New Medicine Faculty Principal appointed

Professor Dermot Kelleher has been appointed Principal of the Faculty of Medicine. The Vice-Provost for Medical Affairs and Head of the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin since 2006, Professor Kelleher is to take up the role on October 1 2012.

Following Professor Sir Anthony Newman Taylor, who has been Principal since December 2010, Trinity College graduate Professor Kelleher will direct the Faculty of Medicine’s activities and be a member of the College’s Management Board, which acts as the senior decision-making body.

Rector Sir Keith O’Nions welcomes the appointment, saying “Professor Kelleher is an international leader, with an outstanding record in academic medicine. His emphasis on translating research discoveries from the laboratory to frontline patient care fits perfectly with Imperial’s vision, and I am delighted to welcome him to the College.”

Originally a gastroenterologist by trade and now a pioneer in the field of immune response and infectious diseases Professor Kelleher’s research involves examining the immune response to many of the leading causes of gastrointestinal infectious diseases worldwide such as Helicobacter pylori and Clostridium difficile. One aspect of his work is on lymphocyte function in the body’s reaction to infectious agents and inflammatory diseases like inflammatory bowel disease.

In 2002 Professor Kelleher helped to obtain collaborative grant funding to establish the not-for-profit company, Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre (now Molecular Medicine Ireland), which supports medical biotechnology development in Ireland. Its aim was to accelerate the translation of biomedical research into improved diagnostics and therapies for patients. He is also a founding member of Opsona Therapeutics, a spin-out drug development company from Trinity College Dublin focussed on immunology research.

His appointment coincides with the completion of his term as Chairman of the Eurolife Consortium of European Medical School and has served as a member of the Board of the Health Research Board Ireland, the European Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust Clinical Interest Group.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London recently formed the UK’s first Academic Health Science Centre which aims to translate new discoveries into new therapies as quickly as possible. In admiration of Imperial’s Faculty of Medicine’s “international reputation for excellence” and its “global reach” Professor Kelleher says “I share in its vision for research translation, both through its activities in the Academic Health Science Centre and the future partnership with health providers in North West London.” He is looking forward to “further strengthening Imperial’s medical research and teaching activities and helping take the Faculty to new heights.”