Operations Team

Jessica manages the POI programme. She is responsible for day-to-day oversight of all POI consortium initiatives and has line management responsibility of the POI operations team. Jessica facilitates strategy execution to ensure the programme’s goals, objectives and KPIs are successfully achieved. She also facilitates commercialisation and the establishment and management of relationships with industry and charity counterparts, as well as state agencies concerned with commercial ventures.

Jessica has a PhD in Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, and has completed Postdoctoral training in Nutrigenomics, and Food for Health. She moved to Ireland from Canada in 2015 and has held management positions in research centres funded by both Enterprise Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland.  

Contact: jessica.ralston@ucd.ie

Fiona is responsible for developing and driving POI’s strategy to promote and disseminate research outputs and engage with diverse audiences to create a scientifically informed public. She manages the POI website, social media accounts, and organises various dissemination events such as open days, workshops and conferences. Fiona will work closely with existing RPO communication teams and charity partners in raising public awareness and influencing policy.

She has a background in cancer research, and obtained her PhD from UCD before completing her postdoctoral training in Trinity College Dublin. Previous to this role, Fiona was the Centre Manager for the Irish Cancer Society's first Collaborative Cancer Research Centre, BREAST-PREDICT.

Contact: fiona.lanigan@ucd.ie 

Dr. Arman Rahman is responsible for promoting interactions between researchers and cancer patients, working with charity partners, so that patients can become more directly involved in the research activities taking place in the laboratory. Another component of Dr.Rahman’s role is to provide expertise in managing the Tissue Imaging Platform in P4.4.

Dr. Rahman is an MD, Ph.D. with more than twelve years of post-doctoral research experience working in Umea University Sweden, Cambridge University, UK, and Dublin City University, Ireland. Since 2008, Dr. Rahman left his clinical practice and became a full-time academic researcher by joining his first postdoctoral fellowship training in DCU, Ireland. He joined UCD in 2015 as a senior research fellow and has extensive experience in the area of cancer biomarker development and validation using tissue-based detection techniques. Dr. Rahman’s expertise is in the area of multiplexed immunohistochemistry, digital pathology, and image analysis.  

Contact: arman.rahman@ucd.ie

Shauna is responsible for providing day-to-day administrative support across POI and ensures the smooth running of activities including seminars, public engagement events, central and educational programme administration etc. She will also monitor programme progress, capturing metrics and develop POI reports.

She graduated with a B.Sc Human Health & Disease from Trinity College Dublin in 2014 and completed a Master's in Public Health with UCC in 2016. 

Contact: poiadmin@ucd.ie