Orla has been part of the team since 2006 when she came on board to help out on a temporary basis! Inspired by the quality of the research she joined full time within six months and has since presided over the expansion of the fundraising team. Originally a trained scientist, Orla worked in business management for 6 years with companies in the US and now applies all that knowledge to helping ensure the scientists and clinicians have the necessary resources they need for their research.

Orla is a board member of the National Cancer Registry of Ireland.  “I do not want lack of money to be the reason someone does not get an effective treatment for their cancer”. “The research we fund is focused and targeted and thus worthy of significant investment.”

Eoghan joined Breakthrough Cancer Research in 2012 and is responsible our national fundraising campaigns. Having worked at senior management level for over 10 years in 4 & 5* hotels and resorts throughout Ireland, he has extensive experience in running major events in high profile venues as well as dealing with major multi national corporate clients about all aspects of their business needs.

In addition to holding two business certificates from Failte Ireland, Eoghan also holds an honours BA in Hotel & Catering management from Galway Mayo Institute of Technology. A subsequent Failte Ireland Marketing course in conjunction with Cornell University with a residential module in Boston College in the US led to an interest in campaign work, building on numerous years as a volunteer for cancer research.

Frances joined Breakthrough Cancer Research in October 2019. Having qualified with a PhD in Biochemistry from University College Cork, Frances shifted her focus to patient focused research for her post-doctoral career. She has fifteen years of experience in cancer research in the National Cancer Registry of Ireland and University College Cork. Frances has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and reports. She is also a pre-accredited counsellor and psychotherapist. Frances believes passionately that research is vital to improve health and survival at both the individual and the population level.

Julian joined Breakthrough Cancer Research in October 2020 and brings a range of experience from fundraising to farming. After growing up in New Zealand and moving to London and then Cork, he likes to bring friendliness and efficiency to a very worthy cause.

Linda joined Breakthrough Cancer Research in 2021 and is responsible for our marketing and communications. She has extensive experience in developing robust public information and awareness campaigns having worked in various strategic communications agencies for over 10 years. She is passionate about the integral role that research plays in the discovery of  better, kinder and more effective treatments for people with cancer.

Linda is a graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast, the Irish Management Institute, and the Digital Marketing Institute.

Ann joined the team in September 2021 and is responsible for the Finances of the charity.  She has over 20 years’ experience having worked in leadership and finance roles in the Engineering, Technology, Food and Retail sectors in Ireland, the UK and Australia.

Ann is a qualified Accountant and is a member of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). She brings broad financial and management accounting experience to her role in the areas of budgeting, forecasting, controllership, compliance, internal controls, strategic planning, business partnering, and continuous process improvement.

Mary joined Breakthrough Cancer Research in March 2022 and is our Community and Events Fundraiser.  Mary brings with her over 12 years experience working in the not for profit sector including the Irish Cancer Society and Marymount Hospice. Prior to this she worked in both the legal and architectural sectors for 13 years. Mary has led on many high profile fundraising events over the years and has worked on some of the biggest fundraising campaigns in the country. She has a Diploma in Digital Marketing from DMI and Psychology from UCC. She is responsible for stewarding our donors to make sure they have the best possible experience of supporting Breakthrough Cancer Research.

Nora joined Breakthrough Cancer Research in August 2022 as a research officer. Having qualified with a PhD in Biotechnology from Dublin City University, she has over fifteen years of experience in post-doctoral research, lab management and science education. Nora is passionate about research and science communication and making complex findings accessible and easy to understand for a lay audience.

She has also worked as part of the Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) initiative at UCD, in addition to being part of the research team at a rare disease health research charity. From these roles she has developed a keen interest in patient centered research and this has instilled a great belief in the power of actively involving patients and their families in all parts of the research cycle to ensure the most impactful research outcomes.

Prof Buckley, trained as an endocrinologist and has over 30 years’ experience in the medical sector.  He has been CMO of ICON since 2011 having joined ICON through the acquisition of Firecrest Clinical in 2011, where he was one of the founders of the company and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs. He has extensive experience in clinical trials and chairs several independent Data and Safety Monitoring Boards for medium to large cardio-metabolic and rare disease clinical studies.

Prof Buckley is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the School of Medicine, University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, and has also been director of the university’s European Center for Clinical Trials in Rare Diseases. He has been a board member of the Irish Medicines Board and of the European Medical Agency (EMA)’s Scientific Advisory Group for Diabetes and Endocrinology since 2005.

He was also a member of the EMA Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products from 2000-2003 and a member of the EMA’s panel of experts. Professor Buckley is also chairman of the Irish Statutory Anti-Doping Agency and is a member of the UK Anti-Doping Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr Horgan is a physician scientist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born in London, and his parents were natives of Clare and Cork. After attending Crescent College Comprehensive in Limerick he graduated in medicine from University College Cork in 1982. He completed postgraduate medical training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, and UCLA in internal medicine, immunology and gastroenterology.

