Professor William Gallagher:

I will try to cover the Senator's question on other aspects of healthcare. One of the interesting aspects we are trying to do within the proposed all-island cancer research institute is a cancer research programme, but people do not just present with a cancer-related issue. Commonly, patients have comorbidities. Often, it is an interesting concept of what is the impact of those comorbidities on the cancer and vice versa. We know, for example, that one of the biggest new emerging treatment options in cancer is immunotherapy. There is work from a very strong investigator in Trinity College Dublin, Dr. Lydia Lynch, who is a joint appointment between Harvard and Trinity College. Dr. Lynch is a world leader in looking at the impact of immune cells in the context of the obesity and cancer.

This may have an impact in respect of therapeutic response. Dr. Lynch is a fundamental biologist trying to explore that. She collaborates with a colleague of mine, Professor Donal Brennan, who works in the clinic in the context of gynaecological cancers, trying to translate this type of information in the context of cancer care. It is a matter of joining the dots of the people with the expertise, in either clinical or basic science, facilitating that interconnection and funding the research programmes. This is not just a talking shop; it is an actual activity. It has to be brought forward. It takes hard graft and resources to do it, but we are primed in an Irish context to do that. We are naturally able to interact with one another but we have to resource this properly.