Fellowship In Paediatric Oncology

Children's Health Ireland are now looking for a Fellow in Paediatric Oncology to join the team on a 12 month contract from July 2024.

The National Children’s Cancer Service (NCCS), based in CHI at Crumlin, provides a single, centralised service within a hub-and-spoke shared care model, for all children and adolescents/young adults diagnosed with cancer under the age of 16 years in Ireland. The service comprises 11 full time equivalent oncology and haemato-oncology consultants. Comprehensive multidisciplinary cancer-related care is delivered within the existing CHI framework of paediatric specialists including pathologists, radiologists, paediatric intensivists, surgeons, palliative care physicians, radiation oncologists, medical paediatric subspecialists, allied healthcare professionals and nurses.

The unit is supported by a Health-Research Board (HRB) grant to the total of €2.4 million over 5 years, to help maintain a comprehensive Clinical Trials Unit within the NCCS.

Due to the recent consultant expansion over the last 5 years, the NCCS is now in the privileged position in being able to provide, in addition to the clinical service requirement, an appropriate infrastructure for a fellowship programme in Childhood Cancer from July 2024. The duration of the fellowship will be for one year, with the possibility of extending this to two years relative to the training needs of the fellow depending on performance in the first year.

Aims

• To further train aspiring national/international paediatric oncologists/haemato-oncologists.
• To raise the international standing of our unit by attracting dedicated national, and importantly, international trainees.
• Facilitating international collaboration within the global childhood cancer service globally – a prerequisite to the relative rarity of childhood cancer.
• Facilitating increased potential for research and academic endeavours.
• To attract high quality future consultant oncologist/haemato-oncologists to Ireland.

The natural evolution of achieving the above aims will be to increase the standard of care for all the children with cancer in Ireland.

Structure of the Programme

The NCCS will offer fellowship training within the four main paediatric cancer sub-speciality domains: (1) haemato-oncology, (2) solid tumour oncology, (3) neuro-oncology, (4) haematopoietic stem cell therapy (Bone Marrow Transplantation). In addition, the unit has a new overarching adolescent/young adult (AYA) cancer service (focusing on patients older than 12 years generally) which will equip the trainees with the relevant experience in this specific cohort.

Experience in the conduct of international trials, the paradigm of the success of Paediatric Oncology to date, will be through the Clinical Trials Unit. This will include Good Clinical Practice, GDPR regulations, consent, enrolment, conduct of the clinical trial and including clinical follow-up and data collection.

The fellowship programme, by default, will encompass all of the above domains however a trainee will have the option of tailoring their own programme relative to their individual training needs – for e.g. concentrating more on solid tumour oncology or haemato-oncology experience.

A set of fellowship training objectives are already in place – these have been confirmed in partnership with the RCPI relative to the International funded fellowship training programme currently in place.

Each trainee will have a dedicated mentor/trainer from within the existing consultant staff of the unit – such staff members are currently recognised trainers through the RCPI.

Each trainee will be encouraged, and will be expected to, participate in and contribute to the academic endeavours and research projects of the unit.

Eligibility criteria

• A desire / commitment to pursue a career in Paediatric Oncology/Haemato-oncology.
• Completion of year 4 or above of Higher Specialist Training (HST) within The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) recognised Paediatrics or Haematology training programme, or where applicable, the international equivalent.

Each potential applicant will undergo an interview process, conducted by personnel of the NCCS, to ensure final acceptance decision-making to the programme is comprehensive.

How to Apply:

Applications for the above posts must be submitted via the career page https://childrens-health-ireland.rezoomo.com/jobs/only. Applicants will be shortlisted based on information supplied in the CV, Covering Letter & Questionnaire information submitted.

The closing date for submissions of CV’s and letter of application is 12pm, on 15th May, 2024. Applications must be completed through the advertised post on CHI.jobs by clicking ‘Apply for Job’.

Applications will not be accepted through direct email or any other method. For queries relating to this recruitment process, please contact the Medical Recruitment team by email at: medicalrecruitment@nchg.ie