UCD Chair in Pancreatic Cancer created in honour of leading late jockey from Offaly

UCD Chair in Pancreatic Cancer created in honour of leading late jockey from Offaly

The Pat Smullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer at University College Dublin has been created by Cancer Trials Ireland, the national organisation dedicated to advancing cancer clinical trials.

The new position will anchor expertise in pancreatic research in Ireland with the ambition of creating a global centre of excellence for treatment and research of this form of cancer which has one of the poorest outcomes.

The new role is named in memory of Pat Smullen, the nine-time champion jockey who passed away from pancreatic cancer in September 2020 and who was at the centre of a drive by the Irish horse racing and breeding industry over Irish Champions Weekend in September 2019 which raised €2.6m for Cancer Trials Ireland’s pancreatic cancer trials and awareness.

“The position will receive €900,000 (€180,000 per annum) in funding over five years from Cancer Trials Ireland’s Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund with matching funding for the role from the HSE National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP),” said Eibhlín Mulroe, CEO of Cancer Trials Ireland. “University College Dublin will then take over Cancer Trials Ireland funding contribution to continue the partnership with the HSE NCCP.”

The new Chair will share their time between their clinical work as a treating physician at St Vincent’s University Hospital – the national surgical centre for pancreatic cancer – and their research work at University College Dublin (UCD). At UCD, they will work to identify, attract, open and monitor new pancreatic cancer trials for patients in Ireland. The role will shortly be advertised widely, both at home and abroad.

“The Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund arises from various fundraising endeavours undertaken by champion jockey, Pat Smullen, his family, and the horse racing community, following his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer in March 2018. The inaugural fundraising event raised €2.6m with further fundraising events having raised an additional €367,000 to date. Sadly, Pat died in September 2020, but his legacy lives on and the fund he created has now provided new treatment options for 174 patients with pancreatic cancer, at no cost to themselves, or to the State,” said Ms Mulroe.

For Professor Ray McDermott, Clinical Lead for Cancer Trials Ireland – and Pat Smullen’s treating doctor – the new Chair in Pancreatic Cancer will see patients reaping the rewards:
“This is a huge step forward towards making Ireland a global leader in pancreatic cancer research and treatment. A position like this is intended to attract a world expert in the disease, who, in turn, will garner the attention of other leading clinicians wishing to work jointly and develop partnerships. Pharmaceutical companies developing treatments in this space will also want to get involved and I have no doubt that Irish patients will reap the rewards of this exciting development in the near future. I commend the vision of Cancer Trials Ireland, University College Dublin, the HSE National Cancer Control Programme and, most of all, Pat’s wife, Frances Crowley, in coming together to make all of this possible.”

Frances Crowley, wife of the late Pat Smullen, said the announcement builds on new treatment options for pancreatic cancer that would not have arisen but for the funds raised:
“The Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund has already brought new treatment options to people in Ireland that weren’t there in 2019. Now, just four years later, one trial has concluded, another has just opened, a third will open in the coming months, while a fourth is in the pipeline for late 2023/early 2024.

“With this funding, the aim is to put pancreatic cancer research onto a more stable and promising footing, and I know that’s what Pat wanted to achieve when we set about the fundraising activities over Irish Champions Weekend in 2019. Thanks to the unswerving support of the horse racing community, Pat’s friends, and many others whose lives have been affected by pancreatic cancer, we are able to make the long-term funding commitment that the Pat Smullen Chair in Pancreatic Cancer needs. We are very excited for the future.”

Suzanne Eade, CEO of Horse Racing Ireland, said: “Everyone in the racing and breeding industry has huge admiration for Pat Smullen as a world-class jockey and his achievements on the track but more importantly how he handled his diagnosis while remaining so focused on raising awareness and funds for pancreatic cancer. The monies raised in 2019, and since then, is a testament to the respect and high regard Pat was held in.

“The Chair in Pancreatic Cancer role at UCD will be Pat Smullen’s ground-breaking and enduring legacy which will significantly help pancreatic cancer patients for years to come. I would like to congratulate Frances, Eibhlín Mulroe and her team, Professor Ray McDermott, UCD and the HSE for this pioneering collaboration.”

