Professor Peter Doran
Professor Peter Doran grew up in Gorey, Co Wexford. Aged thirteen Peter lost his mother to breast cancer and two short years later also his father when diagnosed with a brain tumour. One of the last conversations Peter shared with his father was one where his father said ‘’Peter you are going to have to do something about this ’’. This marked a turning point in Professor Doran’s journey, until this point he had envisaged a career in mathematics, but from that moment in time his interest was firmly switched to biology and biomedical science. Today Professor Doran is Director of the UCD Clinical Research Centre (CRC), where they advance high-quality research that translates scientific findings into practical health solutions, improving patient care and outcomes.
Peter was the first of his family to go to University and his academic journey began with a Bachelor of Science in Analytical Science in Dublin City University graduating in 1998. His choice of degree was influenced by his interest in measurement as a means to understand and change things for the better. He undertook his PhD under the supervision of Prof Hugh Brady and Prof Catherine Godson at the UCD School of Medicine focusing on ‘’Modelling Differential Gene Expression in Osteoarthritis'’, which he completed in 2001. This was a transformative time in biological sciences where technological advances in gene expression analysis and gene sequencing were enabling great progress in human genomics, opening vast new opportunities to better understand the molecular drivers of disease. Prof. Doran credits Prof. Brady and Prof Godson’s early mentorship with shaping his ability to focus, prioritise, and lead programmes such as the UCD CRC which enables high impact.
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Current Research Challenges
Prof Doran has a significant track record in the leadership of clinical research and has established a significant programme at UCD. This research helps discover ways to improve medical care and to establish new treatments which in turn will improve the quality of life for patients who are living daily with chronic illness.
Prof Doran leads a major research programme in trial methodology including novel trial designs, predictive modelling and better trial outcomes. Challenges with clinical trials include inefficiency, long duration and onerous effort for patients. Peter's work examines how to improve the way trials are conducted. For example, lung fibrosis trials do not have robust measures of outcome, which coupled to small populations, make these trials a real challenge. To address this challenge, new endpoints and new trial approaches are needed. Working with the UCD Conway Institute the group is examining monocyte populations in patients with lung fibrosis via patient sampling, with a view to identifying better outcome measures. Another approach is to comprehensively gather individual patient level data through the use of wearables and large-scale data collection. The physiological, clinical and PROM (patient recorded outcome measures) data collected is being used to develop predictable models of outcome for individual patients. This work will allow clinical trials at the individual level where the patient is in their own clinical trial. This is an exciting future for clinical trials which could allow us to predict individual patient outcomes and tailor treatments to individual patients in areas of rare disease or rapidly degenerative diseases; it would provide great opportunity to advance science further.
The Researcher
As Director of the UCD CRC, Peter leads a team of over sixty expert staff, working across multiple locations and collectively supporting eighty UCD Principal Investigators. The CRC leads Ireland's largest academic clinical trials programme and has supported 25 investigator-initiated regulated clinical trials (21 IMP trials and 4 medical device trials). The support provided included regulatory oversight, clinical trial monitoring, clinical trial database development, management and hosting, pharmacovigilance, and biostatistics. This work has been supported through significant funding awards from the Health Research Board.
Peter also leads the UCD-Abbott Biomarker programme, which has established a high throughput biomarker validation laboratory. This laboratory is contributing to major national and international end organ damage biomarker studies, reflecting his research interests in the molecular drivers of organ damage, biomarker discovery and translation to practice. In addition to his research and leadership roles, he also established the graduate taught programme in clinical and translational research at UCD.
Peter has recently been appointed by the Minister for Health for the new National Clinical Trials Oversight Group and (opens in a new window)The Health Research Board. He will work at a national level to review the barriers, the opportunities in clinical trials and to make them more widely available in Ireland.
Peter loves the theatre and regularly attends with his whole family. He enjoys gardening and is a strong supporter of Leinster Rugby. In the past he played hurling and is currently looking to return to a coaching role.
Future Research Aspirations
Prof Doran’s future research aspirations focus heavily on advancing the UCD Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) to expand clinical research capacity and impact. The CTU aims to strengthen UCD’s leadership in clinical research by providing investigators and partners with expert support in trial design, regulatory compliance, and study management. It enables the rapid development and evaluation of new treatments and deepens understanding of diseases.
The CTU will foster interdisciplinary collaboration across UCD’s College of Health and Agricultural Sciences, national research centres, and international partners. This collaborative approach is expected to drive innovative healthcare solutions, attract international attention, and secure increased funding. Key functions include managing large-scale datasets, applying advanced data analysis and AI, enabling expert-led public health research, and supporting the transformation of Ireland’s healthcare system.
In addition to facilitating robust clinical trials, the CTU will focus on creating harmonised protocols for disease registries, advancing rare disease research, and supporting biomarker analysis. It will also provide workforce training to build expertise, ensuring sustained growth in clinical research activity.
Through this work, Prof Doran envisions impactful advancements in clinical research that benefit patients, families, and society, firmly positioning UCD at the forefront of healthcare innovation.
Related Links
(opens in a new window)UCD Profile
(opens in a new window)LinkedIn