School of Medicine honours its researchers

Posted on: 10 April 2025

The awards programme, now in its fourth year, supports early career researchers to develop their research career and to build capacity in their respective research field.  

Prof. Sarah Doyle, Director of Research, School of Medicine at the award ceremony

A new Research Impact Prize was introduced to celebrate the translation and communication of research findings, with the inaugural award going to Dr Hugh Kearney for his work on multiple sclerosis. Additionally, four researchers received €10,000 Research Seed Awards for projects spanning tuberculosis, social prescribing and pancreatic cancer. A short-term travel award, worth €2,000  was granted to foster international collaborations in cancer survivorship

Research Impact Award 2025

The Trinity School of Medicine Research Impact Award is designed to recognise researchers or research activity that has led to new or improved scientific insights with demonstrable potential benefits to societal health and wellbeing. This award recognises a researcher whose research has led to positive changes in the delivery of improved healthcare treatments, training, therapies, processes, products, policy, practice, technology or information that has changed the lives of patients, service users, family members, carers, the public, health organisations or health and social care professionals.

Dr Hugh Kearney

The worthy recipient of the inaugural award is Dr Hugh Kearney, consultant neurologist at St. James’s Hospital and the clinical lead for the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) unit. He serves as senior clinical lecturer at the Trinity Translational Medicine institute. A blood test recently developed by Hugh and his colleagues allows health practitioners to estimate the strength of the immune response in people with MS. This insight bridges a gap between virology and neurology and may offer improved future therapeutic and public health strategies to benefit people who have MS and those who may be at future risk.

Speaking about his award, Hugh said:

"I’m truly honoured to receive this Research Impact Award. This work reflects the collaboration of an incredible team of clinicians and scientists. It is a privilege to contribute to research that has the potential to make a real difference in the lives of people with multiple sclerosis (MS). We see this as a starting point for future MS studies and the development of a dedicated group focused on clinical research to improve outcomes in this chronic disease."

Dr Grainne Jameson, Dr Louise Brennan, Dr Nickola Pallin, Dr Hugh Kearney, Dr Laura Kane, Dr Donal Cox

The winners of the TCD-MED Research Seed Awards for 2025 are:

Dr. Donal Cox, Senior Research Fellow, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute and Discipline of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine for his project: ‘Defining the role of bone morphogenetic proteins in tuberculosis osteomyelitis’.

Donal said:

"This TCD MED research award will allow me to investigate why bones are particularly susceptible to bacterial infections, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. By understanding these vulnerabilities, it will allow the development of new therapeutic strategies to boost local immune cell responses during tuberculosis osteomyelitis.  Ultimately this will help to improve and shorten antibiotic regimens, for not just tuberculosis osteomyelitis, but infections of the bone more generally."

Dr. Louise Brennan, Social Prescribing Coordinator, Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing, St James’s Hospital, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Discipline of Physiotherapy, School of Medicine for her project ‘Exploring the Impact and Potential for Social Prescribing to Improve Patient Health and Wellbeing within an Acute Healthcare Setting’.

Louise said:

"With this TCD Med Research Seed funding, I will establish a research programme investigating the opportunities and impact of Social Prescribing within the novel setting of an acute hospital, exploring how best the approach can support discharge, holistic wellbeing and community living."

Dr. Laura Kane, Research Fellow, Discipline of Surgery, School of Medicine for her project ‘Evaluating the functional role of pancreatic cyst fluid in the development of pancreatic cancer’

Laura said:

“ As an early-career researcher, the TCD MED Research Seed Funding Award will provide critical funds that will enable me to generate preliminary data to strengthen my upcoming international grant applications, aimed at revolutionizing pancreatic patient management and advancing therapeutic target discovery.”

Dr. Grainne Jameson, Research Fellow, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute and Discipline of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine for her project ‘Unlocking the Potential of Patient NK Cells in the Fight Against Tuberculosis'.

Grainne said:  

“Winning this award comes at a perfect time in my early career, giving me the opportunity to carve out my own research niche at the intersection of tissue-resident NK cells and infectious disease. It will be a major step forward in establishing myself as a leader in this emerging field. This project will not only elevate my research profile and academic reputation through high-impact publications and collaborations, but it will also generate valuable preliminary data to strengthen future applications for competitive funding.” 

Dr Hugh Kearney and Prof Colin Doherty at the award ceremony

TCD Med Short Term Travel Awards 2025

Dr. Nickola Pallin, Senior Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Cancer Survivorship, Discipline of Occupational Therapy, School of Medicine was awarded a short-term travel award of €2,000 for her project ‘Laying the groundwork for EQUAL (Enhancing Quality and Access to Psychosocial Support for those Living Beyond Cancer).

Nickola said:

“I am delighted to receive this travel grant which will enable me to connect with researchers working at the Comprehensive Health Research Centre at the National School of Public Health, NOVA University Lisbon. I will be working closely with Dr Marta Marques at the Behavioural Science and Social Innovation research group. This visit and ongoing collaboration will develop my skillset in ontology development and behavioural and implementation science research."

The TCD MED Short Term Travel Award provides mid-career researchers, from an academic or research background, to develop their research question through international collaboration. Like the TCD MED Seed Award, the primary aim is to support the researcher’s career development and to raise their research profiles, both nationally and internationally.

Dr. Niamh Ryan, Senior Research Fellow, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute and Discipline of Psychiatry who was awarded a short-term travel award in 2024 has extolled the impact of the award on building her professional research track record.

Niamh said:

“The travel grant has facilitated an exciting collaboration between the Discipline of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin and researchers at Harvard Medical School. This visit afforded myself and my colleague Dr. Cathal Ormond access to tools and training to aid our investigation into genetic risk factors for psychosis in families affected by mental illness.”

Prof. Colin Doherty

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