RCSI Professor Awarded First Servier Scholarship

The Ireland Fund of France in conjunction with French pharmaceutical group L’Institut Servier and The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), is pleased to announce the establishment of a new annual scholarship for Irish medical research.

The first recipient of this inaugural award is Brian Harvey, Professor of Molecular Medicine and Director of the Institute of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), for his groundbreaking research in lung disease.

Named after Dr. Jacques Servier, the founding President of the Servier Research Group, this new scholarship aims to promote and encourage scientific exchange between the medical community, healthcare industry, universities and research organizations particularly in the field of therapeutic research. It also represents another initiative in furtherance of The Ireland Fund of France’s mission to enhance Franco-Irish relations.

In nominating Professor Harvey, to be the first recipient of this prestigious award it was the decision of the panel that the RCSI Professor had distinguished himself in research both at home and abroad and that his project “Anti-secretory effects of steroid hormones in the human lung”, which is being carried out in collaboration with the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) perfectly suited the scholarship ideal of Franco-Irish exchange.

Thanks to his work with Professor Jean Bousquet and Dr. Valerie Urbach of the Laboratoire de l’Asthme (INSERM U454 Montpellier), Professor Harvey and the French Group identified the anti-secretory responses of corticosteroid hormones in human lung for the first time in 2001. This discovery has led to interest from both researchers and the pharmaceutical industry in the development of new treatments and drug targets for respiratory conditions such as asthma and lung disease associated with Cystic Fibrosis. This scholarship will be used to support the ongoing collaboration between the RCSI and INSERM laboratories investigation of novel effects of steroid hormones in human airway epithelia.

Expressing his delight on being the first to receive the Dr Jacques Servier scholarship Professor Harvey said he was pleased that his long-term collaboration with his French colleagues has been recognised in this way.

Professor Harvey was presented with his award at a special ceremony held in the French Embassy in Dublin on the 10th of March 2005 which was presided over by his Excellency Mr. Frederic Grasset, French Ambassador to Ireland.

Additional Information:
L’institut Servier
L’institut Servier perpetuates the values of the Servier Research Group. These values, defined by its founder Dr Jacques Servier, are expressed in the ever-constant desire to promote all forms of research development and medical knowledge in order to contribute to medical progress and therefore improve patient well-being.
As a means to this end, L’institut Servier engages and promotes scientific exchange between the medical community, the health care industry, universities and research organizations. The vocation of L’institut Servier does not involve the promotion of Servier products, including those in research or development phases.

INSERM
Created in 1964, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research is a public scientific and technological organization. Overseen jointly by the French Ministries of Research and Health, INSERM’s vocation is to promote health for all.
It is by stressing and nourishing the continuum between the different fields of research in fundamental biology, cognitive and applied medicine and public health that INSERM meets its overriding objectives, which are to improve our understanding of human diseases, and to ensure that patients, the medical community, and national and international partners benefit rapidly from the latest research findings.

The Ireland Fund of France
Founded in Paris in 1990, and presided ever since by Pierre Joannon, a well known hibernophile who was awarded Irish citizenship by the State a few years ago, The Ireland Fund of France is the French branch of The Ireland Funds which are now the largest worldwide network of people of Irish ancestry and friends of Ireland. Together, the eleven Ireland Funds have raised over $300 million for worthy causes in Ireland. Along with its contribution to peace, culture, charity and Education, The Ireland Fund of France aims to achieve closer ties between our two countries in every possible field. As far as its educational mission is concerned, The Ireland Fund of France has set up several scholarship programmes much appreciated by the academic community, the last of which is the Dr. Jacques Servier scholarship.

RCSI
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) was founded in 1784 to “establish a liberal and extensive system of surgical education”. For over 200 years the College has proudly sustained this tradition together with the historical development of Dublin as a prominent centre of medical education. The medical school at the RCSI is one of the world’s leading international medical colleges and together with its associated hospitals, trains undergraduate students from over 30 countries worldwide. As a centre for world-class research, scientists at the RCSI work to unravel the mysteries of human disease by exploring disease pathogenesis and working to develop novel therapies.