Prof. Aidan O'Brien is Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor at the Graduate Entry
Medical School at the University of Limerick, and Consultant Respiratory Physician
at the University Hospital Limerick. He is also Associate Professor, Faculty of Health,
Medicine and Life Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
He qualified from University College Galway in 1989 and completed his Internship
and Senior House Officer training in Ireland before moving to the USA to do a
Medical Residency at the University of Minnesota. He then completed a 3 year
Fellowship in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor. He remained there for another year on faculty as Senior
Lecturer. Following this, he was appointed as as Assistant Professor at Brown
Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island. He also held positions as Assistant
Director of the Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellowship at Brown University, as well as
Director of the ICU/ Respiratory Therapy Department and Pulmonary Function
Laboratory/ Sleep Centre at the VA Medical Centre.
He subsequently moved to Ireland in 2002 holding Consultant Respiratory Physician
posts initially in the Midland Regional Hospital Mullingar before finally moving to
University Hospital Limerick. He has completed and published in both basic science
and clinical research. Areas of interest include the role of the interaction between
alveolar macrophages and alveolar epithelial cells in innate immunity, severe
asthma, Interstitial Lung disease and COPD.
He was President of the Irish Thoracic Society, as well as a member of the medical
advisory board for the Irish Asthma Society. Other National Specialist Advisory
Committee memberships presently help include the Interstitial Lung Disease Clinical
Advisory Committee, Severe Asthma Clinical Advisory Committee as well as the
Lung Cancer Clinical Advisory Committee.
He has been instrumental in establishing the University Hospital Limerick as one of
the National Specialist Centres in Severe Asthma, Interstitial Lung Disease as well
as Rapid Access Lung Cancer Centre, for which he is presently is Clinical Lead.
