Now, as the Irish lead for Soft Tissue Sarcomas he has co-founded the Irish Sarcoma Group. He has instigated this meeting as the first step towards his vision of raising awareness and helping develop a service that parallels the best available internationally.
After attaining fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists and completing his training he moved to Dublin in 2004 to undertake an MD (PET and molecular response prediction in oesophageal cancer) at Trinity College. This was followed by a clinical fellowship at the University of Dresden, Germany.
Appointed a Consultant in October 2008 he works at St James’s (where he is the clinical lead) and St. Luke’s Hospital but provides radiation oncology input to the St Vincent’s Sarcoma Multidisciplinary Meeting.
He was appointed an Examiner for the Faculty of Radiology, RCSI in 2012, is the Internal Examiner for the School of Radiation Therapy, Trinity College and is a lecturer on the annual ESTRO Treatment Planning Course.
He is a member of the British Sarcoma Group (BSG) and the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS).
He did his fellowship in musculoskeletal Radiology in Vancouver General Hospital, during which time he trained in the imaging work-up and biopsy of sarcoma patients, and was involved in weekly sarcoma MDT meetings at the British Columbia Cancer Agency.
Her research programme focuses on identifying the genetic alterations involved in the development and progression of bone and soft tissue tumours, which she then translates into clinical practice, and uses for stratifying patients for treatment.
Adrienne is also Director of UCL Advanced Diagnostics which provides services to both clinicians for their diagnoses and researchers. The service complements the discovery phase of genomic / epigenomic research being undertaken in UCL and allow transition from discovery to diagnostics. Adrienne is also holds the UCL corporate Human Tissue Authority licence.
During his time training in the UK he spent 18 months working in the research department of the University of Cambridge under the direction of Sir Roy Calne. This work on transplanted transgenic pig hearts resulted in the award of a MD degree in 1996. In 1997 he was Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in England. During his time in London he worked for Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub and Professor Peter Goldstraw.
He has kept up his particular interest in thoracic oncology, first kindled while working for Professor Goldstraw, since returning to Dublin and St. James’s is the busiest thoracic oncology centre on the island of Ireland. He has a keen interest in chest wall surgery and reconstruction.
He has a keen interest in post-graduate education and has sat on the Specialty advisor committee (SAC) of the joint Royal Colleges of Surgeons in Great Britain as well as on the educational board of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of the UK and Ireland. He is an experienced examiner in the Joint Royal Colleges exit exam for trainees finishing their training in the British Isles.
Professor Reynolds has set up a national database for patients who are histologically diagnosed with GIST (Gastro Intestinal Stromal Tumours). This data will facilitate research into current treatment protocols and developing new ones in the future. The hospitals participating in this registry will include the eight cancer centres and Mercy Hospital Cork, Tallaght Hospital and Letterkenny General Hospital. Professor Reynolds has obtained numerous research awards and has published widely in cancer research, with over 250 publications and approximately €5m research grant income. His clinical interest is in diseases of the oesophagus and stomach. His research interest is in four areas: (1) pathogenesis of Barrett’s oesophagus and progression; (2) prediction of response and resistance to chemotherapy and radiation therapy; (3) obesity, altered metabolism, and cancer; (4) malnutrition and peri-operative nutrition.
Dr. Gronchi has a life-time professional dedication to patient care and research in soft tissue sarcoma and GIST.
His clinical practice focuses exclusively on these disease entities and he has pursued clinical and research interests in soft tissue sarcoma and GIST during the entire stint in the department of Surgery. He runs the Sarcoma data base of the National Cancer Institute, which gathers clinical and biological information on over 7500 patients affected by soft tissue sarcoma and GIST, treated over the past 3 decades in Milan. He is involved in all institutional research activities on sarcoma, which include tyrosine kinases activation in different sarcoma entities as possible targets for therapy, different telomere maintenance mechanisms in sarcoma subtypes, molecular characterization of desmoids tumors and mechanisms of resistance to therapy in GIST. He is the Principal Investigator of several Italian and International trial on Sarcoma and GIST.
