Lifetime Achievement Award for Prof Shaun McCann

The Haematology Association of Ireland (HAI) presented its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award to retired Consultant Haematologist Prof Shaun McCann at the Association’s 2026 Annual Meeting.

In presenting the award, HAI President Prof Paul Browne outlined Prof McCann’s many achievements throughout his long and distinguished career in haematology following his graduation from University College Dublin in 1970.

Prof McCann completed a two-year Fellowship at the University of Minnesota, US.

He trained in the technique of stem cell transplantation in Seattle under Nobel Laureate Dr Don Thomas before returning to Ireland, where he performed the first successful bone marrow transplant for leukaemia in 1984.

Prof Browne noted that Dr Thomas demonstrated that with the correct selection of donor and recipient and the proper use of short-term immunosuppression, “lifelong bidirectional immunologic tolerance between adults was achievable – an observation that triggered decades of basic and applied research in immunogenetics that has deepened our understanding of the immune system.”

Prof McCann was Consultant Haematologist at St James’s Hospital, Dublin, and Professor of Haematology at Trinity College Dublin. He also established the national stem cell transplant service.

Prof McCann received a standing ovation from delegates as he was presented with the award.

At next year’s Annual Meeting, the HAI’s second-ever President, Prof Curly Morris, will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association.