Unique exhibition open in glór as company celebrates 50 years in Ennis
JENNIFER Donohue has worked at Vitalograph in Ennis for nine years as part of the cough analysis team. When asked to describe how she explains her work to friends and family, she can’t help but laugh.
“It’s quite funny when you try to explain to people what exactly we do here,” says Jennifer. “Trying to explain to people that we sit down, we listen to people coughing all day and we mark that. They’re like ‘huh? But sure a cough is a cough’ and you’re like, ‘oh no no, there’s so much more to it’. So, you try to explain in an easy way what we do.”
Celebrating 50 years of oper- ating in Ennis, this year Vitalograph passed the benchmark of having analysed 20 million coughs. A global leader in respiratory diagnostic solutions, Vitalograph is the only company in the world providing FDA-validated objective cough monitoring to commercial pharmaceutical companies. It has undergone rapid growth in recent years and in 2022 opened two new sites in Ennis and Limerick to help meet the growing demand for their clinical trial services.
Project Coordinator Jennifer is a member of the QC (Quality Check) team in Ennis. Jennifer, a native of West Limerick who now lives in Ennis, notes that when she joined Vitalograph there were 10 cough analysts. “I was the only coordinator. Now we have a team of well over 100, we have a QC team (Quality Check), a QA team (Quality Assurance), and a huge team of analysts not only in two sites in Ennis but also in Limerick. It’s been a massive journey in terms of being able to identify how we can best serve this growing need in the community.” The team of cough analysts in Ennis and Limerick process the results of cough studies carried out across the world in conjunction with pharmaceutical companies. During the clinical trials, medical facilities provide patients suffering with cough-related illnesses with Vitalograph devices to track heir cough patterns, which in turn are sent back to Ennis and Limerick for analysis.
Jennifer explains, “The subject will wear one of our devices, called a VitaloJAKTM, as part of the clinical trial. Sometimes we see patients wear the device for numerous weeks, some-
times for the longer studies it could be over the course of a year. They would have various cough related illnesses, such as chronic cough, IPF, COPD, and what we’re helping is to identify what drugs are working for those chronic illnesses.
From our perspective, we get the data in. We have a team of analysts here in Ennis, we have a large team of analysts in Limerick as well.” Based in the Limerick facility since its opening in 2022, QA analyst Thomas Carroll recounts how he finished his last college exam on a Thursday and was offered a role at Vitalograph on the following morning.
Speaking about the role of cough analyst, he maintains, “The human element is important as there’s no uniform answer.
In the job we’re in, what could be deemed as a cough for one person might not be deemed as a cough to another, it’s open to interpretation.”
His colleage Muddasir Ovi adds that attention to detail is crucial in the role, “Some sounds could be open to interpretation and that’s where the human element comes in.
Ai could get it wrong, so there’s a human element that goes into our work that’s absolutely necessary.” Carmen Garcia Sanchez joined Vitalograph after doing her Erasmus at UL. She adds,
“If you’re thinking of being a data analyst, my advice would be that you have to be really aware of the environment we’re working in, be respectful of the archives we are working with, have great concentration and good attention to detail.”
As the only company worldwide who provide this one-of-a kind service, Vitalograph works closely with the University of Manchester “to identify best practices, best ways to identify coughs, and best ways to work with people who have these chronic cough illnesses.”
“Our data analysts listen to coughs, learn to identify different coughs and identify different parts of the cough before tagging them,” explains Jennifer. “I have to admit, when I first started I did develop a bit of a cough because it doesn’t matter what your role is in the cough department and site support, you all have to go through cough training to understand what is at the base route of cough. We understand cough, we understand how to develop it, and how to instruct people how to analyse it.”
Jennifer notes that no cough drug has been approved in the United States since the 1950s “so the work we’re doing is very, very important to ensure that new drugs are being developed and made available for the public”.
Recently a drug developed by a pharmaceutical company in conjunction with Vitalograph clinical trial was approved for use within the EU. Jennifer admits, “When we hear those sort of things and knowing those drugs are being made available and making a difference in people’s lives, it’s very important and it’s great work to be involved in.
“It’s very interesting to see the affect we can have for the end user. We would have testimonials from people who have chronic cough, who have COPD, IPF. To hear how those conditions are affecting people daily and then to hear that the work we do can actively contribute to their lives being made better, that’s a wonderful thing for all of us to be involved in. Despite how busy we are, it’s something we all try to come back to and remember.” Vitalograph’s special commemorative exhibition entitled ‘50 Years of Growing with Ennis’ continues at glór until August 30, 2024.
