A researcher from NUI Galway has won the inaugural ‘Researcher of the Year’ award presented by the Irish Research Council.
Dr Martin O’Halloran was announced as the winner for his outstanding research in medical electronics.
Dr O’Halloran is a Techrete Senior Lecturer in Medical Electronics at NUI Galway’s College of Engineering and Informatics and College of Medicine, and a Founder-Director of the Lambe Translational Medical Device Lab at Galway University Hospital.
The awards were presented as the Council marks 15 years of the Irish Research Council.
Commenting on being presented with the award, Dr Martin O’Halloran said: “This award is a reflection of the quality and ambition of the broader research team in the Translational Medical Device Lab at NUI Galway, and validates the close collaboration between the Colleges of Engineering and Informatics, and Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences.
“By embedding our engineering lab within the hospital, we get a greater understanding of the real clinical need, and can shorten the time required to translate technology out of the lab and into the patient clinic.”
The Lambe Translational Medical Device Lab now hosts 24 world class researchers from Europe, the US and Asia, including engineers, physicists, veterinary surgeons and doctors.
The team are developing medical devices to address problems ranging from new ways to reliably detect fetal distress during delivery, to novel treatments for lung cancer.
Chair of the Irish Research Council, Professor Jane Ohlmeyer, congratulated Dr Martin O Halloran
“We received many nominations of current and previously Council-funded researchers.
“Dr O’Halloran and Dr Rivetti were selected for their outstanding track records to date and I would like to wish them all the very best in their future research careers,” he said.
