Dr. Róisín O’Cearbhaill is a medical oncologist and Research Director of the Gynecologic Medical Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), with a joint appointment at Weill Cornell Medical College. A committed advocate of excellence in patient care, Róisín serves as the director of the Patient and Family Centered Care Grant initiative and she is also the vice-chair of the Investigational New Drug/Device committee at MSKCC. She has extensive clinical and research experience in the treatment of gynecological cancers. Her research focuses on the development of novel targeted and immune-based approaches to improve outcomes for women with these cancers. She is proud to serve on several international committees and was recently appointed as chair of Developmental Therapeutics in NRG Oncology, where she is leading a large phase II/III clinical trial for women with ovarian cancer. She has received numerous awards for her work, including a Conquer Cancer Foundation Career Development award, a Young Investigator award from the Kaleidoscope of Hope Foundation, an Excellence in Research Award from MSKCC, and an Excellence in Teaching award from Weill Cornell Medical College. Her research, incorporating cutting-edge technology such as CAR T cells, has been highlighted in Science Magazine.

Born and raised in Galway, Róisín received a first-class honors medical degree from National University of Ireland, Galway, where both her parents and parents- in-law taught. She has a love of languages, completing her first year of medical school through Irish (Gaelic) and spending her fourth year studying in Grenoble, France, on an ERASMUS scholarship. She completed a medical oncology residency at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Dublin, incorporating a six-month senior residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, M.N., and began her fellowship training with the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland.

In 2008 she was awarded a scholarship by the Irish Society of Medical Oncology to complete a two-year advanced fellowship at MSKCC in New York, and on completion she was appointed as faculty. She travels home to Ireland frequently with her husband and three children to see family and friends there, and is currently preparing her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) at NUIG. She is passionate about supporting young researchers and facilitating access to clinical trials for children at home, so she recently joined the board of the Children’s Foundation for Medical Research, a foundation that raises vital funds for the National Children’s Research Center in Dublin. Róisín is very proud to be Irish, even if it means continually having to explain how to spell her name! ♦