Dervla O’Malley received a first class BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Ulster, Coleraine in 1999. As part of this degree she spent 13 months in the University of Nevada, Reno for which she was awarded a Diploma in industrial studies. She carried out her doctoral studies at the University of Dundee having received a Muir Russell Scholarship and subsequently undertook a post-doctoral fellowship at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research in the University of Cambridge. She returned to Ireland in 2007 and spent 4 years as a senior postdoctoral scientist in the Laboratory of Neurogastroenterology in the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre in University College Cork. In December 2011 she joined the Department of Physiology as a lecturer where she has gained independent funding to establish a research group investigating cellular signalling evoked by cytokines and endocrine hormones in the enteric nervous system. Of particular significance is the relevance of these factors to stress-related gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome. With over fifty peer-reviewed manuscripts, five book chapters and over 90 conference publications, Dervla has a H-index of 24. She has acted as an ad-hoc reviewer for 20 journals in the field of physiology and reviews abstracts for Dietary Disease Week. She has received several academic honours including the Young Investigator Award for Neurogastroenterology and Motility (2010) and 1st prize for oral presentation at Irish Society of Gastroenterology (2009). She continually strives to use basic and translational research to improve our understanding of gastrointestinal physiology and pathophysiology.