadian-Canadian politician and physician, and is currently the longest-serving female Member of Parliament, winning eight consecutive elections in the constituency of Vancouver Centre since the 1993 election.

Dr Fry began her political career in 1993 as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health. She spent six years from 1996-2002 in Cabinet serving as Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and the Minister for the Status of Women, and sat on a number of Cabinet Committees on health, social policy, volunteerism, homelessness and same-sex benefits.

Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Fry graduated from RCSI in 1968 before emigrating to Canada in 1970. She practiced family medicine at St Paul’s Hospital in the West End of Vancouver for two decades and was a local, provincial and national leader in medical politics.

Dr Fry continues working hard at key priorities of her constituents and fighting for issues such as human rights, the environment, LGBTQ2+, healthcare, poverty, housing and homelessness, education and many others.

The ‘In Conversation with…’ series showcases RCSI alumni and other inspiring role models who are pioneers in their field, celebrating those who have been successful as healthcare innovators and global thought-leaders.

The event takes place during RCSI’s annual Charter Day meeting, which will see over 500 members of Ireland’s surgical community gather at RCSI to commemorate the foundation of RCSI by a Royal Charter granted by King George III on 11 February 1784. The full Charter Day programme is available here.

Mary Robinson, President of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice, former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, will today be presented with the Emily Winifred Dickson Award from RCSI.

Emily Winifred Dickson broke boundaries when she became a Fellow of RCSI in 1893, making her the first female Fellow of any of the surgical royal colleges in Britain and Ireland. RCSI established the Emily Winifred Dickson Award in honour of the achievements of this pioneering woman. The award recognises women who have made an outstanding contribution to their field.

RCSI CEO Prof. Cathal Kelly said: "Emily Winifred Dickson was not only a trailblazing female surgeon. She was a working mother, a published scientist and a keen promoter of womens rights. Although she experienced prejudice and discrimination in her chosen career, she received considerable support from several of the hierarchy of the Irish medical profession. She continued that spirit and was supportive of young women, particularly female medical students, throughout her career, a spirit we continue to this day in RCSI."

Speaking ahead of the award presentation Prof. Kelly added: "During her distinguished career, Mary Robinson broke barriers as the first female President of Ireland, paving the way for women in Irish society to aim higher and inspiring them to believe that there are no boundaries to what they can achieve. Her humanitarian work, particularly as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and through the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice, has made an impact globally for those who are marginalised across the world.

"As a dedicated health sciences institution, RCSI is focused on leading the world to better health and improving the lives of people around the world through healthcare. We are greatly honoured to present the Emily Winifred Dickson Award to Mary Robinson in recognition of her outstanding achievements and contribution to society in Ireland and globally."

The award that will be presented to Mary Robinson by RCSI is a specially-commissioned piece by Imogen Stuart RHA, one of Irelands foremost sculptors.

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2019) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI has been awarded Athena SWAN Bronze accreditation for positive gender practice in higher education.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, and Minister for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan TD, today announced €4.5 million in funding for 38 research projects to support the commercialisation of government-funded research. Three projects led by RCSI researchers are among those to be successfully funded.

The RCSI recipients are:

• Dr Olga Piskareva, Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics (MCT) who has been awarded €128,233 to develop a tissue engineered tumour model that can be used in testing new cancer drugs and new combinations of existing drugs for neuroblastoma.
• Dr Roger Preston, MCT and Irish Centre for Vascular Biology, who has received €123,313 to develop a new drug therapy to treat inherited and acquired bleeding disorders such as haemophilia.
• Professor Sally-Ann Cryan, School of Pharmacy, who has been granted €116,723 to develop an artificial trachea (TracheoColl) using 3D printing technology that can be tailored for a specific patient, seeded with the patients cells and then implanted to regenerate lost/damaged tissue.

The funding is provided through Science Foundation Irelands Technology Innovation Development Award (TIDA) programme. The programme provides project development funding and training in entrepreneurship skills to third-level researchers, to support them in exploring commercial opportunities associated with their research. Researchers will demonstrate if an applied research project (that is, research used to find practical solutions to everyday problems, cure illness, etc.), is technically feasible, and has potential for further commercial development.

