November NUI Galway Researcher First Irish Recipient of Prestigious International Early Career Award

Hannah Durand, a doctoral researcher in the School of Psychology at NUI Galway, has received an Early Career Award from the International Society of Behavioural Medicine (ISBM). The award ceremony, which took place recently in Santiago, Chile, honoured ten outstanding early career researchers in the field of behavioural medicine.

Hannah, from Kingston, Galway City, recently completed her PhD in Health Psychology. Her research, supervised by Dr Gerry Molloy of the School of Psychology and Professor Andrew Murphy of the Discipline of General Practice at NUI Galway, investigated the extent of and reasons for non-adherence to antihypertensive medications for treatment-resistant hypertension in primary care. She is the only Irish recipient of the ISBM Early Career Award in its history.

Dr Anne Berman, Chair of the ISBM Education and Training Committee, said: “This award recognises an important contribution to the science of behavioural medicine at an early career stage. Recipients have distinguished themselves in their scientific or clinical practice career. This award is presented to Hannah Durand in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the study of medication adherence as well as her total career achievement to date. It is our hope that Early Career Award winners will go on to be world leaders in the field of behavioural medicine.”

Dr John Bogue, Head of Psychology at NUI Galway, said: “The School of Psychology at NUI Galway has recently been ranked in the top 1% of psychology departments in the world – this award confirms that our standards of education and research are at the very top in international standings. We are very proud of Hannah’s remarkable achievement.”

Hannah’s research was funded by the Health Research Board Patient-Oriented Research Award and supported by the Primary Care Clinical Trials Network Ireland.

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