Four RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences researchers have been awarded €1 million each by the Health Research Board (HRB).

RCSI’s Dr Michael O’Reilly, Dr Emma Wallace, Professor Gerard Curley and Dr Killian Hurley were successful out of five available ‘emerging clinician scientists’ awards.

The HRB’s €5 million investment aims to advance research careers of five emerging medical leaders and improve health outcomes for the patients in their specialty areas.

Using the HRB funding, the five successful ‘emerging clinician scientists’ must take responsibility for advancing knowledge in their expert areas and ensuring they translate their findings into clinical practice. They will establish themselves as fully independent investigators, become mentors and develop a team-based and collaborative approach to their research programmes.

People who will benefit from the new research include:

• Older people taking many medications
• Women with polycystic ovary syndrome
• People in intensive care with acute breathing difficulty after serious brain injuries
• People with progressive scarring lung disease and their families
• Young people at risk of psychosis

According to Dr Darrin Morrissey, CEO of the HRB: “The HRB is committed to creating strong research career paths for people working in health and social care. A research active environment in any health setting leads to improvements in people’s health and care as well as creating a more attractive work environment.”

Professor Fergal O’Brien, RCSI Director of Research and Innovation, said: “The unprecedented accomplishment of RCSI researchers winning four out of five available awards is a clear demonstration of the outstanding calibre of our clinical research scientists and the commitment of our Office of Research & Innovation to supporting clinical research. Each of our emerging clinician scientist awardees should take great pride in their success and I would like to thank the HRB for enabling research that will directly benefit patients.”

One RCSI research project is led by Dr Michael O’Reilly, Consultant Endocrinologist at Beaumont Hospital and Clinical Senior Lecturer at RCSI. Its goal is to identify women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who are most at risk of high blood sugar to help identify novel therapeutic targets that will prevent or delay the onset of metabolic diseases such as diabetes in this high-risk patient group.

“This HRB Emerging Clinician Scientist Award will crucially support my research into the links between androgen excess and diabetes in women with PCOS, which affects up to 10% of all women. By generating evidence highlighting the impact of 11-oxygenated androgens on diabetes risk in women with PCOS, we can strengthen the rationale for routine measurement of these steroids in clinical laboratories across the Irish healthcare system, thereby helping to stratify women with PCOS according to their underlying risk of metabolic disease,” said Dr O’Reilly.

A project led by Dr Emma Wallace, Senior Lecturer in General Practice RCSI and a General Practitioner, aims is to maximise the safety and quality of prescribing for older people who need multiple medications.

“While the purpose of these medications is to improve symptoms and the underlying condition, sometimes these medications can have harmful side-effects. The greater the number of medications we take, the more likely it is we are to have side-effects. It is therefore very important for patients and their doctors to understand, discuss and weigh up the benefits and risks of each medication,” said Dr Wallace.

Another RCSI research project is led by Professor Gerard Curley, Professor of Anaesthesia at RCSI and Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Physician at Beaumont Hospital. The aim of this project is to better understand why patients with brain injury in intensive care are more susceptible to a drop in blood oxygen levels and to develop therapies that may reduce death and disability from the condition.

“The HRB Emerging Clinician Scientist Award will enable me to gain a better understanding of the contribution of inflammation to the development of ARDS during brain injury, and to develop and test therapeutic strategies using a unique technology known as Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion, where human lungs are maintained and repaired outside of the body. The ultimate goal is to discover and validate new biomarkers to develop treatments that improve quality of life for patients who experience ARDS in intensive care and save lives,” said Professor Curley.

An RCSI project led by Dr Killian Hurley, Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at Beaumont Hospital and Senior Clinical Lecturer at RCSI, will look to improve our understanding of Pulmonary fibrosis and find new therapies for patients and families world-wide.

“We want to improve the quality and safety of care for patients with pulmonary fibrosis in Ireland by conducting genetic testing and counselling for those with a strong family history of fibrosis. We also aim to find new treatments for patients with familial pulmonary fibrosis. Our vision is that patients and families with familial pulmonary fibrosis will have the ability to attend a special clinic to better understand their disease and receive specific treatments and advice based on our research,” said Dr Hurley.