February 2011 NUI Galway Biomedical Engineering Professor Receives Prestigious Award

NUI Galway's Professor Peter McHugh from the Discipline of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and Informatics, is the 2011 recipient of the Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (RAMI). The coveted medal is awarded by the RAMI Section of Bioengineering for outstanding career contributions to the field of bioengineering. The Silver Medal was instituted by the Academy in 1995 and previous awardees include Professor Tony Keaveny, University of California, Berkeley, and Professor Frank Gannon, former Director of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). The medal was awarded to Professor McHugh at the 17th annual Bioengineering in Ireland conference held in Galway, recently. At the conference, as is customary for the recipient, Professor McHugh delivered the annual Dr. Samuel Haughton lecture entitled Bioengineering: A Truly Grand Challenge for Engineers. Dr Samuel Haughton FRS, MRIA, 1820-1897, is regarded as the father of Irish Biomechanics. Professor McHugh is the Established Professor of Biomedical Engineering at NUI Galway, Director of the Micromechanics Research Unit at the University and Biomechanics Research Cluster Leader, at the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science (NCBES). He is author of almost ninety international research journal papers in the field of Biomedical Engineering. According to Professor Gerry Lyons, Dean of the College of Engineering and Informatics, "Receiving this award is a tremendous honour for Professor McHugh and for NUI Galway. It is a testament to Professor McHugh's significant achievements in biomedical engineering over almost two decades, and it also reflects the tremendous growth and strength in biomedical engineering research and teaching at NUI Galway which is recognised internationally and which is of critical value to the local and national medical technology industry." The Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (RAMI) was founded in 1882 through the amalgamation of the four main medical societies including, the Dublin Society of Surgeons, the Medical Society of the College of Physicians, the Pathological Society and the Dublin Obstetrical Society. At present there are 22 sections of the Academy covering many disciplines with over 1200 Fellows, Members and Associate Members. -Ends-