Professor Lorraine O’Driscoll (nee McElroy) (photo), Chair of Pharmacology and Biomedicine at Trinity College Dublin, from Annamartin, Smithborough, Ireland was inducted into the Royal Irish Academy, Ireland’s leading body of experts in the sciences and humanities, on Friday, May 21, 2021. Membership is by election and is considered to be the highest academic honor in Ireland. The Royal Irish Academy has been honoring Ireland’s leading contributors to the world of learning since its establishment in 1785. Admittance to the Academy is a prestigious honor, and those elected are entitled to use the designation “MRIA” after their name, for Member of the Royal Irish Academy. For 235 years, new members of the Royal Irish Academy were admitted with a handshake, but this year Dr. Mary Canning, President of the Academy, greeted this group of exceptional individuals who are internationally renowned in their respective fields with no handshakes but much joy, Dr. O’Driscoll was the only female of the ten scientists recently elected to membership of the RIA. Among the others elected in 2021 are Professor John Crown, Consultant Medical Oncologist, St. Vincent’s University Hospital; Professor Noel McElvaney, Professor of Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons; and Professor Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University and Chair of Ireland’s National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).