Professor Roisin Connolly is the Chair in Cancer Research at University College Cork (UCC) and Cork University Hospital since September 2019, and Director of Cancer Research @UCC. Prof Connolly leads the HRB-funded UCC Cancer Trials Group, which brings together the three Oncology Clinical Trials Units in Cork and Waterford.

As a medical oncologist and clinical investigator with expertise in the design and conduct of phase 1-3 clinical trials that test predictive biomarkers of response to therapy and novel treatment approaches, her goal is to improve outcomes for patients with a cancer diagnosis.

Prof Connolly has led numerous multicentre clinical trials in collaboration with the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC), and the Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group (ECOG)-ACRIN in the US. She is Co-Chair for the EA1211/DIRECT trial which investigates the role of imaging as a predictor of response to HER2-directed therapies. As a Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF)-funded investigator, she leads the MINA clinical trial in Cork investigating predictors of response to neoadjuvant therapy in triple-negative breast cancer. Prof Connolly is co-PI with Professor Mark Tangney of OncoBioMaps, a project within the Research Ireland funded Precision Oncology Ireland (POI2) consortium.

My principal research activities consist of designing and conducting clinical trials that test investigational new drugs in the treatment of breast cancer. I have specific expertise in the use of epigenetic modifiers in breast cancer patients, in designing neoadjuvant clinical trials and with the use of the monocloncal antibodies pertuzumab and trastuzumab, and in developing both tissue and imaging-based biomarkers of response to breast cancer therapies. I am Principal Investigator for a number of multicenter trials in collaboration with the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) at the NCI, the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC), and the Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group (ECOG)-ACRIN.

At JHMI, I provided classroom instruction to medical students and fellows in Hematology-Oncology, Phase 1 Drug Development in Oncology,Scientific Foundations of Medicine, Radiation Oncology Systemic Therapy for Breast Cancer. I provided clinical skills instruction for internal medicine residents and medical oncology fellows on the Medical Oncology Inpatient Service and medical oncology fellows on the Medical Oncology Consult Service and the Medical Oncology Outpatient Department. I have been a mentor to 6 postgraduate students.