He serves as chairman of the soft tissue sarcoma committee of the Italian Sarcoma Group (ISG), vice chair of the EORTC Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group, secretary of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) and is a member of the Sarcoma Task Force of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO), and several other medical and scientific societies. Dr. Gronchi has authored more than 190 scientific publications, serves as Associate Editor of the Sarcoma Journal and as Sarcoma Section Editor of the Annals of Surgical Oncology.
He has trained in Ireland, London, Leeds and Adelaide, Australia. He was a consultant plastic surgeon in Leicester (UK) for 3 years before taking up his current post in Cork 9 years ago. He has been involved in sarcoma reconstruction in CUH where a team based approach works well.
His interest in sarcoma surgery started in the Leeds Sarcoma Unit where there is a well established sarcoma MDT with high cure and success rates. Reconstructive surgery was one of the integral elements of this service, allowing adequate excisions without tight closure of wounds. This lead to improved wound healing, early radiotherapy and better functional results.
He is a member of the Executive Board of ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology), as Chair of the Public Policy Committee, and a member of the Board of Directors of ECCO (European Cancer Organization).
His clinical and research activities focus on sarcomas, mainly adult soft tissue sarcomas and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). He is Secretary of the Italian Sarcoma Group and a member of the EORTC Soft Tissue & Bone Sarcoma Group. He is an Editor in Chief of Clinical Sarcoma Research, an open-access journal on sarcoma, and a member of the ESMO Sarcoma Faculty. In the area of rare cancers, he founded and chairs the Italian Rare Cancer Network, a collaborative effort among Italian cancer centers exploiting distant patient sharing to improve quality of care and diminish health migration. He coordinates Rare Cancers Europe, an ESMO-launched multistakeholder initiative to work out, promote and exchange new solutions to the many issues posed by rare cancers. He teaches at the Milan University Postgraduate School in Oncology and is (co)author of more than 170 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
In the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD USA, in 2003 Dr O’Mahony focused on clinical research when she commenced the NCI Medical Oncology fellowship programme with a subspecialty interests in lymphoid malignancies, viral oncogenesis and sarcoma. She continued as the Clinical Investigator with the HIV and AIDS Malignacy Branch until 2008 when she returned to Ireland to a medical oncology consultant post in St James Hospital. It was here she joined forces with Dr Charles Gillham to establish sarcoma treatment pathways for medical and radiation oncology.
In 2012, she moved to Cork where she is consultant medical oncologist in Cork University Hospital and Kerry General Hospital. She is a member of the Cancer Centre South soft tissue multidisciplinary team and chairperson of the Sarcoma MDT. She is Senior Clinical Lecturer at UCC.
She is an active member of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), American Society of Hematology, Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS), and ICORG (the all-Ireland Co-operative Oncology Research Group).
Stefan Bielack is chairman of the Cooperative German-Austrian-Swiss Osteosarcoma Study Group COSS, ECT project leader of the European and American Osteosarcoma Study EURAMOS1, and leader of the bone tumor work package of the European Network for Cancer Research in Children and Adolescents ENCCA.
He has served as President of the European Musculo-Skeletal Oncology Society EMSOS and board member of the German Society for Pediatric Oncology and Hematology GPOH and is currently a member of the board of the Southern German Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine SGKJ. He is a current member of the editorial boards of Cancer Treatment Reviews and the Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology.
He has taken an active role in national cancer policy developments in his areas of expertise working with NICE, the Department of Health and specialist commissioning bodies. He is chair the National Cancer Research Institute Teenage and Young Adult Clinical Studies Group, the NHS England Sarcoma Clinical Reference Group and a member of the NCRI Sarcoma Clinical Studies Group. He leads research programmes in bone sarcomas (www.euroewing.eu ) and young peoples care (www.brightlightstudy.com )