Image: Royal Irish Academy President Professor Pat Guiry presents Professor Patrick McGorry with his Honorary Membership in May 2024.
Orygen’s Executive Director, Professor Patrick McGorry, has been elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy in recognition of his outstanding achievements in research and scholarship.
The Royal Irish Academy was founded in 1785 for the advancement of learning and scholarship in Ireland and is an independent body of peer-elected members.
Professor McGorry is known globally for his development and scaling up of early intervention, youth mental health services, mental health innovation, advocacy and reform.
He has played, and continues to play, a key advocacy and advisory role to government on health system reform in Australia and many parts of the world.
Professor McGorry said as an Irish-born Melburnian with strong connections to his roots, this honour meant a lot to him.
“It is a huge and unexpected honour to become a member of the Royal Irish Academy – academic recognition from my country of birth means more than I can say,” Professor McGorry said.
“I am immensely proud to be awarded this honour by Ireland’s leading body of experts in sciences and humanities.”
Professor McGorry said academic recognition such as this could be used to shine a light on the youth mental health crisis which continues to grow both in Australia and around the world.
“In Australia, we have seen youth mental health conditions increase 50 per cent between 2007 and 2021, with psychological distress among young people has jumping from 18.4 per cent to 42.3 per cent between 2011 and 2021,” Professor McGorry said.
“Turning back the tide of mental ill-health in young people is an essential investment in the future of our society – and this will mean tackling the social determinants driving mental ill-health and building a better health system delivering evidence-based interventions.
“Mental health remains the green field of opportunity for human and social progress – we have the opportunity to make a tangible difference to the lives of young people, as well as to their families, friends and society as a whole.”