Who are we?
The group is comprised of a small but motivated group of individuals. ILCC’s founding members consist of people living with lung cancer, those in a caregiving capacity and those with an interest in advocating for this disease.
Seamus Cotter – Chairperson
Seamus Cotter is a father of three from Co. Clare and Chairperson of the Irish Lung Cancer Community. He was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer in 2016 and began treatment on an immunotherapy clinical trial at Galway University Hospital. While the trial was planned for two years, he received his first clear scan after just eight months—and he has stayed cancer-free since.
2026 marks ten years since his diagnosis, which is still considered very unusual for someone with advanced lung cancer. His journey hasn’t been easy, and he has experienced a number of serious side effects along the way, but reaching this milestone gives he hopes that his story will give hope to others who have received a diagnosis.
Seamus is a regular attendee at the World Conference on Lung Cancer, where he brings the patient voice to an international stage. He is also the recipient of the Irish Cancer Society’s Public and Patient Partnership Award (2026) in recognition of his work on the Lung Health Check pilot, a lung cancer screening programme in north Dublin and the north east of Ireland..
Through his role with the Irish Lung Cancer Community, Seamus is passionate about supporting patients and families, improving awareness, and pushing for better access to early diagnosis and innovative treatments.
Frank Doherty – Executive Officer
Frank was diagnosed with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer with a RET mutation in the Summer of 2022.
Since then he is on a targeted therapy with no progression of his cancer
Frank is very interested in pushing for the availability of the best drugs for all patients.
Frank continues to live a normal active life.
Anne-Marie Baird -Vice-chairperson/Secretary
Anne-Marie is a Senior Research Fellow in Trinity College Dublin and has been active in lung cancer advocacy since 2012. Her role in advocacy stemmed from the death of two family members from small cell lung cancer.
Anne-Marie is the current president of Lung Cancer Europe (LuCE), is a mentor on the Supportive Training for Advocates in Research and Science (STARS) programme from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), and serves on many patient councils and advisory boards.
Anne-Marie’s goal is to serve as a voice for those impacted by lung cancer in Ireland and promote patient-driven research.
Deirdre Staunton – Founder
Deirdre is a mother of three children based in Co Sligo. She originally trained as a nurse and stayed in the healthcare sector, eventually becoming a HSE training officer.
As a very active person and non-smoker, she was shocked to receive a lung cancer diagnosis. Her diagnosis did not stop her from continuing to educate others and Deirdre has been involved in lung cancer awareness campaigns over the past two years.
She finds the role of advocate both interesting and satisfying and has been actively raising money for the organisation through her love of drama.
She passed away in November 2023
Catríona Dowling – Executive Officer
Catríona is a lecturer and principal investigator in the Department of Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).
Catríona has her own lung cancer research lab located in the Beaumont/RCSI Cancer Centre.
Losing her aunt to cancer fuelled a desire in Catríona to understand the disease in great depth. Having experienced the devastating impact of cancer, her hope is that her research will make a difference to patients’ lives.
Tracy Byrne – Executive Officer
In 2019 at the age of 35, she was diagnosed with non-smoking-related lung cancer.
Tracy quickly realised there were very limited resources for people with lung cancer in Ireland, which led her to help establish the ILCC.
Tracy is passionate about raising awareness for lung cancer to try and remove the stigma attached to it, advocate for treatments and continued lung cancer research, advise people of the symptoms of lung cancer and to ensure there is support for all people with lung cancer and caregivers in Ireland.
Tracy has been living with lung cancer since her diagnosis and continues with her treatment to manage the disease
Bronwyn Carpenter – Executive Officer
At the age of 31 Bronwyn was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer.
As she was a healthy never-smoker and did not experience the typical symptoms associated with lung cancer, the diagnosis came as a huge shock. She has been treated with a targeted therapy since her diagnosis in 2020.
Bronwyn is proud to be a member of the ILCC, helping to raise much-needed awareness about lung cancer and tackling the stigma that surrounds the disease.
Bronwyn believes people with lung cancer deserve greater support, empathy and equality in research funding, treatment and screening.
Susan Leatham – Treasurer
Susan is a mother of 3 adult daughters from Shankill in Co Dublin. She became interested in lung cancer advocacy as a result of being diagnosed with Non Small Lung Cancer in September 2021 and having had a lower right lobectomy, which is surgery to have the right lower lobe on the lung removed. This was followed by chemotherapy treatment.
She has since returned to work in the public sector. Susan is interested in supporting people with a lung cancer diagnosis and removing the stigma attached to it. She believes no one deserves cancer and believes in promoting lung cancer awareness and education in any way she can.
Susan believes in the introduction of lung cancer screening. While there have been great advances in lung cancer treatments as a result of research studies and trials, funding is vital to progress it further.
