Our Board

Our Board of Directors is made up of independent individuals with diverse backgrounds who volunteer their time, expertise and passion to our vision. The Board provides the advisory and governance role for the charity. We do not pay members of our Board, cover their expenses or provide recompense in other any way.

The Members of our Board are:

• Dr. Declan Farrell - Chairman : Dr Declan Farrell Phd was a Biochemist who has worked in the Pharmaceutical Industry for over 30 years. Between 1989 and 1997 he was Managing Director of Schering-Plough facility in Brinny, Co. Cork. Declan was formerly the General Manager of Gilead Sciences Cork Limited, (previously Nycomed Limited and ALTANA Pharma Limited) in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork. He joined ALTANA Pharma in January 2004 and was responsible for the construction, start-up and operation of their new state-of-the-art tablet manufacturing facility. Declan obtained both his BSc in Biochemistry and his PhD in Immunology and Cancer from University College Dublin. Declan has been a board member since 2011.
• Mr Bryan Mohally : Mr Bryan Mohally is Vice President of Supply Chain Operations Europe – Johnson and Johnson and Former Managing Director of Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Bryan is a Past President of PharmaChemical Ireland, the representative body within IBEC for the pharmaceutical and chemical sector and a Director of Business in the Community Ireland. Bryan has been a board member since 2011.
• Prof. Brendan Buckley : Prof Brendan Buckley, trained as an endocrinologist and has over 30 years’ experience in the medical sector. Brendan has been CMO of ICON since 2011 having joined ICON through the acquisition of Firecrest Clinical in 2011, where he was one of the founders of the company and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs. Brendan has extensive experience in clinical trials and chairs several independent Data and Safety Monitoring Boards for medium to large cardio-metabolic and rare disease clinical studies. Brendan is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the School of Medicine, University College Cork (UCC), Ireland, and has also been director of the university’s European Center for Clinical Trials in Rare Diseases. He has been a board member of the Irish Medicines Board and of the European Medical Agency (EMA)’s Scientific Advisory Group for Diabetes and Endocrinology since 2005. He was also a member of the EMA Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products from 2000-2003 and a member of the EMA’s panel of experts. Professor Buckley is also chairman of the Irish Statutory Anti-Doping Agency and is a member of the UK Anti-Doping Scientific Advisory Board. Brendan have been a board member since 2011.

• Mrs Breda O’Sullivan : Mrs Breda O'Sullivan is the wife of the founder of Cork Cancer Research Centre, Dr Gerard O’Sullivan. After her husband passed away Breda was appointed to the board of Breakthrough to ensure that the research remains in keeping with the vision of Prof O’Sullivan. Breda has been a board member since 2012. 

• Dr Derek Power : Derek Power graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1994 with an honours degree in Pharmacy. He then graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 2001 with an honours medical degree. After his general medical training and 2 years of specialist training in medical oncology he won a bursary from the Irish Society of Medical Oncology and embarked on a Solid Tumour fellowship in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York 2007-2009. He then did a Cancer Genetics fellowship in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre 2009-2010. He was appointed as a Consultant Medical Oncologist in The Mercy and Cork University Hospitals and an Honorary Clinical Lecturer in UCC – July 2010. Derek has given oral presentations at the ASCO and ESMO meetings and is a member of national and international cancer organisations. He is a national principal investigator on several Cancer Trials Ireland (formerly ICORG) clinical trials in gastrointestinal cancers and melanoma. He is the recipient of a Translational Research Access Programme Application grant from UCC for ‘Neuroendocrine and Gut Microbiome Biomarkers in Pancreatic cancer cachexia’, and has received investigator initiated funding on kidney cancer and melanoma studies. Derek is also a Principal Investigator with Cork Cancer Research Centre. Derek has been a board member since 2016.

• Mr Sean Ryan : Sean Ryan is a retired director of a landscaping and civil engineering business. Sean has been a board member since June 2016.

Our Collaborators

All consultant doctors working on research projects, do so voluntarily because they truly believe in our research and the impact it can have on patient care.

• We do not pay independent hospitals or their employees
• We do not pay state hospitals or their employees

For further information on our commitment to good governance please click here.