The new position means we will be able to take full advantage of the exciting pancreatic cancer research developments now taking place, to the benefit of Irish patients, says Cancer Trials Ireland’s CEO, Eibhlín Mulroe: “With this development, we are giving a long-term commitment to investing in people who are expert in pancreatic cancer and its research, right at the centre of expertise in this country in University College Dublin. There are lots of fast-moving developments in pancreatic cancer right now with new treatments, including vaccine treatments that arose during COVID, being applied to this cancer. By developing the research infrastructure in place in hospitals, we will be better able to support the development of pancreatic cancer clinical trials, and be ready to take full advantage of these really important treatment advances when they come along. Our intention is to recruit an internationally-renowned pancreatic cancer leader who will work on new treatments and therapies with doctors from around the world, and who will then roll these out for the benefit of Irish patients.”

According to the Irish Cancer Society, there are approximately 620 people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year in Ireland. Unfortunately, the disease is both challenging to treat and to study. Biopsies of pancreatic cancer can be difficult to get, due to the location of the pancreas, and even when large tumour samples are extracted, they often provide very few cancer cells to study, due to the diffuse spread of cells in surrounding tissue. In addition, as its incidence is lower than more common forms of cancer, such as breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, to date, pancreatic cancer hasn’t seen the same levels of attention that other cancers attract.

Research funded by the Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund so far:

A total of 15 patients have been recruited to a paricalcitol trial around improving chemotherapy effectiveness in people with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer
A further 22 patients will be recruited to a trial for patients with advanced stage pancreatic cancer that have failed treatment
A new radiotherapy study has been developed to investigate if a novel radiation delivery technique can improve outcomes in 67 patients with operable/borderline-operable pancreatic cancer
A study, known as the FEED study, has been submitted for ethical approval that will recruit 70 patients for a nutritional intervention to strengthen patient resilience and recovery from pancreas tumour surgery
Funding of €100,000 provided for a Next Generation Sequencer (NGS) machine in St Vincent’s University Hospital (important in the treatment of pancreatico-biliary cancer). The hospital expects two new appointments in molecular pathology returning from Harvard Medical School this summer on the back of this initiative.

From Rhode, Pat Smullen was one of the best and most successful Flat jockeys in modern Irish racing history and was recognised as a top-flight jockey on the international stage. He was champion jockey in Ireland on nine occasions, enjoying no shortage of success as stable jockey to Dermot Weld.

Pat's early career was highlighted by his success in the apprentice championship in 1995 and again in 1996. He rode his first Group 1 winner on the Tommy Stack-trained Tarascon in the Moyglare Stud Stakes the following year. No stranger to big race success in the interim, Smullen landed his biggest winner when Harzand, trained by Weld, won the Epsom Derby in 2016. The same horse gave Smullen his second success in the Irish Derby at the Curragh the same month. 

Pat was champion jockey in Ireland on nine occasions, in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He rode his first Classic winner when Vinnie Roe, owned by film-maker Jim Sheridan, won the Irish St Leger in 2001 and the partnership went on to win the race for the next three years. He rode his first English Classic winner on the Weld-trained Refuse To Bend in the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas in 2003. The following year Pat won the Irish Derby for the first time on the Weld-trained Grey Swallow.
He won the Irish 1,000 Guineas on two occasions with Weld's Nightime (2006) and Bethrah (2010).

Pat, who was honoured as the Offaly Person of the Year in 2016,  enjoyed further Irish Classic success when winning the Oaks on Covert Love, trained by Hugo Palmer, in 2015. He rode big race winners on the likes of Rite Of Passage, Dress To Thrill, Emulous, Free Eagle and Benbaun. He rode eight winners at Royal Ascot.

Pat didn't ride again after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2018. He immediately set about fundraising for pancreatic cancer trials and awareness of pancreatic cancer research and his efforts saw a sum in excess of €2.6m raised. He was at the centre of a drive by the Irish horse racing and breeding industry over Champions Weekend in September 2019.

Pat passed away on September 15, 2020, aged 43.

For more information on the work of Cancer Trials Ireland, visit www.cancertrials.ie, and on the Pat Smullen Pancreatic Cancer Fund, visit www.cancertrials.ie/pat- smullen