Addressing one of the greatest challenges to human health and well-being, the Patrick G Johnston Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) is recognised internationally as an impactful research centre committed to relieving the human suffering from cancer
Named after its founder and former director Patrick (Paddy) Johnston, who sadly passed away suddenly in 2017, the Centre seeks to gain greater knowledge on cancer, one of the greatest challenges to human health and wellbeing, and to deploy this insight to inform earlier diagnosis, better treatments and superior quality of life for cancer patients.
In his speech to open the Centre, Senator George Mitchell, former US Senator and former Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, who was the key driver of the peace process in Northern Ireland and the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, said, “This Centre is forging global partnerships to relieve the human suffering from cancer.”
This Centre is forging global partnerships to relieve the human suffering from cancer
Relieve the human suffering from cancer
These words, captured on a giant 10-meter-high banner, greet every visitor to the Patrick G Johnston Centre), reflecting our aspiration to match local ambition with global collaboration to achieve better outcomes for patients with cancer.
The Centre is globally recognised for cancer research and innovation and its translation to patient and societal benefit.
It houses a number of key initiatives like the internationally renowned Precision Medicine Centre of Excellence, the Northern Ireland Biobank, and the Prostate Cancer Centre of Excellence.
It has led important international initiatives, including the Ireland – Northern Ireland – US National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium (a product of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement), the European Cancer Patient’s Bill of Rights (which won the prestigious European Health Award) and the Lancet Oncology European Cancer Groundshot Commission (the most comprehensive analysis of cancer research in Europe, which delivered a series of 12 recommendations to reimagine cancer. In 2012, the Centre received the prestigious Queen’s Elizabeth II Anniversary Prize.
The Centre has an innovative and popular training programme at MSc and PhD level which attracts high-quality postgraduate students from across the world to perform their studies and undertake cancer research at Queen’s. It has partnered with the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) to deliver a bespoke QUB-NCI Doctoral Training Programme in Precision Cancer Medicine, thus empowering students to undertake their PhD studies with researchers at one of the most prestigious cancer institutes in the world.
The academia-industry intersect
The Centre has a significant focus on the academia-industry intersect and has a series of substantial and successful partnerships with the life and health sciences industry, including Almac Discovery, Almac Diagnostic Services Ltd and many other companies in the life and health sciences domain. Researchers from the Centre have also spun out a significant number of companies, contributing to QUB being the Number One University for spin-outs in the UK in 2023.
We are an ambitious and sector-leading cancer research centre and encourage all of our staff to follow an often-quoted phrase by our founder and former director whose name adorns our building
“Dream no small dreams, for they move not the hearts of men nor women”
