September 2016 NUI Galway Researcher Wins Prestigious Pain Prize

An NUI Galway PhD student, Louise Corcoran, was awarded the Pain Research Medal at the Irish Pain Society’s Annual Scientific Meeting which took place in Dublin at the weekend. Louise, from Tuam, Co. Galway, was awarded the medal for her poster presentation.

The research poster presentations were judged by a panel of international experts who commended the high quality of the research. Researchers from the NUI Galway’s Centre for Pain Research and Galway Neuroscience Centre have had an outstanding record of success in this competition over the years, being among the prize winners on every occasion.

A third-year PhD candidate in the Discipline of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Louise was awarded the Non-Clinical Pain Research Medal. Louise’s research, supervised by Professor David Finn and Dr Michelle Roche, involves the investigation of mechanisms underlying co-existent mood and pain disorders as well as the identification of future therapeutic targets. Her research is funded jointly by Science Foundation Ireland, NUI Galway, and a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Fellowship from the Irish Research Council.

Professor David Finn, Co-Director of NUI Galway’s Centre for Pain Research, said: “We are delighted to see NUI Galway researcher Louise win this prestigious prize for her work. Our pain research aims to advance the understanding and treatment of chronic pain, a major unmet clinical need affecting at least 20% of the population.” 

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