The Business Post Leadership Awards honour visionary executives, rising leaders, and changemakers who demonstrate innovation, integrity, and influence in their fields. 

The award recognises Professor Lawler’s work in addressing cancer inequalities and advocating for patients' rights.  

Alongside Professor William Gallagher in University College Dublin, he co-leads the All-Island Cancer Research Institute (AICRI), which unites researchers, clinicians and people with cancer across the island of Ireland. 

Professor Lawler also co-leads two Higher Education Authority North-South Research Programmes, in precision oncology (with Professor Gallagher) and digital health (with Professor Aedin Culhane from the University of Limerick).   

He is currently the Scientific Co-Lead of the recently awarded €9.8M PEACE PLUS grant to establish an all-island OneHealth Digital Hub, driving commercial and economic benefit, particularly in the border regions.   

Each year, nominees are carefully evaluated based on their achievements, leadership style, and lasting contributions. 

The judging panel highlighted Professor Lawler’s global reputation, his exceptional achievements and his laser-like focus on patients and their rights. 

“Professor Mark Lawler’s inspirational, transformative leadership underpins a global reputation in research. His work has received many prestigious national/international awards, but most importantly made a substantial difference for patients, locally, nationally, island-wide and globally.  

“His data-informed approach drives impact, fosters innovation and achieves better outcomes for cancer patients, empowering him as a global cancer leader. His data intelligence has been crucial in generating the evidence to protect cancer survivors from financial discrimination, a victory for Irish cancer survivors.” 

In addition to the significant health benefits of his work, Professor Lawler also recognises and champions the economic dividend of health. He is currently the Queen’s University Health Lead of Momentum One Zero, a £70M Innovation Centre of the Belfast Region City Deal which brings together academia, industry and healthcare to use data and AI to drive innovation in health and life science sectors.  

Commenting on the award, Professor Lawler said:

“I am deeply honoured to receive the Business Post’s Healthcare Leader of the Year Award. But I regard it very much as a team award as I have been privileged to work with wonderful colleagues at Queen’s, across the island of Ireland and internationally. Most importantly, we have worked together to produce excellent research that matters, to patients, to their loved ones and to society.”   

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