MEET THE TEAM
MEET THE TEAM
Dr. Robert O’Connor
NCTO Director
Dr. Robert O’Connor
Robert O’Connor, Ph.D., is an accomplished Research Director with 25+ years of experience spanning Research, Management, Education, Health, Advocacy, Governance, and Communication sectors. With expertise in research strategy and communications, clinical trials, oncology, pharmacology, translational health research, and life sciences, Robert is passionate about using research for practical and commercial benefit to improve health outcomes.
Subsequent to his Ph.D., Robert was one of the first investigators in Ireland to take his laboratory cancer research through early-stage clinical trials and served for many years as an executive chair within ICORG (now Cancer Trials Ireland) helping connect, network and fund lab and clinical researchers to grow the nascent field of interdisciplinary translational research. He was a lecturer and researcher in Dublin City University, prior to a distinguished career as the Director of Research for the Irish Cancer Society, then Ireland’s largest non-state funder of health research, where he delivered successful strategies to:- have research included in national cancer treatment policy, embed patient partnership in research, broaden the expertise base of research and provide bespoke funding supports to enable health professionals to be more research active.
Robert has/is serving on the boards of a number of national health organisations and has provided extensive strategic support and consultancy to charities, companies and wider health sector stakeholders.
Robert’s role is to direct the National Clinical Trials Office to help foster further growth in impactful clinical research in this country and connect and align its work with patient need and the ambitions of health researchers, indigenous start-ups and other European and international organisations, companies and partners.
Michèle Cunnane
Trial Platform Lead
Michèle Cunnane
Michèle Cunnane has over 25+ years’ experience in Clinical Research, having previously worked in HRB CRCI, Cancer Trials Ireland (formerly ICORG), INEOS Healthcare, SRG Interesource Satellite Operations and IQVIA (formerly Quintiles) in various Data Management and Leadership positions. Within her role, Michèle acts as the primary contact for the HRB NCTO Feasibility programme and is the co-ordinator for the HRB NCTO Study Feasibility & Start-Up and Budget Costing Working Groups.
Ruben Keane
Quality and Regulatory Affairs Manager
Ruben Keane
Ruben has over 20 years’ experience in Quality, Regulatory Affairs, and Pharmacovigilance in Clinical Trials. She has worked in Pharma companies (Marion Merrell Dow, Strasbourg), Clinical Research Organisations (ICON and Quintiles- now IQVIA, Dublin) and academic clinical trial centres (TCD and UCC). Beginning her career monitoring trials in a variety of therapeutic areas across Europe (MMD and ICON), moving to pharmacovigilance (Associate Director of Drug Safety, Quintiles Ireland) and most recently working as Quality and Regulatory Affairs Director at HRB-Clinical Research Facility UCC for the last 8 years, Ruben has a wealth of knowledge and experience in Clinical Research in Ireland and Europe. Ruben oversees the NCTO internal Quality Management Systems and provides advice and sign posting on quality, regulatory and pharmacovigilance issues to external parties who seek advice from NCTO. She leads the NCTO Quality and Pharmacovigilance working groups.
Olive O’Driscoll
Clinical Industry Liaison Officer (CILO)
Olive O' Driscoll
Olive is a biomedical engineer who trained in the NHS and then worked in the UK and Ireland in medical device clinical research and regulatory affairs both in industry (e.g. Medtronic Cryocath, Crescent Diagnostics) and academia (e.g. University College London). She founded Irish medical device start-up AventaMed in 2013 and led the company as CEO, raising over €5m in investment and conducting multiple clinical investigations (in EU and USA), FDA pre-submission meetings and IDEs in USA, and regulatory approval of the device, which is now commercial in Europe.
Niall Hore
European Correspondent
Niall Hore
With a background in research, Niall holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Energy from the University of Limerick and a Higher Diploma in Biopharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturing from the Technological University of Dublin. After spending four years working in Canada and New Zealand in the finance industry, Niall returned to Ireland and joined MaREI, a centre for Energy, Climate and Marine research where, as a Research Support Officer, he was responsible for the co-ordination of cross-institutional programme plans, building close working relationships with industry partners and implementing effective project management standards.
HRB NCTO is the scientific partner in Ireland for ECRIN and Niall will, as the European Correspondent for Ireland having joined in June 2022, play a pivotal role in the coordination of the activities and strengthen the interaction between ECRIN, the HRB NCTO and the partner CRF/C’s, in order to facilitate and support participation in European multinational collaborations. Niall will act as the key contact point in Ireland for ECRIN and the network of European Correspondents in other ECRIN countries while also providing advice to national investigators and sponsors wishing to develop multinational studies in Europe and support to foreign investigators and sponsors wishing to undertake clinical research studies in Ireland.
Eoghan Cooke
Communications Officer
Eoghan Cooke
Eoghan is a communications expert who began his career with a BA (Hons) in English and Philosophy from UCC, subsequently traveling to Scotland to study Philosophy of Science for his PgD in the University of Edinburgh. Having developed a deep affinity and respect for the scientific method, he went on to begin studying and researching the effectiveness of Virtual Reality as a communications tool in the medical space. This culminated in the development of the ‘E-MAT’ VR simulation, a tool for enhancing men’s awareness of testicular disorders. Eoghan developed this simulation during the course of an MSc in Interactive Media in UCC’s Computer Science Department. During this time period Eoghan also founded Cervindi Ltd., a business that helped SMEs in Cork to develop and publish their online presences. In a HRB-funded trial designed to study E-MAT, it was Eoghan’s responsibility to engage various stakeholders through the use of social media outreach and to study the effectiveness of various recruitment channels in this clinical trial. Furthermore, Eoghan was responsible for the technical delivery of the VR simulation to participants from GAA clubs across Munster. This granted Eoghan a unique insight into the relationship between clinical trials, branding, and communications that he brings to his role as Comms Officer for the NCTO.
Eoghan is the the NCTO’s first dedicated Comms Officer and will play a key role in delivering the NCTO’s message to a broad audience of stakeholders from across the spectrum of the clinical trials community.
Evelyn Crowley
Data Analyst
Evelyn Crowley
Graduating in 2015 with a BSc in Public Health from University College Cork, and in 2018 with an MSc in Clinical Trials from the University of Edinburgh.
Evelyn has over 7 years experience working in clinical research in Ireland and Canada.
Evelyn joined the team in October 2022 as the NCTO Data Analyst overseeing, directing, and managing CRF Manager, a national clinical research management system, in Ireland.
Evelyn also manages and supports the NCTO National Clinical Trial Database.
