Awards / Honours
| 1999 | Coleraine Business Person of the Year |
| 2000 | President Emeritus, Heads of University Centres of Biomedical Science (HUCBMS) |
| 2000 | Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts |
| 2001 | Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA) |
| 2001 | Freedom of the Borough of Coleraine |
| 2001 | Doctor of Science, honoris causa, National University of Ireland |
| 2002 | Deputy Lieutenant (DL) for Londonderry |
| 2002 | Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, The Queen’s University of Belfast |
| 2002 | Honouree, Friends of Harvard Celtic Studies, Cambridge, Mass. |
| 2003 | Keys to the City of Portland, Maine |
| 2003 | Honouree, The Flax Trust, New York |
| 2006 | Professor Emeritus, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster |
| 2011 | Honorary Executive Secretary (and President Emeritus), Heads of University Centres of Biomedical Science (HUCBMS) |
| 2017 | Vice President, Royal Irish Academy |
| 2020 | Senior Vice President, Royal Irish Academy |
| 2021 | Vice Lord Lieutenant for County Londonderry |
2024 Eponymous Gerry McKenna Award for Excellence in Medical Science,
Western Health and Social Services Trust