Clinician scientists pursuing research training in RCSI won the top prizes at the recent Molecular Medicine Ireland (MMI) Clinician Scientist Annual Meeting, which took place on 1 July 2011.

MMI Clinician Scientist Fellow Dr Sanjay Chotirmall, Respiratory Research Division, RCSI was awarded the MMI Medal for his oral presentation ‘Oestrogen in Cystic Fibrosis: Inflammatory, Immune and Infectious Consequences'. Dr Karen Boland, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, RCSI was awarded first prize in the research poster category for her presentation ‘RPT4 as a Potential Therapeutic Target in Colorectal Cancer'.

22 medical graduates are pursuing or have recently completed PhDs in five academic institutions (RCSI, NUI Galway, TCD, UCC and UCD) as part of the MMI Clinician Scientist Fellowship Programme, funded through PRTLI Cycle 4. This was the 3rd MMI Clinician Scientist Annual Meeting and took place in the Science Gallery, TCD. MMI Fellows came together to present their research in short talks. In addition to Dr Chotirmall, two other MMI clinician scientist fellows based in RCSI presented their research at the meeting: Dr Damian McCartan and Dr Mazan Al-alawi.

The meeting was broadened this year to include the presentation of research posters by other medical graduates undertaking PhD studies in the MMI partner institutions. Meeting participants also had the opportunity to learn more about the MMI Clinician Scientist Structured PhD Curriculum Portal, which brings together 69 graduates education modules taking place throughout the year in the five MMI partner institutions. The Curriculum Portal is currently in the pilot phase, and medical graduates undertaking PhDs in the MMI partners are invited to contact MMI to find out more about this unique resource.

The Annual Meeting concluded with the keynote address given by Professor Garret FitzGerald (Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics), entitled ‘The Divided Self: a Science of Uncertainty and an Art of Probability'.

Dr Chotirmall was awarded a Fellowship in the MMI Clinician Scientist Fellowship Programme in 2008; his research supervisors are Dr Catherine Green, Professor Gerry McElvaney and Professor Brian Harvey. Dr Boland's coauthors are Dr Caoimhin Concannon, Professor Frank Murray and Professor Jochen Prehn.