Professor Ray Stallings, Director of Research and Innovation, RCSI, said: "Promoting innovative research that leads to improved diagnostics, therapeutics and devices is central to our research strategy at RCSI. These SFI TIDA grants are a stepping stone to commercialising research findings so that they can make a real impact on patients and on society. I congratulate Dr Piskareva, Dr Preston and Professor Cryan on their achievement of securing funding, which is a testament to the high quality and potential practical applications of their research."

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, said "I am delighted to announce the recipients of the SFI TIDA Awards and commercialisation support for 38 research projects. The programme is aligned with a number of key Government strategies including Innovation 2020, the National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship in Ireland and Project Ireland 2040. It will develop important entrepreneurship skills and commercialisation capabilities, ensuring Ireland maintains its position as a leader in cutting-edge research."

Prof Mark Ferguson, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland said, "Science Foundation Ireland is committed to investing in the translation of world-class research from the laboratory to market. A key objective is to increase the number and quality of discoveries that have strong economic impact potential, that can secure follow-on public or private investment. The TIDA programme plays a key role in this process by providing funding to develop technologies, as well as fostering entrepreneurship skills among our research community."

The research projects supported by the SFI TIDA programmes will be funded through 12 research bodies, as follows: Trinity College Dublin (11), National University of Ireland Galway (5), University College Cork (4); University College Dublin (4); Dublin City University (3); RCSI (3), University Limerick (2), National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (2), Tyndall National Institute (1), National University of Ireland Maynooth (1), Dublin Institute of Technology (1) and Cork Institute of Technology (1).

Speaking on RCSI’s annual Charter Day meeting for surgeons, RCSI President Mr Kenneth Mealy has urged the Government to deliver three elective hospitals as promised in Sláintecare. The capital health budget is currently under review in light of the over spend on the new children’s hospital in Dublin.

Mr Mealy said, “I have written to the Taoiseach and Minister for Health expressing RCSI’s strong view that any delay in developing the elective hospitals would have serious implications for patients on waiting lists for scheduled surgery."

Mr Mealy explained, “A 20% efficiency in bed day usage has been achieved since 2010. In fact, if we were still operating at 2010 efficiency levels, an additional 891 beds would have been required. Despite this good news, we know that a million additional surgical beds days will be required annually to meet the needs of our growing and ageing population over the next thirty years."

“Providing this additional capacity requires a fundamental shift in the way surgical services are delivered in Ireland. Moving to a model that separates acute unscheduled from necessary scheduled, or elective, surgery is critical if we are to find a sustainable way of delivering surgical services in the future. If plans to build three scheduled care or elective only hospitals, where surgery would be safeguarded at times of peak pressure such as winter, are delayed or abandoned, then it is difficult to see a sustainable solution to our waiting lists problem."

“The vast majority of complex surgery for our sickest patients can only be delivered in a protected scheduled care environment”, continued Mr Mealy.

Surgeons too have a responsibility to manage resources effectively, according to Mr Mealy. “We need to understand that limited resource allocation demands that we work cooperatively at regional and national level and we design patient centred, but cost efficient care pathways which do not duplicate limited budgets. We also each need to buy into the concept of continuous quality improvement and audit in examining what we do”, he said.

Mr Mealy was speaking ahead of RCSI’s annual Charter Day meeting which takes place today Friday, 8 February. Addressing the complex issues that arise when things go wrong in surgery will be the focus of the meeting, which brings together over 500 members of Ireland’s surgical community.

Sessions will explore the perspectives of both surgeons and patients. Professor Hilary Sanfey, Professor of Surgery and Vice Chair for Education, Southern Illinois University, will share insights into the surgeon as “second victim”. Professor Tim Rockall, Consultant Surgeon at Royal Surrey Country Hospital and Chairman of the RCS England Invited Review Mechanism will discuss the Invited Review Mechanism. Professor David Healy, RCSI Council Member and Consultant Cardiothoracic and Transplant Surgeon at St Vincent’s & Mater Misericordiae University Hospital will address supporting the patient – family unit.

