Friday, 8 March 2019: Research Day 2019 concluded yesterday evening with two awards ceremonies that took place in the O’Flanagan Lecture Theatre. Dr Helena Kelly, the event’s Academic Coordinator, chaired the Research Day Awards Ceremony which recognised winners across thirteen categories. Earlier in the afternoon, the CEO Innovation Awards were introduced by Dr Aoife Gallagher, Head of Innovation, RCSI with awards presented to the winners by Professor Cathal Kelly, CEO, RCSI.
The main ceremony began with the RCSI Author Citations Prizes presented by Grainne McDonagh, Office of Institutional Research and Planning. The first award went to Professor Fergal Malone, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, for the Most Highly Cited RCSI Senior Authored Paper 2013 for his paper “Optimizing the definition of intrauterine growth restriction: The multicenter prospective PORTO Study”. The prize for the Most Highly Cited RCSI Senior Authored Paper with International Collaboration 2013-2017 went to Professor Gerry McElvaney, Department of Medicine, for his paper “Intravenous augmentation treatment and lung density in severe α1 antitrypsin deficiency (RAPID): A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial”. The final publication prize for Most Highly Downloaded Original Research Paper from the RCSI Repository in 2018, went to Dr Pauline Joyce, Physician Associate Studies, School of Medicine for her paper “Leading and leadership: reflections on a case study”.
This year’s Health Professions Education Award, presented by Professor John Jenkins, Director of THEP programme, was awarded to Clare Sullivan, Department of Simulation for her poster “‘It’s their OSCE, not your OSCAR’, a study of simulated patients perspectives of their role and contribution to health professions education in RCSI”. The prize for the Front Cover Illustration for the Research Day 2019 abstract book went to Dr Zuzana Koci, Tissue Engineering Research Group, Department of Anatomy for her image displaying a rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cultured on a hydrogel.
In the poster presentation categories, the best undergraduate poster prize was awarded to Dylan Viani Walsh, graduate entry medical student for his poster “Evaluation of functional benefits of sequential cochlear implantation in children with long inter implant delays.” In the Postgraduate Scholars first year only category, the winner was James Morgan, Department of Physiology for his poster “Identification of the cell-specific contribution of the P2X7 receptor to seizure-induced pathology and epilepsy development”. The prize for the best poster in the Postgraduate Scholars second year or later category, was awarded to Alessandra Di Grande, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics for her poster “Splenic microenvironment alters the anti-apoptotic BCL-2 dependence in T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia”. In the Early Career Investigators category, the best poster award went to Dr Kate Connor, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics for her poster “Targeting the RhoGEF Beta-Pix to enhance the activity of Bevacizumab in Glioblastoma: A Nanoparticle mediated Gene Silencing approach”.
In the oral presentations categories the Dr Harry O’Flanagan Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Research was awarded to pharmacy student Seán Coll for his presentation “Hospital initiation of Benzodiazepine Receptor Agonists in adults aged 65 years and over and their continuation in primary care: a retrospective cohort study”. The Dr Harry O’Flanagan Prize is a silver College medal, generously supported by Dr Yacoob Kadwa, RCSI graduate (Class of 1965) to pay special tribute to the memory of Dr Harry O’Flanagan, former Registrar of RCSI. The prize for the best postgraduate oral presentation, sponsored by Bio-Sciences Limited, was awarded to Dr Brendan McDonnell, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, for his presentation “Pregnant users of electronic cigarettes are a distinct sociodemographic group with obstetric outcomes similar to non-smokers.”
The last award of the day was The Barnes Medal, for the best oral presentation by an early career investigator which was awarded to Dr Gareth Morris, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics and FutureNeuro for his presentation “Argonaute-2 sequencing of rodent temporal lobe epilepsy models identifies multiple microRNA targets for seizure suppression”. The Barnes medal pays tribute to Dr Joe Barnes, Professor Emeritus of Tropical Medicine in RCSI, a founding member of ICROSS (International Community for the Relief of Starvation and Suffering), an international charity fighting poverty and disease.
Earlier in the afternoon, as part of CEO Innovation Awards, presented by Professor Cathal Kelly, CEO, the winners of the Invention Disclosure Awards were unveiled as Hannah Rushe, Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics; Dr Alan Hibbitts, Department of Anatomy; Dr Marion Hogg, Physiology & Medical Physics; Liam McDonough, School of Pharmacy; and Robert Murphy, School of Pharmacy. Professor Leonie Young, Professor, Department of Surgery and Professor Richard Costello, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine were recognised as US Patent Awardees.
Professor Richard Costello, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine was announced as winner of the Clinician Award 2018; Professor Fergal O’Brien, Professor of Bioengineering & Regenerative Medicine and Head of the Tissue Engineering Research Group, was presented with the Commercialisation Award 2018 and Professor David Henshall, Professor of Molecular Physiology and Neuroscience and Director of the FutureNeuro Centre, was recipient of the Industry Engagement Award 2018.
Also announced as part of the Research Day Awards ceremony were The International Secondment Awards, presented by Dr Anthony Chubb, School of Postgraduate Studies. The awardees were Niamh Dooley, Department of Psychiatry; Rachael N. Power, Tissue Engineering Group; Remsha Afzal, Department of Molecular and Cellular Therapeutics; Damien Coté, Data Science; Kamelia Krysiak, School of Pharmacy; Nicola Cosgrove, Department of Surgery; Alessandra Di Grande, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics; Paige Hinton, Department of Anatomy; and Shona O’Brien, Chemistry.
Congratulations to all the winners and to the Coordinators of Research Day 2019: Dr Helena Kelly (Academic Coordinator) and Dr Christopher Byrne on the success of Research Day 2019.