Newsletter 7

Diary in Pictures

Medical Alumni

ContentsP1 Diary in Pictures

P2 Introduction Medical Alumni Report

P3 Denis O’Sullivan Fellowships

P4 Medicine in High Places

P6 Passage West

P8 A Memoir of the Plague Year

P10 Young Irish Anaesthetist in London

P11 Jennings Gallery

P12 Launch of “Irish Surgeons & Surgery in the 20th Century” by Prof Barry O’Donnell

P13 UCC Alumnus Achievement Award – Prof Barry Keane

P14 An Appreciation of Mr Joe O’Donnell

P16 Medical Alumni Scientific Conferences 2009

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Prof David Kerins, Dr Shiela O’Neill, Dr John Lineen, Dr Gillian Gibson

Dr Kevin Horgan, Dr Katy Keohane, Dr Joe Dillon

Dr James Griffith, Dr Jennifer Whyte Dr Patrick O’Herlihy, Prof Liam Kirwin, Dr Rose Fennell, Dr Len Harty

Dr Norman Delanty, Dr Paula O’Leary, Dr William Cashman

Dr Brian Carey, Dr Sean Nugent

Dr Sinead McCarthy, Dr Will Fennell, Dr Tim McCarthy Dr Rose Fennell, Dr Paule Cotter

March/April 2009

Medical Alumni Scientific Conference 2008

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Dr Will Fennell

IntroductionWelcome to the 7th Newsletter (now to be an annual publication). You will find enclosed an interesting mix of many of ourgraduates’ personal experiences and contributions in Medicine and the Arts, in which we can all take great pride.

I am sure all graduates will join incongratulating Prof Eamonn Quigleyon his appointment as President of theWorld Gastroenterology Organisationand the American College ofGastroenterology (the first nonAmerican holder) and wish him well inhis onerous responsibilities.Congratulations also to Dr PixieMcKenna on winning a BAFTA awardin the Interactivity Category for“Embarrassing Bodies Online”.

Sadly, at home we are all grieving atthe untimely death of Joe O’Donnell,FRCS FACS MCh, who pioneered thedevelopment of vascular surgery and

clinical audit in Cork and UCC fromhis arrival in 1979 until his retirementin 2002. As a colleague he was without peer, never seeking accolades,always supportive. Outside ofMedicine he was an outstandingfamily man and accomplishedmusician and artist. Our deepestsympathies are extended to Avril,Aishling, Gavan, Cara and Ryan.

We look forward to your feedback forfuture Newsletters. We encourage allgraduates to forward their e-mailaddresses to r.hyland@ucc.ie as wewould like to forward a quarterlyupdate of activities in the UCC

Medical School. We would also encourage you to visit the UCCwebsite, www.ucc.ie, which is updateddaily.

You will see enclosed the plannedprogrammes for the the annualhomecoming meeting in Cork(September 18 [pm] and September19 [am]) and North American Meetingin St John’s, Newfoundland (August25 – 28).

We invite all graduates (at home andabroad) to submit articles on theirexperiences since or before graduationfor inclusion in future newsletters

Dear GraduateIt gives me great pleasure to write a brief summary of the current directions and activities of the Medical School for our AlumnusReport. As you may recall from the history of University College Cork, the Medical School is this year celebrating its 160thbirthday. Over the course of the ensuing years we have graduated a large number of highly successful clinicians in the area ofGeneral Practice and all of the various sub-specialties. Their contributions have been both on a national and international basis.

This past year I had the pleasure ofintroducing Dr Barry Keane at ourdistinguished Alumnus Universitycelebration. Dr Keane’s contributionsto the field of paediatric cardiologyhave been of critical importance tomany patients including the childrenand grandchildren of some of our ownAlumni. Despite his many years atBoston Childrens’ Hospital he hasretained firm roots in Cork, and indeedhis Cork accent.

This year will also see the secondintake into our Graduate Entry toMedicine class. The first intake underthe direction of Interim Director, Prof

Eamonn Quigley, has been mostsuccessful with the delivery of acurriculum that has been exciting andis truly state of the art.

We also look forward, over the nexttwelve months, to the opening of thenew Western Gate facility, which willprovide state of the art teachingfacilities in Anatomy, Physiology andPharmacology and Therapeutics.

The Medical School has also notedmajor successes in the recent pastwith the successful renewal of theAlimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, underthe direction of Prof Fergus Shanahan,

as well as significant successes in thefields of Reproductive Medicine,Paediatrics and Child Health,Population Health and Neuroscience.The Centre for Research in VascularBiology continues to expand under thedirection of Prof Noel Caplice, and hasfacilities that are unique in theseislands.

