Leading anti-tobacco campaigner Prof Luke Clancy has won the Republic's top medical research award.
The consultant respiratory physician at St James's Hospital and professor at Trinity College Dublin received the Irish Journal of Medical Science (JMS) best research paper award at a ceremony in Dublin on Saturday.
Prof Clancy's paper "Effect of air pollution on death rates in Dublin: an intervention study" was published in the Lancet. The research showed that 4,000 deaths in Dublin were caused by smoke pollution.
In 1982, patient deaths doubled after a particularly bad episode of smog, leading Prof Clancy to suspect a link between the use of bituminous coal and deaths from lung and heart problems. A ban on the use of smoke-producing coal was finally introduced in 1990.
Working with US air pollution expert Prof Doug Dockery, Prof Clancy proved that after the coal ban was implemented, the death rate from respiratory disease in Dublin declined by 15.5 per cent annually and cardiovascular deaths were reduced by 10.3 per cent every year.
As chairman of ASH, Prof Clancy is a prominent supporter of Government plans to ban smoking in the workplace.
Prof John Bonnar, professor emeritus of obstetrics and gynaecology at Trinity College Dublin, received a JMS lifetime achievement award while educational grants worth almost €50,000 were awarded in 17 categories.