Biography
Desmond Fitzgerald obtained his medical degree from UCD and subsequently trained in cardiology and clinical pharmacology at Vanderbilt University in the US. Following his return to Ireland, he was appointed to the post of Consultant Lecturer in Medicine and Therapeutics at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and UCD. In 1994, he was appointed Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Consultant in Clinical Pharmacology at Beaumont Hospital. He established the Institute of Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Surgen, a pharmacogenetics company jointly owned by RCSI and the French genomics company, Genset. In 2004, he moved to UCD as Vice-President for Research and Professor of Molecular Medicine. His research is in vascular biology, with a particular focus on platelets and thrombosis. He was Chairman of the Health Research Board of Ireland 2004-2007 and has held committee positions in the Irish Medicines Board. He is a member of several professional bodies, including the American Heart Association and the European Society for Cardiology, where he chaired the Working Group on Platelets and Thrombosis. He has been on the Editorial Boards of several journals, including Circulation. He holds an Adjunct Chair in Medicine and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania and was elected to the Association of American Physicians in 2006.