Explaining the significance of this session, Mr Mealy said, “The healthcare environment poses many challenges for surgeons and our response to poor outcomes, mistakes and errors need to be addressed at a professional level but also requires a response from the professional organisations such as RCSI. In the last year, controversies in the cancer screening services, governance issues and medical disclosure make today’s meeting all the more relevant”.

Major developments in the treatment of patients with oesophageal cancer will be the subject of this year’s Abraham Colles Lecture. The lecture will be delivered by Professor J. Jan B. van Lanschot, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam.

The RCSI Charter Day Meetings are held annually to commemorate the foundation of RCSI by a Royal Charter granted by King George III on 11 February 1784.

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2019) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI has been awarded Athena SWAN Bronze accreditation for positive gender practice in higher education.

The full Charter Day programme is available here.

County of residence appears to have an influence on a patients’ accessibility to certain surgical procedures, according to research led by RCSI. The national study on geographical variation in access to general surgery in Ireland analysed over 900,000 episodes of public hospital care around the country.

The study found large variations in utilisation between the studied counties, suggesting that a person’s likelihood of undergoing a specific procedure may be related to their county of residence. This variation in the utilisation rate of general surgical procedures may suggest excessive overuse in some regions or inappropriate underutilisation in other areas.

Most procedures were carried out at substantially higher rates outside the larger cities (Dublin, Galway and Waterford). Geographically, surgical access was the lowest in Co Galway with four out of six procedures indicating substantially lower rates than the rest of the national population.

Despite an approximate quarter of the population residing in Dublin, operation rates were considerably lower than the rates of residents outside of the capital. This may reflect the prioritisation given to cancer cases and a resulting lack of bed availability for elective, non-cancer operations in some centres.

Lead author Ms Ola Ahmed said, “Geographic patterns reflect not only the localisation of disorders, but also the social and economic environment in which healthcare is being provided. Studies of this nature are important for health policy and planning."

“These findings imply a need for improved surgical access at a regional level by facilitating the integration of public policies and promoting services at the appropriate settings”, concluded Ms Ahmed.

The research is published in The Surgeon. It was carried out by Ola Ahmed, Department of General Surgery, Wexford General Hospital, Professor Kenneth Mealy, RCSI President and National Clinical Programme for Surgery, Gerry Kelliher, National Clinical Programme for Surgery, Professor Frank Keane, National Clinical Programme for Surgery and Prof Jan Sorensen, Healthcare Outcomes Research Centre, RCSI.

Training doctors in how to handle what happens when things go wrong in their clinical practice must be a central component of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, according to Professor Dubhfeasa Slattery, Chair of Medical Professionalism, RCSI and BSHS.

In an article for bmjopinion (British Medical Journal), Prof. Slattery explores the ongoing training and peer support required by doctors in order to make open disclosure work. Prof. Slattery said: “We teach and train medical students and doctors in ‘excellence,’ not ‘failure,’ even though the latter is an outcome we are sure to encounter in medicine.

“If we want open disclosure to always happen, then we need to train doctors and other healthcare professionals in how to do it across the continuum of their education and CPD. Proficiency in open disclosure should be identified as a key, core competency and — similar to clinical examination skills — it should be specifically taught and assessed at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Ideally, this training would be delivered by healthcare professionals who have experience of implementing open disclosure in their frontline clinical work.”

RCSI is a leader in the area of professionalism. The first Vice Dean of Professionalism in Ireland was appointed by the College in 2014 and in 2017, the first Chair and Professor of Medical Professionalism nationally, between the RCSI and the BSHS, was appointed.

Professionalism is being further inculcated in healthcare professional education and training at RCSI and it is now embedded as a core, horizontal theme throughout the undergraduate curriculum. RCSI also provides post-graduate training options for multidisciplinary healthcare professionals and opportunities for continuous professional development, and a multifaceted programme in Professionalism in Healthcare has been developed for hospitals.

