John O’Shea ’74 has established a worldwide reputation in immunology. Earlier this year he was the recipient of the Irish Society for Immunology’s Public Lecture Award given at the Royal Dublin Society and sponsored by the Irish Times. For details, go to The Irish Times, The NIH Record or The Royal Dublin Society.

The National Institute of Health/NIH Record said, “The society annually honors an outstanding immunologist in recognition of his or her contribution to the understanding of immunology and health improvement. As part of the award, Dr. O’Shea was invited to deliver a talk about his research. The lecture was titled ‘Learning from Patients: How Rare Diseases Inform Immunology.’ John discussed two rare immunodeficiency diseases and how studying the molecular basis of these diseases has offered new insights into immunoregulation. He also explained how one of these disorders led to the generation of a new class of immunosuppressant drugs.”

The Irish Times article added, “Prof. O’Shea…speaks with considerable authority as the scientific director of the Molecular Immunology and Inflammation Branch in the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. This centre looks at the underlying biochemical causes of common, debilitating autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.”

Dr. O’Shea lives in Rockville, Md. w/family.  At St. Lawrence, he was a biology major, was elected to the academic honorary Phi Beta Kappa, and competed in intramural skiing. He earned his M.D. at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1978. He has been a career advisor to SLU students.