A Kerryman and University College Cork professor has been given the highest academic honour in Ireland.
Professor Chris Lynch is one of two UCC professors, along with Professor Maggie O'Neill, to be elected to Royal Irish Academy today.
Chris Lynch is a Professor and Consultant in Restorative Dentistry in the Cork University Dental School and Hospital, College of Medicine and Health.
Originally from Fenit, he now lives in Caragh Lake, Killorglin.
He is the third dentist to be admitted as a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and the first since 1940.
Professor Lynch has a long and proud association with University College Cork.
A UCC dental graduate (BDS 1999), he worked at Cardiff University as Consultant and Professor before returning to Cork University Dental School & Hospital in 2017.
With a distinguished track record of excellence in clinical dental education and research, he was awarded the Award of Excellence in Dental Education from the Association for Dental Education in Europe in 2014 – the premier European award in dental education.
In 2023, Chris Lynch was awarded the prestigious international Ivar Mjör Prize for Practice-Based Research from the Network for Practice-Based Research at the International Association for Dental Research.
He has been Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Dentistry, a leading international dental journal, since 2011.
Following election by his colleagues, Chris Lynch became Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in March 2023 (a Postgraduate Surgical Faculty which focuses on the post-qualification education and training of dentists in Ireland and overseas).
