Pictured (l-r) are some of the new MD students recruited under RCSI’s Strategic Academic Recruitment (StAR) Programme, Dr Kirstyn James, Dr Claire Kennedy, Dr Oliver McElvaney and Dr Carmel Curran. RCSI and the Hermitage Medical Clinic welcomed it’s the first group of MD students to be appointed under RCSI’s StAR (Strategic Academic Recruitment) Programme at an event in RCSI on 16th May. RCSI’s StARProgramme aims to support clinical research, strengthen translational research and greatly benefit the RCSI Hospitals Group and the Hermitage Medical Clinic while contributing to improving the quality of patient care. These MD students will benefit from protected research time with little clinical and teaching responsibilities in order to concentrate on producing high quality, relevant research.