A University of Limerick graduate has won the James Dyson International Award for her portable chemotherapy scalp cooling device.

Olivia Humphreys’ Final Year Project titled Athena was inspired by her mother’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent chemotherapy treatment.

The graduate was selected as the regional winner of the James Dyson Award earlier this year and has now gone on to win the international competition.

On Lunchtime Live earlier today, Ms Humphreys said Athena is a “response” to her mother’s experience with “scalp cooling treatments” when she was undergoing chemotherapy infusions in 2019.

“She used a device that was quite large, quite static,” she said.

“She had to come in and stay for a longer time before and after her infusion appointments, and it just required a lot of extra care from the staff to have to do it on top of an already busy ward.

“She was so worried about hair loss and how important the topic is that it doesn't like just affect us physically, but mentally and protecting the people around us, and all of these kind of things.”

Olivia Humphreys with her Athena product. Image: Olivia Humphreys

Athena is a carry cooling case attached to a wearable headpiece that cycles cold water up through a carry case around the scalp and back down and cools the scalps to minimise hair loss during chemotherapy.

Ms Humphreys said her aim with Athena was to “amalgamate” all of the alternatives out there and to try and make “something seamless that could be integrated into a day to day infusion appointment”.

She also said she wants to “give control to the patients”.

“It's just trying to make it as easy as possible,” she said.

“There were times when mum wanted to go to the bathroom with the existing device, and she had to either disconnect and risk rewarming or drag this giant device into the cubicle with her, and it was just not feasible.

“So [I was] trying to make something that's as easy to use as possible, small, lightweight, battery powered, and that's what Athena is.”

Image: Olivia Humphreys

Ms Humphreys said she is working with R&D Engineering to get a product service like Athena into clinical trial at the end of this year, with hopes it will be on the market in the next year or so.

Speaking about winning the award, Ms Humphreys said, “it's been crazy”.

“I finished college, and then I found out I won the nationals and it's just kind of snowballed from there, but it's incredibly thrilling and fulfilling,” she said.

“Me and mom had some really hard conversations trying to pull something together for this project when I was working on it.

“But it was so many other people - it was the healthcare staff at UHL (University Hospital Limerick) where mum received treatment that helped me, it was it was so many people.

“I learned the phrase it takes a village today.”

Speaking about her mother, Ms Humphreys said she is five years in remission and “she’s got hair twice the length” of her daughter’s.

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Main image: Olivia Humphreys and her mother. Image: Olivia Humphreys