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Last weekend, Cork, Ireland, native Esther O’Regan felt lucky to be part of the St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Boston. In fact, O’Regan is feeling quite fortunate these days as the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship, which allows her to research head and neck cancer at BWH and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with Massimo Loda, MD, this spring.
“I was delighted when I learned I had been awarded the Fulbright,” said O’Regan, an oral and maxillofacial pathology resident in the Dublin Dental Hospital. “Being able to conduct research in this world-renowned center of excellence is the most amazing opportunity, and I feel very fortunate indeed.”
At home in Ireland, O’Regan was about to begin her second to last year of medical school when she applied for the Fulbright. She deferred medical school for a year to seize this opportunity at BWH.
O’Regan, who already has her DDS and recently finished PhD studies in head and neck cancer, formally accepts the fellowship in June, after which she will work on research in Loda’s lab focusing on the cause of head and neck cancer in people younger than 40. Until then, she is researching actinomycotic infections of the jawbones in the Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Medicine and Dentistry with Sook Bin Woo, DMD.
“It’s a pleasure to have her,” Woo said. “She’s so bright and hardworking and a real asset to our division.”
O’Regan is enjoying her year in Boston, along with her husband, Stephen Finn, a pathologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and their 10-month-old daughter Aisling. The family plans to return to Dublin after this year.
“There is a strong tradition of international doctors and scientists working in Boston, and the Fulbright program of educational and cultural exchange has given me the opportunity to continue in this vein,” she said.