August 2017 The Wellcome-HRB Irish Clinical Academic Training Programme Appoints its First Clinical Fellows

Three clinical fellows have been appointed to NUI Galway in first intake of ICAT programme

The Wellcome-HRB Irish Clinical Academic Training Programme (ICAT) has welcomed its first intake of fellows at an induction event, held recently at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Three of the eight ICAT fellows have been appointed to NUI Galway.

The eight fellows, from a range of clinical specialties, including Psychiatry, Infectious Diseases, Endocrinology, Dermatology, Nephrology and Public Health Medicine, were appointed after a rigorous selection process and have now commenced their integrated academic and specialist clinical training.

Several leaders in Irish research including Professor Louise Kenny from the INFANT Centre in Cork, Professor Jose Bengoechea from the Centre for Experimental Medicine in Belfast and Professor Orla Sheils from the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute presented at the induction event, along with clinician academics who spoke about their varied career paths.

At the core of the event was the opportunity for the ICAT fellows to introduce themselves and their research interests, and analyse their training needs with mentors. ICAT organises several events throughout the year for the fellows, including an annual scientific retreat and monthly meetings hosted by each participating academic institution across Ireland.

Dr Conall Dennedy, Director of the Wellcome-HRB ICAT Programme and Senior Lecturer in Therapeutics at NUI Galway, said: “This year has seen three ICAT fellows embark upon their academic careers at NUI Galway. We look forward to working with them and supporting them in the coming years. For prospective applicants, ICAT provides a fantastic opportunity and is a well-supported programme with an important integrated training approach to foster the skills and excellence of emerging clinician scientists at specialist registrar level across the island of Ireland.” 

The fellows embark on the first year of the programme in their institution of choice (NUI Galway, TCD, RCSI, UCC, UCD or QUB). Fellows use this year to design and conduct a mini-project, access a large curriculum of educational modules and develop PhD projects with ICAT supervisors, selected for their research excellence. ICAT fellows will spend 70% of their time in clinical training in year one.

Following the development of their PhD proposals, ICAT fellows will register for a full-time three-year PhD. ICAT fellows will benefit from continuing mentorship throughout the programme, up to completion of their PhD and clinical training to Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training.

Other partners in ICAT include the Wellcome Trust, the Health Research Board, the Health Service Executive National Doctors Training and Planning, the Health and Social Care Research and Development in Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency and the Forum of Postgraduate Medical Training Bodies. The ICAT Programme is coordinated by Molecular Medicine Ireland. 

The next call for applications to ICAT will open in September 2017. More information about the programme structure and how to apply can be found at: www.icatprogramme.org 

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