30 January, 2025
"From monotone to symphony: The transformation of lung cancer radiotherapy" was the title of Professor Gerry Hanna ‘s inaugural lecture which he delivered at Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute on Thursday 30th January 2025.
Professor Gerry Hanna is the Marie Curie Chair of Clinical Oncology at Trinity College Dublin and a Consultant in Radiation Oncology at the St Luke’s Radiation Oncology Network within the Trinity St James Cancer Institute. He also holds honorary appointments at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, the University of Melbourne and Queen’s University Belfast.
In his lecture, Professor Hanna acknowledged the work of Marie Curie his Chair’s name, and how she was seminal in the early discoveries around radioactivity and using radiation in the treatment of cancer.
He also acknowledged the immense impact that his predecessor the late Professor Donal Hollywood had in improving radiotherapy provision for patients with cancer in Ireland and further afield. He went onto outline his work to date in improving outcomes for patients with lung cancer and potential future directions of research, including combining novel drugs with radiotherapy and using new technologies such as radiomics and artificial intelligence.
Professor Hanna’s recurring theme was the importance of teamwork in treatment of cancer and cancer research, and he outlined the new translational radiation oncology research collaborative AITRON that he has brought together to connect radiation oncology researchers across Ireland and to accelerate research and discovery and by this, improving outcomes for patients with cancer. Concluding his lecture, he thanked the many colleagues who had supported him in his career to date and thanked his family for all their support.