The Royal Irish Academy (RIA) celebrated Admittance Day on 24th May when 28 newly elected Members were officially admitted to the Academy for their exceptional contributions to the sciences, humanities and social sciences, as well as to public service.
We are delighted to congratulate our School of Medicine colleagues who were elected to the RIA this year, Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, and Brian Lawlor, Conolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, School of Medicine.
Brendan Kelly is professor of Psychiatry, holds advanced degrees in history, psychiatry and law. This interdisciplinary perspective is evident in his extensive publications on the history of psychiatry and mental illnesses in Ireland. As a public intellectual, he has addressed topics such as the impact of Covid-19 on mental health, schizophrenia, and Ireland’s history of institutional confinement, particularly the history of Grangegorman Asylum.
Brian Lawlor is Conolly Norman Professor of Old Age Psychiatry. 
He is a leading figure nationally and internationally in the field of dementia research and care. He is a member of the World Dementia Council, and a founding director of the Global Brain Health Institute based at Trinity and the University of California San Francisco.