For those of you outside Ireland, Isend my best regards and would liketo invite you to come visit us at theMedical School, should your travelsbring you back to your Alma Mater

Prof David Kerins

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THE PROFESSOR DENIS O’SULLIVAN CLINICALRESEARCH FELLOWSHIPSThe Professor Denis O’Sullivan Clinical Research Fellowships were established to mark the major contributions to Medicine inCork and nationally by Professor Denis J. O’Sullivan, Professor of Medicine 1961-1990. The aim is to encourage and supportresearch by young doctors working in the teaching hospitals and general practices associated with UCC. Collaboration withbasic science and other departments within the University is encouraged.

A capital sum was raised by Medicalgraduates sufficient to endowFellowships from interest earned,while maintaining the inflation-adjusted value of the fund. AFellowship may not be awarded everyyear. The capital is invested in theUniversity’s trust fund for scholarshipsand prizes. The fund is professionallymanaged with a low risk strategy andis audited annually. The Fellowshipaccount is currently worth €923,500(about $1,200,000).

The Fellowships are usually for oneyear of full time research. Often thishas allowed promising work alreadystarted to continue on a full timebasis. Each Fellowship is awarded inopen competition, by an assessmentboard appointed by the President andwhich includes an external assessor.To date nine Fellowships have beenawarded.

1994 – Dr Brian Mulcahy establisheda DNA repository for multiplexrheumatoid arthritis families andshowed that a particular combinationof microsatellite markers was inheritedin certain of these families. Brian isnow Consultant Rheumatologist atShanakiel Hospital in Cork.

1995 – Dr Peter O’Gormancharacterised the biological activity ofa low molecular weight inhibitor in-vitro; this inhibitor suppressedproliferation of lineage-committedhaemopoietic progenitors but not ofprimitive stem cells. In leukaemicmodels the inhibitor inducedapoptosis. Peter is now a ConsultantHaematologist at the Mater Hospital,Dublin.

1997 – Dr Cliona Murphy looked atmismatch repair genes and possiblemutations in endometrial cancer. Arelationship was not seen, in contrastto findings in some colorectal cancers.Cliona is now a ConsultantObstetrician in the Coombe Hospital inDublin.

1999 – Dr Abel Wakai studied thebiological and clinical implications ofskeletal muscle ischaemia-reperfusioninjury in extremity surgery, work whichearned him an MD. Abel hasspecialised in Emergency Medicineand recently started in a ConsultantPost at St James’ Hospital, Dublin.

2000 – Dr Jane McCarthy showed theimportance of gut bacterial flora in thepathogenesis of inflammatory boweldisease and the therapeutic potentialof probiotics in this condition. Shewas subsequently was subsequentlyawarded an MD for her work. Jane isnow nearing the end of her specialisttraining in Gastroenterology.

2001 – Dr Danny Costello studiedtransplantation of dopaminergicneurones in a rat model of Parkinson’sdisease. Later he also was awarded anMD for this work. Danny is now a staffNeurologist at the MassachusettsGeneral Hospital and on the faculty ofHarvard University, in Boston.

2002 – Dr David Sommerfield alsostudied probiotic bacteria and showedthat these could reduce translocationof salmonella to organs in mice. Davidis currently a Senior Registrar on thenational anaesthetics training scheme.

2005 – Dr Deirdre Murray recordedcontinuous video-EEG for 24-72 hours

in neonates with hypoxic-ischaemicencephalopathy; this was followed byneurodevelopment assessments at 6,12 and 24 months. Clinical markerswere found to be poor predictors ofoutcome, but EEG was reliable.Deirdre is now a Senior Lecturer inPaediatrics at UCC. It is particularlypleasing that, with her colleagues, sheis continuing this important researchin Cork.

2007 – The current fellow, Dr SineadKinsella, is the first to hold a two yearFellowship. She is examiningrelationships between osteoporosis andchronic kidney disease, and hasidentified an association betweenhyponatraemia and fracture. Sinead isalso studying vascular function andrisk factors in post-transplant patients.

The work of these Fellows has led tomany publications in high impactjournals and to a variety ofinternational presentations. It hasstimulated much follow-up researchand has had a positive impact onclinical standards.

