The Health Research Board (HRB) Impact Award 2023 was recently awarded to ADAPT Principal Investigator and TCD Professor Orla Hardiman for her outstanding contributions to research that have positively informed policy and practice impacting both the care and well-being of patients living with neurodegenerative conditions and their families.
Prof. Orla Hardiman is a Professor of Neurology at Trinity College, Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital, and National Clinical Lead, Neurology, at the Health Services Executive. She is also the Principal Investigator (PI) for ADAPT’s research programme Precision ALS (PALS).
PALS is a €10 million research programme involving researchers at ADAPT and FutureNeuro along with the TRICALS Consortium, Europe’s largest ALS research initiative. Actively participating, are national and International industry partners and charities including patient organisations. PALS will provide an innovative and interactive platform for all clinical research in ALS across Europe, that will then harness artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse large amounts of data. The programme cements Ireland’s world leadership position in MND research and Artificial Intelligence, and will generate scores of new jobs in clinical and data science research, new technologies and drug development for Ireland.
Prof. Hardiman’s research is funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Health Research Board, The American Centre for Disease Control, The American ALS Association, the British MND Association, the Irish MND Association, and the charity Research Motor Neuron.
When accepting the award, Professor Hardiman said:
“I am grateful and humbled to be nominated for the HRB Impact Award by Professor Doherty at Trinity College Dublin and Ms Magdalen Rogers of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland. My genuine hope is that I, and our research group, have made an impact that will outlast our own professional careers and that we will in the future be able to say that ALS/MND is a chronic, rather than a fatal, condition.”
Presenting the award, Dr Mairéad O’Driscoll, Chief Executive at the Health Research Board said:
“The HRB Impact Award celebrates people whose research improves health policy and practice and leads to meaningful change for people’s health and care. And I can’t think of a better example of that than Professor Hardiman. “Throughout her career Professor Hardiman has put her patients and their families first. This has been the main driver for her research and her contribution to advancing professional practice. Her ability to deliver is not just down to her innovative ideas, clinical excellence, or her ability to advocate, but because she is guided always by the impact that her work has on patients. That is why Orla is so deserving of this award.”
“The HRB Impact Award celebrates people whose research improves health policy and practice and leads to meaningful change for people’s health and care. And I can’t think of a better example of that than Professor Hardiman.
“Throughout her career Professor Hardiman has put her patients and their families first. This has been the main driver for her research and her contribution to advancing professional practice. Her ability to deliver is not just down to her innovative ideas, clinical excellence, or her ability to advocate, but because she is guided always by the impact that her work has on patients. That is why Orla is so deserving of this award.”
Photo Credit: Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin
