On International Clinical Trials Day 2020, we salute those whose lives are dedicated to finding better treatments for cancer.  We particularly salute all at Cancer Clinical Research Trust  (CCRT) led by Prof. John Crown and all the wonderful researchers whose work has been supported by The Caroline Foundation Fellowship over the years: Dr Norma O’Donovan, Dr Alyson Murray, Dr Fred McMahon, Dr Maria Prencipe, Dr Sarah Foley with very special acknowledgement for the current holders of that Fellowship: Dr Denis Collins and Dr Nicola Gaynor.

We remember with gratitude all those who through participation in cancer Clinical Trials contributed to honing and refining life-saving drugs for others. Caroline, after whom this Foundation takes its name, ardently welcomed any opportunity to participate in clinical trials and believed passionately in the power and potential of learning to lead to new and better treatments.   In remembering all those we also wish to mention  Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. Henrietta’s story can be found in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.