A framed list of all graduates whomade a major contribution to theFellowship fund is on display in theGraduates’ Room, North Wing, UCC.Contributions can still made to thefund through the Medical AlumniOffice

Prof Barry Ferriss

Prof Denis and Mrs Joan O’Sullivan

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MEDICINE IN HIGH PLACES “LIVING A DREAM”A 20 year medical and personal journeyShortly after arriving in Darjeeling (2134m) on a bitter November evening in 1988, I was escorted to the local tea plantationhospital where I joined my close Tibetan friend and colleague, who had been doing amazing medical work as a pediatrician formany years on this Himalayan hillside overlooking Kanchenjunga. I was greeted by the head nurse, carrying a candle as thepower was out (a frequent occurrence in this area). She escorted me to see an extremely premature newborn (12 weeks early),who was being kept alive and warm by the frequent exchange of hot water bottles as a substitute for an incubator, and anintravenous line and nasogastric tube supplying life sustaining nutrients. The following day I faced the challenge of treating anun from the lowlands with a leg clot with only a one day supply of anticoagulant at the hospital. These, along with manysubsequent experiences had a huge impact on me medically and personally. They have led and guided me on a journey that hastaken me to many remote, high altitude areas in the world, exposing me to some amazing people who have taught me so muchabout life, medicine and spirituality.

Growing up in Ireland, I have alwaysbeen interested and curious aboutthings going on beyond our shores andover our small hills. Living inWestern Canada in the 80s Ideveloped a much greaterunderstanding of mountain cultureand community. As a member of theRocky Mountain Section of the AlpineClub of Canada I learned a lot aboutmountain skills and travelling as safelyas possible in the mountains. I wasvery touched by Pat Morrow’s book“Everest and Beyond”. I wasfascinated by, not only the physicaland mental challenges of climbing thehighest peak on each continent, but,more importantly, the descriptions ofthe people and cultures living alongthe approach to these peaks.Subsequently, developing a greaterunderstanding of cultural sensitivityissues from Steve Bezruchka’s Nepalexperiences, Ed Bernbaum’s insightsinto the sacredness of mountainplaces, Goldstein and Beall’santhropological work among thenomads of Western Tibet and the closeconnection between the “MedicineMan/Shaman” and high places inNorth American indigenous culture,have drawn me closer and closer to

mountain communities on eachcontinent. Years of travel into remoteparts of such places as Tibet,Mongolia, India, Nepal, Peru andEthiopia opened my eyes to some ofthe health needs of these remote highaltitude communities.

What makes the health needs of thesehigh altitude communities unique?There are many mountaincommunities, particularly in thedeveloping world that are very poorand disadvantaged. People living inthese communities have to deal withsuch issues as high altitude (acuteand chronic mountain sickness),remoteness/isolation (social issues,alcoholism/narcotic addiction),extreme weather (short growingseason/poor nutrition/arthritis),political and economicdisenfranchisement, reduced access toformal education and public health

care (i.e., vaccination programs, cleanwater), electricity, environmentaldegradation and the loss of naturalresources to external sources.

To get further involved in the healthcare of some of these communities Ifelt I needed to improve my medicalskills in the area of high altitudephysiology and developing worldmedicine. Exposure to acute medicalcare of high altitude climbers onmountains such as Denali, MountLogan and at the CIWEC medicalclinic in Kathmandu, along withnumerous trips as expedition physicianto more extreme environments in theHimalaya and Antarctica have helpedmy understanding of adaptation of thehuman body to high altitude. Workingin hospitals and taking courses inPeru, Thailand, Cuba and South Africahas helped with my understanding ofdeveloping world medicine.

Dr Bill Hanlon

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Based on the above background, Idecided to set up a small, non-profit,non-sectarian foundation called BASICHEALTH INTERNATIONAL in 2003www.basichealthinternational.org. Weare a Canadian registered charity. Ourobjective has been to develop andsupport public health and primaryhealth care projects in remote, highneed, high altitude communities indifferent parts of the world. Ouremphasis is on prevention andeducation, particularly of communityhealth workers. We are small, flexibleand reactive to the specific healthneeds of each community. More akayak than an ocean liner. We havebeen involved in medical projects inTibet, Ladakh, Mongolia, Ethiopia,Peru and Honduras. We have beenparticularly interested in the health ofnomadic peoples. We are activelyinvolved in a TB project in Tibet, animmunization program in Mongolia, apalliative care program in Ethiopia anda satellite supported telemedicineprogram in Peru. It has been a greatprivilege and education for me tospend time in these communities.

