Research award completes Irish Healthcare Awards double for Irish Cancer Society

Sarah Norton of Irish Cancer Society Research and the School of Medicine and Medical Science at University College Dublin won the award for "Clinical Research Associate of the Year".

Sarah is currently in her third year of Graduate Entry Medicine at University College Dublin (UCD) and this summer she completed a research project at the Irish Cancer Society under the supervision of Professor John Fitzpatrick and Dr Eilish Lynch of the Irish Cancer Society and Dr Patricia Fitzpatrick of UCD.

The primary objective of Sarah’s research was to gain an insight into treatment given to prostate cancer patients over 70 in comparison with those under 70 and to determine whether this was based on current guidelines.

Sarah completed a literature review that concluded that men over 70 get a more aggressive form of prostate cancer, but do not receive curative treatment in the same way as their younger counterparts. International guidelines state that comorbidities rather than age should determine treatment choice. However, the research found that senior adults may be wrongly denied potentially curative treatment due to apprehensions related to their age.

A win in the "Clinical Research Associate of the Year" award completed a double for the Irish Cancer Society at the Irish Medical Times Irish Healthcare Awards, with the Care to Drive programme coming out on top in the "Best Patient Organisation Project" category.

Pictured top (from left): Rachel Coyle, Research Administrator, Irish Cancer Society; Sarah Norton, winner, Clinical Research Associate of the Year award; Dr Sinéad Walsh, Research Manager, Irish Cancer Society