Teresa Lambe to give University of Notre Dame address

Teresa on right, presenting Hannah Lee Parnell with a bursary in CPC last November, with principal Joe Leonard.

Kilcullen-born and former CPC student Professor Teresa Lambe will give the keynote address at the Commencement Ceremony at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA, next Saturday, writes Brian Byrne. She will also be awarded an honorary doctor of science degree at the university the following day.

From Nicholastown, Teresa is Calleva Head of Vaccine Immunology at the University of Oxford, currently focusing her research on developing and testing vaccines against a number of pathogens, including Ebola virus, Marburg virus disease, and coronaviruses. She played a critical role in the fight against COVID-19 as a principal investigator in the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine programme. The vaccine is estimated to have saved more than six million lives in 2021 alone.

Saying that she is humbled to receive the honorary degree from Notre Dame and honoured to speak at the Graduate School's Commencement Ceremony, she has commended the 'strong sense of purpose and mission at Notre Dame'. "Embodied by alumni, staff, and students alike, this spirit of grit, determination, and compassion will serve us well as we move through life’s many adventures,” she says.

The latest degree award will add to a long list: an OBE for her service to sciences and public health in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours and the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad in 2022. In 2024, she was named a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and last year she was also presented with a special Kilcullen Community Award.

The Teresa Lambe Bursary Fund was established in Kilcullen in 2021, with support from Kilcullen Lions Club, the Board of Management of Cross & Passion College, the Sisters of the Cross & Passion, and others. It provides support for girls at CPC going on to study science and technology subjects at third level.

Teresa's parents are Mary and Tony Lambe of Nicholastown.

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