Professor William C. Campbell, Nobel Laureate visits Queen's University
The Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences were delighted to welcome Professor William C. Campbell, Nobel Laureate,to deliver a prestigious lecture in The Great Hall on Tuesday 21st November 2017.
A capacity audience gathered to hear Professor Campbell’s lecture, ‘Finding Ivermectin: A Medication for the Control of River Blindness and other Parasitoses’. Professor James McElnay, Acting President and Vice-Chancellor, welcomed the audience and introduced Professor Campbell.
Following the lecture, Professor Chris Elliott chaired an excellent question and answer session before Professor Campbell was invited to a poster display in the Graduate School hosted by Professor Aaron Maule and the Parasitology Research Group.
Professor Campbell was brought up in Donegal, schooled in Campbell College Belfast, and then moved to the USA to begin his career as a research biologist and parasitologist at the Merck Institute for Theraputic Research.
He is known for his work in discovering a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworms, for which he was jointly awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He helped discover a class of drugs called avermectins, whose derivatives have been shown to have ‘extraordinary efficacy’ in treating River blindness and Lymphatic filariasis, among other parasitic diseases affecting animals and humans.