The Irish Association of Pharmacologists (IAP) was set up in the mid-1990’s by Professor John Feely. The association organised very successful annual meetings over a number of years. There was a hiatus following Professor Feely’s death in 2009, but the annual meetings were then revived in 2014 by Dr Anne Marie Liddy when it ran in Trinity College Dublin. The 19th Annual Meeting will be held in the Centre for Experimental Medicine, Queen’s University Belfast on Friday, 30th November 2017.
Apart from his involvement in the IAP, Professor Feely contributed to the development of Pharmacology in Ireland on many levels. As Chair of Pharmacology & Therapeutics at Trinity College Dublin he oversaw a high publication rate of quality research, as well as establishing himself as a leading expert on hypertension and authoring over 250 research papers of his own in leading journals such as the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine. These included important findings in drug metabolism and interactions, Pharmacoepidemiology, Pharmacoeconomics, drug safety and in cardiovascular clinical pharmacology.
Professor Feely is also remembered as an outstanding clinician who was instrumental in the introduction of a number of key innovations such as the clinical pharmacy service, the hospital prescriber’s guide and the medication safety reporting system.
Professor Feely was a gifted and popular teacher with a deep commitment to and interest in safe prescribing. He was a generous and valued mentor with a reach and influence on clinical pharmacologists not only in Ireland but in Europe and beyond.
The IAP was instated as a formal entity on 30th November 2016 with its establishment as an unincorporated association. We hope that our aims for developing the association over the next few years will reflect Professor Feely’s ambitious and unstinting work. These include the
- promotion of basic and clinical pharmacology research in Ireland and Northern Ireland
- provision of a forum for exchange and collaboration for scientists working in pharmacology & therapeutics, and allied disciplines in both research and industrial contexts
- an effective forum for lobbying