The International Conference for Healthcare and Medical Students (ICHAMS) conference is currently underway at RCSI and continues until Saturday, 23 February. ICHAMS is a conference for undergraduate healthcare and medical students to present their research to peers and educators in the field.

This year’s conference welcomes more than 300 undergraduate healthcare students who will have the opportunity to present their research findings, publish abstracts in the BMC Proceedings, and connect with other students from all over the world. ICHAMS prides itself on providing young students with an opportunity to foster relationships with peers in a research-based setting.

Keynote speakers include Professor Arnold Hill, RCSI Chair of Surgery and Consultant General and Breast Surgeon, Dr Blánaid Hayes, Consultant in Occupational Medicine and lead investigator of the National Study of Wellbeing of Hospital Doctors in Ireland, Professor Karen Redmond, Consultant Cardiothoracic and Lung Transplant Surgeon in Dublin, and Dr Deirdre Duke, Consultant Radiologist.

The conference also offers numerous workshops, including obstetrics simulation, LQBTQ+ in healthcare, suturing skills, plaster/casting workshop, rapid ECG interpretation, ultrasound skills, intubation and chest drain practical skills, and general practice skills in RCSI’s state-of-the-art training facilities at 26 York Street.

Dr Brona Murphy, RCSI faculty advisor, said, “Now in its eighth year, ICHAMS will welcome international delegates to Dublin where we hope this experience will students an insight into the world of scientific research. We look forward to this year’s programme which will showcase the dedication and hard work of our student organising committee.”

In addition to the academic programme, ICHAMS offers a full social programme including a walking tour of Dublin. The conference will conclude with a prize-giving ceremony, followed by a gala dinner on Saturday, 23 February.

For further information on the conference programme, visit ichams.org

RCSI is ranked among the top 250 (top 2%) of universities worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2019) and its research is ranked first in Ireland for citations. It is an international not-for-profit health sciences institution, with its headquarters in Dublin, focused on education and research to drive improvements in human health worldwide. RCSI has been awarded Athena SWAN Bronze accreditation for positive gender practice in higher education.

As part of the RCSI Transition Year MiniMed Programme, 250 students will hear from the countrys top medical experts while getting hands on experience during a five-day programme that begins today at 26 York Street.

Leading medical professionals from RCSI and Beaumont Hospital are involved in running the programme including Professor Arnold Hill, Head of RCSI School of Medicine.

This years programme will feature lectures with Irelands top clinicians, including Professor John OByrne, doctor for the Irish soccer team and RCSI Professor in Trauma and Orthopaedics; Professor Fergal Malone, Master of the Rotunda Hospital and RCSI Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

RCSI graduate, Grace OFlanagan, doctor and goalkeeper for Irelands hockey team along with Connacht Rugby player and current RCSI student and Angus Lloyd, will speak to the students about Lifestyles of Doctors.

Students will receive clinical skills training as well as practical experience in a wide range of specialties, including infectious diseases, sports medicine, surgery, paediatrics, transplants and forensic medicine.

During simulations, the students will help treat the paediatric mannequin, learn to draw blood and participate in a mock operating room scenario. At augmented reality workshops, the students will experience a detailed look at human anatomy. At other points in the programme, they will watch a real life Caesarean section, tonsillectomy and a laparoscopic surgery.

"This week, the students will use and learn about the latest innovative technology in medicine at Europes most advanced clinical simulation facility and get to attend lectures from some of Irelands top healthcare professionals," said Professor Steve Kerrigan, Academic Coordinator of the programme and Associate Professor in Pharmacology at RCSI.

"The MiniMed Programme is the end-product of a College-wide collaboration involving more than 100 staff who volunteer their time to ensure that these students get the best possible experience. This week the students are going to experience and learn a lot and it will go a long way in helping them decide if a career as a healthcare professional is for them."

In addition to the medical lectures and workshops, transition year students will also receive broader advice on maintaining a proper work life balance, Leaving Cert decisions and how to keep fit.

For further details of the live-streamed sessions, please visit https://www.rcsi.com/dublin/TY.