Travelling long trips into remote partsof the Tibetan plateau with a TibetanTraditional Medical colleague andsharing our different approach to thehealth care of our people is one of themany privileges I have been fortunateto share. Screening travellers inKathmandu during the peak of theSARS outbreak in a country withlimited resources to tackle such apotentially devastating public healthchallenge was an amazing experience.

Many of the improvisation skills I havelearned in mountain travel in the earlydays in Canada and later onexpeditions to remote areas, I havebeen able to apply in the field ofremote area medicine. To thosefriends and colleagues who taught memany of those skills I am forevergrateful.

On May 22nd 2007, I had theprivilege to stand at the summit ofMount Everest, the culmination of a20 year dream and part of a personaljourney to try and climb all “7Summits”. This challenge, although

important personally, pales insignificance compared to the manysocial, medical and economicchallenges of so many remote, highaltitude communities living today inmany parts of the developing world.

I feel we, as members of the globalmountain community, have aresponsibility to increase awareness ofissues relating to mountain people andcultures under threat. Issues such asaccess to clean water, good educationand public heath, environmentalthreats and loss of natural resourcesare continuing challenges for many ofthese mountain communities.

In today’s world it is easy to getcomplacent and despondent instanding up to the many geopoliticaland economic challenges thatsurround us. It is easy to develop a“head in the sand mentality”. We arebombarded with the rapid transfer ofso much negative news in the printand electronic media. Yet, in mytravels and travel medicine practice Iconstantly see many greathumanitarians heading out to far offplaces. Many don’t make the mediaheadlines. This does not negate theirgreat efforts in creating more lightthan heat in the world.

LIVE YOUR DREAM

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PASSAGE WESTIn October 08 I returned to UCC to join my onetime classmates to celebrate our graduation from the Medical School forty yearsago. While in Cork I availed of the opportunity to give a talk to the current class of Medical students on behaviour problems inchildren. The two events were for me strangely juxtaposed, the former a dining room of familiar faces, full of knowledge andexperience, settling quietly into retirement, and the latter an auditorium full of the faces of students from all over the world.Needless to say, the visit gave me cause to reflect upon the journey I had taken; its point of departure 40 years ago, thedirection it had taken in the intervening years and the new meaning I had found in what must be the final chapter of my careeras a physician. In retrospect, it has been a strange but, at least for me, a fascinating journey, which has remained fresh andchallenging, despite the passage of so many years.

To begin at the beginning and to get aflavor of the times it is necessary to goback to the 1960s when I was startingmy clinical rotations at The SouthInfirmary. This was a very significantmoment in the training of any Medicalstudent for it was the first exposure tothe very real people who would soonenough depend on us for their care.To prepare me for this my eldestbrother, Donough, a physician in hisown right, decided to give me anintroductory talk. But, these little talkshad a preamble. According to mybrother, Medicine had changed sincemy father’s time. My father, who hadjust died, had been a dispensarydoctor during a time when antibioticshad not been available but hadpracticed long enough to witness therevolution they brought to patient care.However, as my brother pointed out,the issues for doctors in my father’stime were somewhat simpler. Thecompetency of the physician was oftenjudged by the accuracy with which thedemise of the patient could bepredicted. Expectations, seemingly,had changed. Ridiculous as this mayseem today, I knew that there was anelement of truth in what he said sinceI had heard on my way to school atthe Ennis Christian Brothers kidsextolling the virtues of their familydoctor on this very basis. Those dayswere over; the patients I was about tosee were expecting more. I rememberthinking to myself: I should very muchhope so for why else would you go to adoctor or for that matter become adoctor.

A few months later as my contact withpatients became more extensive, Idiscovered that there was another sideto this prognostication business whichhad not been explained to me. Justbecause the doctor could tell when thepatient was about to die that did notmean he was about to tell the patient.It was the accepted belief that thepatients should not know more than

what was good for them. And it wasthe doctor who decided that. Nor didit end there. It was not unheard of fora family to first learn of their lovedone’s cancer from an overheardconversation between Medicalstudents on the bus home. It was thetime before what would be referred toas “patients’ rights.”

