Biography
Associate Professor Evelyn Murphy is a UCC Biochemistry graduate who completed her doctoral training in Cell Biology at NUI Galway (1993). Following a postdoctoral fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, she returned to Ireland as a Newman Scholar in Rheumatology and established her research group at the UCD Education Research Centre (ERC) in St Vincent's University Hospital. In 2002 she was appointed Lecturer in Biochemistry and Physiology in the UCD Veterinary Medical School, advanced to Senior Lecturer in 2006 and promoted to Associate Professor in 2014.Evelyn was involved in the teaching and assessment of graduate entry Veterinary Medicine programme established at UCD in 2008 and served as Section Head of Veterinary Biosciences from 2011-2014. Evelyn's research group has focused on elucidating the role of orphan nuclear receptors in human inflammatory diseases, particularly arthritis and psoriasis.
Academic Qualifications: BSc, PhD
Professional Experience:
Since joining UL School of Medicine in 2019, Evelyn is Chair of the Assessment and Course Evaluation (ACE) Working Group and has responsibility for the assessment programme within the BMBS curriculum. In 2020, Evelyn acceded the position of Chair of the SoM Athena Swan self-assessment team (SAT) and in 2023 appointed Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the SoM.
Teaching & Assessment:
Evelyn considers teaching at undergraduate and graduate level to be a fundamentally important and rewarding part of her work as an academic. She is committed to the concept of evidence-based and research-led teaching which she strives to incorporate into her teaching to promote scaffolded active learning. She uses annual student feedback and overall class performances in assessments and examinations to continuously modify and improve her approach and style of teaching. Allied to this, she uses a range of assessment techniques to encourage the best performance from students and assist them in achieving their learning outcomes. Since 2020, Evelyn is lead for the final year Biomedical Science module BM4041; providing students with an overview of the structures and physiological processes that underlay cell, tissue, and whole system homeostasis. Previously, Evelyn was involved in the establishment and development of the UCD Graduate Entry Veterinary Medicine degree programme and subsequent accreditation by the Veterinary Council of Ireland, the European Association for Veterinary Education and the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Research Interests
For over 20 years, Evelyn's research interest has been elucidating the role of orphan nuclear receptors in human inflammatory diseases, particularly arthritis, as well as psoriasis, type II diabetes and cancer. Her research focus has always been strongly translational with an emphasis on understanding pathophysiological mechanisms in human and animal diseases. Ongoing collaborations with clinicians and research scientists, ensures that this basic research is firmly grounded in clinical relevance.This work has been supported with research grant income from EULAR, Health Research Board and Science Foundation Ireland including a Principal Investigator award from 2010-2015.
Evelyn's Orc ID profile can be found at the following link:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6387-1992
Professional Activities
Committee
- 2020 EHS Faculty EDI Committee,
- 2020 SoM Management Team (GMT),
- 2020 University EDI Steering Committee,
- 2019 SoM Assessment & Course Evaluation Committee,
Employment
- 2019 University Limerick - Associate Professor
- 2014 University College Dublin - Associate Professor
- 2007 University College Dublin - Senior Lecturer
- 2002 University College Dublin - Lecturer
- 2000 University College Dublin - Research Lecturer (Rheumatology)
- 1996 University College Dublin - Newman Fellow
- 1993 Baylor College of Medicine - Postdoctoral Fellow
Award
- 2004 - RAMI Award in Rheumatology
- 2003 - President's Research Award
- 2001 - RAMI Award in Rheumatology
- 2000 - EULAR Young Investigator Award
- 1996 - UCD Newman Fellowship
License
- 2002 Therapeutic approaches to disease by modulation of the NR4A/NURR subfamily of nuclear transcription factors. US 2002/0049151A1