The National Children’s Research Centre (NCRC) has been incorporated into Children’s Health Ireland.
The NCRC had been based on the CHI at Crumlin campus, working closely with CHI researchers and supported for many years by the Children’s Health Foundation, the CHI fundraising partner.
The Centre has worked to promote children’s health research and to improve child health outcomes across Ireland through investment in cutting-edge facilities, grant awarding and research leadership.
The NCRC has now brought its functions, staff and facilities – including state-of-the-art research labs and critically important biosample processing and storage facilities – under the CHI umbrella.
CHI said, “The incorporation of NCRC into CHI will allow us to take advantage of the experience and expertise of the NCRC team and to drive the integration of basic science, clinical and translational research and grant expertise. This integrated research environment will ensure that the research we do across CHI continues to be high-quality, focused on patients and families and internationally competitive.
“This very welcome milestone will enable us to further enhance our ability to bring care, education and research excellence to the bedside and foster optimal therapies for children in Ireland and beyond.”
Paul McNally, Director of Research and Innovation, Children’s Health Ireland, said, “Throughout the last five years, our teams in Children’s Health Ireland have worked hard to coordinate, integrate and modernise the previously separate research structures and supports across CHI sites. This next step in our development program incorporates cutting-edge translational, basic science andgrant functions into CHI, and promises to transform our ability to deliver improved health outcomes for children.”
This co-ordinated CHI research infrastructure, alongside innovation and education, falls under the remit of the Paediatric Academic Health Science Centre (PAHSC) – the new structure that sees CHI and its four Dublin university partners, Dublin City University (DCU), RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and University College Dublin (UCD), formally partnering together to advance academic child health across their campuses.
The PAHSC is part of a wider network of academic child health across Ireland that is currently in development and promises to see Ireland as a key player in advancing child health internationally.
