MS Scientist Honoured by University College Dublin

MS Ireland has long championed the work and contribution of Dr Dean and had encouraged UCD to acknowledge this most important researcher. Professor William Powderly, Head of the UCD School of Medicine and Medical Science, gave the citation at the conferring ceremony.

Prof Powderly said, “At a time when very little was understood about the causation of multiple sclerosis; in examining the patterns of MS in South Africa and in particular comparing rates of MS in populations who had originated from northern Europe he concluded that there must be environmental factors that were causally associated with MS,” said.

Born in 1917 in Wales of UK and Irish parents, Dr Geoffrey Dean qualified as a medical practitioner in Liverpool. Having served with distinction as a medical officer in the Second World War, Dr Dean went on to practice medicine in South Africa for twenty years.

In 1967, Dr Dean arrived on Irish shores and one year later he was appointed the first Director of Ireland’s Medico-Social Research Board (MSRB) where he built a research base for the Irish health services. He has continued to undertake research into MS in Europe. In 2003, he was awarded a CBE by the British government in recognition of his contribution to medical research which has also promoted an improved understanding of lung cancer and motor neurone disease.

Always a keen researcher Dr Dean’s research has taken him to Holland, Sweden, Cyprus, Spain, Malta, and China. Much of his research has been in the area of Multiple Sclerosis and porphyria, a disease of the nervous system and skin. Dr Dean has become a world authority on MS and has published many papers on the topic. Most recently Dr Dean published his research exploring the comparative prevalence of MS between Sicily and Malta. Findings appeared in the December edition of Neurology.

In 2005 Dr Dean publish his memoirs ‘The Turnstone; A Doctor’s Story, which charts the doctor’s personal and professional life all over the world. The book has a rich array of anecdotes and adventures, ranging from the threat of imprisonment in South Africa to a period spent as the personal physician to the multi-millionaire Governor of the Fiji Islands.

Dr Dean now lives in Dublin with his family and is still a contributor to MS research worldwide.