RCSI had a very successful evening at the recent 2015 Irish Healthcare Awards with a number of staff, teams and graduates picking up prizes at the ceremony, held in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, on the 5 November.

The Respiratory Research Division of the RCSI, Department of Medicine, based in the Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital have had a major success as their paper, The Circulating Proteinase Inhibitor a-1 Antitrypsin Regulates Neutrophil Degranulation and Autoimmunity, was awarded Research Paper of the Year. 

The team, led by Professor Gerry McElvaney, received their award at a ceremony. The paper, attached, was published in the journal, Science Translational Medicine.

The research findings showed how the protein Alpha-1 Antitrypsin (AAT) plays an important role in controlling inflammation from white blood cells and its importance for good health.

Congratulations to Professor McElvaney and to all involved in this important paper, particularly lead co-authors of the study, Dr Emer Reeves and Dr David Bergin, as well as RCSI PhD and medical undergraduate students Killian Hurley, Rebecca Wolfe, Ramia Jameel and Sean Fitzgerald. The research was supported by the Medical Research Charities Group / Health Research Board, the Alpha One Foundation (Ireland) and the Alpha-1 Foundation (USA).

The Medical Validation Ireland (MVI) team at RCSI was also commended for their submission into the ‘Best Use of IT' category for their Assessment E-Portfolio which they developed for the Qatar Revalidation Project.

A team of young scoliosis patients aged between 16-18 years of age received the Outstanding Achievement award on the night. They completed the impressive feat of scaling Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania earlier this year only months after having corrective surgery on their conditions. The team were led by the Kilimanjaro Achievers climbing group, of which Dr Padraig Sheeran, Dean of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine, RCSI and RCPI, is the group's medical director.

Finally, a recent RCSI graduate, Gillian O Brien, who received her MSc in Nursing (Advanced Practice) at the November conferrings, received a commendation for her project, entitled: ‘The relationship between nurse's assessment of early pressure ulcer damage and sub epidermal moisture measurement', under her supervisor Professor Zena Moore, Head of the RCSI School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Speaking on the awards, Professor Cathal Kelly, CEO/Registrar, RCSI comment, “I would like to congratulate Prof McElvaney, David and Emer and the rest of their team on their award-winning study. I'd also like to extend my congratulations to Paul Nolan, Collette Tully and Darran Cahill at MVI, as well as to Padraig and to Gillian for their successes in their respective awards. Each of these awards are a true testament to how through world-class research, RCSI is driving improvements in human health and also shows the essential part our staff play in developing healthcare leaders who are making a difference.”