Teusday 21 November 2017
Professor William C. Campbell Lecture
The Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast were delighted to welcome Professor William C. Campbell, Nobel Laureate, to deliver a prestigious lecture in The Great Hall, Queen’s University Belfast on Tuesday 21st November 2017.
There was a capacity audience 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 at Queen's University, welcomed the the audience and introduced Professor Campbell. After his lecture there was an excellent question and answer session, chaired by Professor Chris Elliott, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences.
William 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.