News
World Renowned Scientists are Conferred with Honorary Degrees at Trinity
World renowned scientists were among those conferred with honorary doctorates at a special honorary degree ceremony at Trinity recently marking the Dublin City of Science 2012 and the Euroscience Open Forum. The Honorary Degree recipients were:
Professor William Campbell, former Director of Parasitology at Merck who was centrally involved in developing Ivermectin, the cure against river blindness was conferred with a Doctor in Science (Sc.D). In 1987 he spearheaded the decision by Merck to distribute Ivermectin free to millions of people in what became one of the first and foremost examples of a public/private partnership in international health. Annually 25 million people are treated under this scheme preventing new cases of river blindness. He was also involved in the development of several drugs used in human and veterinary medicine. Originally from Donegal, he is a graduate of Trinity with first class honours in Zoology. On retirement from the pharmaceutical industry, he became a Fellow of the Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti at Drew University.
Clinical Scientist, Dr John Climax and founder of ICON plc in Dublin in 1990 was conferred with a Doctor in Science (Sc.D). Today Icon is a global provider of development services to pharmaceutical and related health industries, employing some 9,000 people in 42 countries. Originally from Singapore, Dr Climax is Chairman Emeritus of ICON, a founding member of the Board of the Science Gallery at Trinity College and Adjunct Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. In 2004 he established the Human Dignity Foundation, a charity which seeks to alleviate child poverty.
Immunologist and Nobel Prize Winner Professor Peter Doherty, the Michael F. Tamer Chair of Biomedical Research at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne was conferred with a Doctor in Medicine (M.D). He is one of the most influential immunologists of our time. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Rolf Zinkernagel for discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence. He headed the review of Biomedical Sciences in Trinity which recommended the creation of the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute.
Theoretical physicist, mathematician and cosmologist Professor Sir Roger Penrose who isEmeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford was conferred with a Doctor in Science (Sc.D). He is a world leading authority in his field who shared the Wolf prize with Stephen Hawking for his contributions on the theory of general relativity, gravitational collapse and black holes. In 1990 he also received the Einstein medal. More recently his interest in artificial intelligence led to a series of highly influential books such as The Emperor’s New Mind (1990) and Road to Reality (2004).
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, an Indian businesswoman and innovator in Bangalore, founder, chair and managing director of Biocon, India’s leading biotechnology enterprise was conferred with a Doctor in Science (Sc.D). She joined Biocon Biochemicals in 1978 in Cork and started Biocon India in the same year. She was recently voted The Most Influential in Bio-business Person outside Europe and the US by Nature Biotechnology. In 2004 she established the Biocon Foundation to conduct health, education, sanitation and environment programmes for the benefit of economically weaker sections of society. This foundation has improved the lives of 300,000 people through its holistic healthcare approach. Ms Mazumdar-Shaw is currently the Irish honorary consul in Bangalore.