After four years on the faculty at UCLA, where he specialized in managing inflammatory bowel disease, he joined the pharmaceutical industry at Merck Research Laboratories. There he led the development of the groundbreaking drug Emend for the prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy. A decade after its approval in 2003, no similar drug has been successfully developed.

Since then, Dr Horgan has contributed to the development of several novel therapies and diagnostics for inflammatory bowel disease and Alzheimer’s. His immunology research provided important early support for the development of three approved medications for multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. After working with several small biotechnology companies on novel immunotherapies and diagnostics, he is now a Global Medical Lead at Astra-Zeneca in the rapidly developing area of immunooncology

Dr O’Mahony is currently Vice President of Research Biology at Eurofins DiscoverX leading the scientific application of their proprietary BioMAP® platform to fundamentally improve the productivity and efficacy of drug development. As head of R&D, Alison has lead efforts on the development, validation and utilization of BioMAP systems in the areas of autoimmunity, inflammation, fibrosis, immune oncology, tissue remodeling etc. Prior to joining the BioMAP team, Dr O’Mahony was an Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes at UCSF and has over 25 years specializing in cell biology, signal transduction and biomarker expression.

She has considerable expertise and experience in phenotypic primary human cell-based systems as predictive models for drug discovery. Dr O’Mahony holds a Ph.D. from the National University of Ireland and was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Davis and at UCSF. She has published multiple peer-reviewed papers and invited book chapters and has received a number of international and national awards for her work.

Prof. Harrington specialises in developing new treatments using biologically targeted agents (such as viruses, antibodies and small molecules) that selectively destroy cancer cells. He is Professor of Biological Cancer Therapies at The Institute of Cancer Research and an honorary consultant oncologist at The Royal Marsden.

He was appointed as Joint Head of the ICR’s Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging in 2013. Prof. Harrington studied medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, and began focusing on head and neck cancer while a PhD student at Hammersmith Hospital. He completed postdoctoral research in molecular medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, before joining the ICR in 2001 as Team Leader in Targeted Therapy within the Section of Cell and Molecular Biology.

Dr Goggins is a professor of pathology, medicine and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He serves as director of the Pancreatic Cancer Early Detection Laboratory and is an attending physician in medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, as well as a molecular biologist.

Dr. Goggins’ research interests include the role of germline BRCA2 mutations in pancreas cancer and characterizing the molecular genetic progression model for pancreas cancer. He obtained his medical degree in 1988 from Trinity College of the University of Dublin, Ireland. He completed a residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in Gastroenterology at St. James’ Hospital in Dublin. He obtained his Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 1991 and his European Diploma in Gastroenterology in 1995. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1999.

Dr. Goggins is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and the European Board of Gastroenterology. He sits on the editorial boards of Gut, Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Cancer Biology and Therapy.

Dr. O’Connor is an international authority in lymphoma and drug development, with more than 25 years of experience in academic medicine. He is Chief Scientific Officer of TG Therapeutics. Dr. O’Connor is widely recognized for his contributions to the field, having pioneered the development of several first in class drugs leading to regulatory approval, including the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors belinostat and vorinostat, and co-invented and led the international development of pralatrexate, which became the first drug approved for patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma, now approved in over 35 countries around the world.

A past member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC), he has also successfully aided in filling New Drug Applications in China, Japan, and Taiwan, as well as the European Medicines Agency (EMA). He has held a number of prestigious leadership positions in the major cancer centers in New York City including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he held a faculty position for a decade leading the Laboratory of Experimental Therapeutics for the Lymphoid Malignancies, and Chief of the Division of Hematology and Oncology, and Deputy Cancer Center Director at the New York University Medical Center prior to joining Columbia.

Dr. O’Connor has published over 200 articles in peer reviewed journals, books and book chapters and reviews on the management of lymphoma, in addition to being a member of several important advisory boards, including the Scientific Advisory Board for the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

He has received countless awards for his research, including being named to Americas Top Cancer Doctors, being named among the Top 50 Irish-Americans in Science and Medicine by the Irish government, and being inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame. He is also recipient of the American Cancer Society Research Professorship, the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Society.

Dr Angela Gillian is currently Head Of Medical Affairs and Responsible Person with A. Menarini Pharmaceuticals Ireland. Her previous experience encompasses the clinical trials and biotech industries both in Ireland and internationally.

Angela holds a degree in Biochemistry from Trinity College Dublin and a PhD from the University of Dundee in Scotland. She also has a Diploma in Quality Management. She joined the board in March 2023.

Dr Katarzyna Goljanek-Whysall is an Associate Professor at the University of Galway, and Irish Research Council Laureate and Vice Dean For Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Dr Goljanek-Whysall obtained her PhD at the University of East Anglia, studying the role of microRNAs in skeletal muscle development.  She  continued my research at the University of East Anglia. In 2013 she moved to Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, Liverpool studying the role of epigenetic changes in sarcopenia and osteoarthritis development.  In her current position at the University of Galway she is studying the therapeutic potential of microRNAs and oxidised microRNAs against muscle loss during ageing and disease, such as cachexia and ALS. Her group is also investigating the impact of COVID-19 on long-term muscle wasting and frailty.