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All-Ireland Consortium:
Health Diplomacy at Its Best
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The principle objective of the Consortium is to enhance the capacity of our cancer services to improve the lives of
cancer patients on the island. I look forward to Ireland's continued participation in the relationships with our colleagues in
Northern Ireland and NCI.
- Ivor Callely TD, Minister of State
Department of Health and Children, Dublin
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Over the last several years, NCI's OIA, under the leadership of Dr. Joe
Harford, has been at the forefront of NCI's efforts to contribute to the global
fight against cancer. One of the OIA's crowning achievements has been the
Ireland-Northern Ireland-NCI Cancer Consortium. Preparations are now underway
to celebrate the 5-year anniversary of the signing of this historic memorandum
of understanding and to plan for continued success in the coming years.
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There is no doubt that the NCI-All-Ireland Consortium has become a powerful force for
good for cancer patients on the island of Ireland, and we look forward to further success and
increasing collaboration as part of this unique international partnership.
- Dr. Patrick Johnston of Queens University Belfast
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Since 1999, the All-Ireland Cancer Consortium has sought to enhance the
infrastructure for cancer research and cancer care on the island of Ireland. In
addition to facilitating interactions among the three research communities
represented, the Consortium has developed a number of joint programs across the
continuum of cancer.
The most recent milestone is the newly established Centre
for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB), officially announced last month
during a ceremony at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The CCRCB
has been established as an interdisciplinary research center bringing together
researchers from the Schools of Medicine, Chemistry, Biology & Biochemistry,
Pharmacy, and Mathematics & Physics. The new Centre will be led by Dr. Patrick
Johnston of Queens University Belfast and will work closely with local
institutions that conduct cancer clinical trials.
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The NCI-All-Ireland agreement has already begun to speed up the process of cancer research development
on the island of Ireland and has been a major milestone agreement for cancer care in this country.
- Micéal Martin TD, former Minister for Health
and Children in Ireland and current Minister of
Enterprise, Trade and Employment
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While the CCRCB hopes to one
day elevate Belfast to one of the world's leading locations for translational
cancer research, the All-Ireland Consortium has spent the last 5 years setting
the gold standard for health-related international partnerships. The scope of
the Consortium's activities can also be gauged by the breadth of its Working
Groups: Scholar Exchange, Clinical Trials, Cancer Registries, Nursing,
Information Technology/Telecommunications, and Prevention.
Scholar exchanges thus far have included three Irish scholars given 3-year fellowships in
epidemiology that include 1 year working with NCI's SEER program in Bethesda,
Md. and more than a dozen nurses who have trained in oncology nursing and
clinical trials for 3 months at the NIH Clinical Center. The collaboration
between the cancer registries covering the Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland under the auspices of the Consortium has resulted in the first-ever
comparison of cancer incidence rates between the North and South. The
Prevention Working Group, chaired by Dr. Doug Weed of NCI's Division of Cancer
Prevention, has been particularly active within the Consortium. In addition to
participating in workshops in Ireland on topics such as "Cancer Prevention and
Tobacco Control" and "Obesity and Cancer," the working group has dedicated
itself to building a community of prevention-oriented scientists and cancer
caregivers on the island of Ireland. Perhaps the most tangible manifestation of
this commitment is to be found in the fact that over 80 researchers and health
care providers from the island have participated in the NCI's Summer Curriculum
in Cancer Prevention (see http://cancer.gov/prevention/pob). This program
includes a 4-week course, "Principles and Practice of Cancer Prevention and
Control" and a 1-week course, "Molecular Prevention." The faculty for these
courses consists of approximately 85 experts from NCI, NIH, and academic
institutions. Over the past 5 years, the courses have drawn approximately 140
international participants. In addition to the activities related to cancer
prevention, the Cancer Consortium has been engaged in the formation of an
All-Ireland Cooperative Group for conducting island-wide clinical trials in
cancer. The headquarters function of the Cooperative Group is located in Dublin
with a center for data management and statistics in Belfast.
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The All-Ireland Consortium promotes partnerships at both clinical and research levels - at both cross-border and international levels.
- Dr. Mark Lawler of St. James Hospital, Dublin
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Yet another
important benchmark achieved under the Consortium has been the ongoing
implementation of the Telesynergy® system. This integrated telecommunications
system of computers, microscopes, cameras, and other equipment can transmit
X-rays and other medical images or a live exam of a patient to distant sites
where clinicians can discuss the case as if they were in the same room.
To date,
three Telesynergy suites have been installed at Belfast City Hospital and at
both St. Luke's Hospital and St. James' Hospital in Dublin under the auspices
of the All-Ireland Cancer Consortium.
Later this month, the Implementation Group
of the Consortium, chaired by Dr. Harford, will assemble in Dublin within the
context of the World Congress of Cancer Organizations meeting. There, the group
will mark the 5-year anniversary of the Consortium and discuss plans for the
next 5 years of this very successful collaboration.
More information regarding
the All-Ireland Cancer Consortium can be found at
http://www.allirelandnci.org.
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