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UCC Cancer Trials Cluster

The UCC Cancer Trials Cluster will bring together a dedicated team of cancer specialists and research staff from oncology clinical trials units at Cork University Hospital (CUH) and University Hospital Waterford (UHW) in partnership with the Bons Secours Cork, and with outreach to other regional hospitals caring for patients with cancer. These teams will work alongside experts in patient-focused research from the HRB Clinical Research Facility in Cork (CRF-C) in partnership with University College Cork (UCC); university partner for the regions’ hospitals. The National Cancer Strategy 2017 emphasised how important cancer research and clinical trials are in patient care. Patients in clinical trials have better treatment results and quality of life. Our team already has a strong track record in patient enrolment (accrual) in clinical trials, and extensive connections with industry partners and Irish and international research groups.
We believe we can do better, however, in terms of providing equitable clinical trial access to all patients with cancer in the region, and bringing more and better treatment options to the table. We also believe that by increasing partnership with patients, patient advocates and community partners we will make better decisions regarding the clinical trials we offer, and understand the barriers to clinical trial accrual and the patient experience of clinical trials. It is also very important to us that our home-grown clinical trials (investigator-initiated studies) truly have the patient and their wishes at the centre of their design. We have a specific plan for training our teams in Patient and Public Involvement (PPI). Our goal is to become an internationally recognised centre of excellence for clinical trials and research, education and training. Collaboration with all the hospitals in our region will ensure patients can access cutting-edge treatments, supportive care and cancer diagnostics in the Cork/Kerry/Waterford region.