Cancer Trials Ireland honours late Pat Smullen

Cancer Trials Ireland, the national organisation dedicated to advancing cancer clinical trials, has today announced the creation of the Pat Smullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at University College Dublin. The new position will anchor expertise in pancreatic research in Ireland with the ambition of creating a global centre of excellence for treatment and research of this form of cancer which has one of the poorest outcomes.

The new role is named in memory of Pat Smullen, the nine-time champion jockey who passed away from pancreatic cancer in September 2020 and who was at the centre of a drive by the Irish horse racing and breeding industry over Irish Champions Weekend in September 2019 which raised €2.6m for Cancer Trials Ireland’s pancreatic cancer trials and awareness.

Eibhlín Mulroe, CEO of Cancer Trails Ireland, said: “The position will receive €900,000 (€180,000 per annum) in funding over five years from Cancer Trials Ireland’s Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund with matching funding for the role from the HSE National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP).”

“University College Dublin will then take over Cancer Trials Ireland funding contribution to continue the partnership with the HSE NCCP.”

The new Chair will share their time between their clinical work as a treating physician at St Vincent’s University Hospital – the national surgical centre for pancreatic cancer – and their research work at University College Dublin (UCD). At UCD, they will work to identify, attract, open and monitor new pancreatic cancer trials for patients in Ireland. The role will shortly be advertised widely, both at home and abroad.

Ms Mulroe continued: “The Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund arises from various fundraising endeavours undertaken by champion jockey, Pat Smullen, his family, and the horse racing community, following his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in March 2018. The inaugural fundraising event raised €2.6m with further fundraising events having raised an additional €367,000 to date. Sadly, Pat died in September 2020, but his legacy lives on and the fund he created has now provided new treatment options for 174 patients with pancreatic cancer, at no cost to themselves, or to the State.”

For Professor Ray McDermott, Clinical Lead for Cancer Trials Ireland – and Pat Smullen’s treating doctor – the new Chair in Pancreatic Cancer will see patients reaping the rewards:

“This is a huge step forward towards making Ireland a global leader in pancreatic cancer research and treatment. A position like this is intended to attract a world expert in the disease, who, in turn, will garner the attention of other leading clinicians wishing to work jointly and develop partnerships. Pharmaceutical companies developing treatments in this space will also want to get involved and I have no doubt that Irish patients will reap the rewards of this exciting development in the near future. I commend the vision of Cancer Trials Ireland, University College Dublin, the HSE National Cancer Control Programme and, most of all, Pat’s wife, Frances Crowley, in coming together to make all of this possible.”

Frances Crowley, wife of the late Pat Smullen, said the announcement builds on new treatment options for pancreatic cancer that would not have arisen but for the funds raised:

“The Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund has already brought new treatment options to people in Ireland that weren’t there in 2019. Now, just four years later, one trial has concluded, another has just opened, a third will open in the coming months, while a fourth is in the pipeline for late 2023/early 2024."

“With this funding, the aim is to put pancreatic cancer research onto a more stable and promising footing, and I know that’s what Pat wanted to achieve when we set about the fundraising activities over Irish Champions Weekend in 2019. Thanks to the unswerving support of the horse racing community, Pat’s friends, and many others whose lives have been affected by pancreatic cancer, we are able to make the long-term funding commitment that the Pat Smullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer needs. We are very excited for the future.”