Professor Irvine trained in Belfast, Great Ormond Street Hospital London and was a Fulbright Scholar in Children’s Memorial Chicago - Northwestern University. He is a recognised expert in epithelial genetics, characterisation of the skin barrier, disease mechanisms in, and therapy of atopic dermatitis.

Professor Irvine’s (MD, DSc) international awards include the 2006 Times Higher Education Supplement Research Project of the Year and 2007 Paul Gerson Unna Prize (German Dermatology Society). He has delivered serval named/prize lectureships including the MB Sulzberger (AAD, 2018), Watson-Smith (RCP Edinburgh, 2015), Dolovich (AAAAI, 2013) Lectures.

Professor Irvine was an inaugural director of the International Eczema Council, an international body of experts dedicated to the study and treatment of atopic dermatitis. In 2019, he was elected to the Royal Irish Academy.

Professor Irvine has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers, many in high impact journals, including; the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Nature Genetics, mostly on atopic dermatitis and genetic skin disease, (h-index 69).