Prof Martin Birchall awarded prestigious laryngology prize

Martin Birchall (UCL Ear Institute) has been awarded the Walter Jobson Horne Prize from the British Medical Association (BMA) for his internationally recognised work in immunological and stem cell research. Professor Birchall set up the UK's first laryngeal transplantation group, enabled by funding from the Wellcome Trust. The team he leads has published extensively in the area of upper airway immunology. More recently, Professor Birchall achieved international recognition for his part in a European team who successfully replaced a young woman's trachea using laboratory cultured airway epithelium in 2008. This was the first clinical application of a tissue-engineered airway transplant. It was his work with the transplant team that led Professor Birchall to win the Morgan Stanley/Sunday Telegraph Great Briton prize in the science and technology category in 2008. The Walter Jobson Horne Prize is awarded annually to a member of the BMA in recognition of work which has advanced the science and practice of laryngology and otology.