“But the times they are a changing”warned Bob Dylan. Ireland in the1960s was going through its ownrevolution. The simultaneous arrival oftelevision and “the British Invasion”on the music scene produced imagesnever seen before in the country. Thefirst time I attended a function at theMen’s Club I was greeted by a littlegroup of clerical students playing TheBeatles. The Late Late Show onSaturday nights had everyone rivetedespecially the night a guest describedDr Brown, the Bishop of Galway, as amoron. (Though, there was no bolt oflightning, the country overnight wasdivided down generational lines, withsome saying he should never have saidit, others who felt he should have saidit and still more whose opinion wasthat yes he was a moron but heshouldn’t have said it.) It was a timewhen the dangers of mortal sinroamed the Earth, like a lion seekingwhom it could devour. Confession,which was often weekly, was ever moredaunting by the very real prospect ofbeing asked “And did you takepleasure out of it?” And all over whatcould at most be described as minorbreaches in the iron will that there beno immodest touching between thesexes. “He was a gentleman right upto the word ‘stop!’” was oftenoverheard in The Rest on Mondaymornings. So, as riots and peacemarches were breaking out in TheNorth of Ireland, in American, Frenchand German cities, the burningquestion in UCC was whether you tookpleasure out of it? Needless to say, bythe time I had finished my final

examinations, America beckoned.

June 6th 1968 found me taking leaveof my landlady in Sundays Well. Shewas close to tears, for Robert Kennedyhad been shot during the night. Twoweeks later I was packing up my stufffor my flight to the USA to the strainsof The Beatles latest release: “HeyJude!”. July 1st I was ensconced atMount Carmel Mercy Hospital inDetroit, plying for the first time mycredentials as a physician with twoother UCC graduates, John Sutton andTurlough FitzGerald. A little later wewere joined by Austin O’Keeffe.

And what a cultural shock that was. Ina matter of days we found ourselvesrushing to the Emergency Room tothrow ourselves into futile attempts toresuscitate gunshot and stab wounds.The city of Detroit, which hadwitnessed race riots the year before,was now Homicide City USA, with athousand homicides a year. I quicklylearned, because of carjacking attraffic lights, that it was moreimportant to lock your car when youwere in it than when you were not. Itwas all a far cry from the nights Imight get called to the casualty roomat the South Infirmary to stitch upsome drunk who fell on the way homefrom a dance.

The next year I started a residency inPaediatrics at Bellevue Hospital inNew York. This was a cultural shockof a different kind. New York wasgoing through its own social unrest.While in one part of the hospital I wasseeing children dying of measles,mumps and other infectiousconditions, in the delivery room I wasbeing asked to resuscitate babieswhose mothers had just received theirheroin fix prior to the delivery. Itturned out that the dietary aides werepassing out more than meals on thefood trays. The nursery always hadbabies going through heroin

Dr Fergus Moylan

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withdrawal. Again, it was a far cryfrom the pranks we indulged in at theErinville during our rotation inObstetrics . A visit to the Emergencyroom might reveal a patienthandcuffed to a stretcher. Meanwhilein the movie “Midnight Cowboy”Dustin Hoffman was proclaiming toJon Voigt: “You’re taking me to noBellevue!” A city hospital in Americaat that time would have been right athome in Dante’s Inferno.

Two years later I made good myescape and transferred to TheMassachusetts General Hospital inBoston to complete my residency. Itwas at the MGH, the heart of theHarvard School of Medicine, I beganto understand the meaning of mybrother’s admonition on those walksaround Ennis: “There is only onegolden rule in Medicine - there are nogolden rules.” While at Bellevuethings were done the Bellevue way, atthe MGH every assumption waschallenged if it did not physiologicallymake sense. Where before I rarelyread medical journals I now foundmyself making my way to the library toresearch the extraordinary variety ofconditions that were referred to thehospital. Physiology, a subject Ithought was safely behind me in JackSheehan’s lecture hall across from theMen’s Club, now became the windowthrough which I could view thepatients fight for survival. Andsurvival was what MassachusettsGeneral was all about. At a time whenintensive care units were onlybeginning to emerge into commonusage, 10% of the hospital beds weredevoted to it. It was the nextrevolution in Medicine and Paediatricswas not to be left out. So I did thefirst fellowship in Paediatric IntensiveCare at the MGH and possibly in theUnited States. Four years later Isuccessfully sat the first AmericanBoard Examination in NewbornMedicine.

They were heady times. But, aftertwelve years of dealing with life anddeath situations involving anythingfrom 20oz. premature infants in theNeonatal ICU to the worst tragedies tobefall a family in the Paediatric ICU, Ifound my expertise being increasinglycalled upon not to prolong the agonybut to facilitate the patients’ demise.It was called death with dignity. Inretrospect, it was in an ironic way areturn to the time of my father whenthe doctor was called upon to predictwhen death was inevitable. But in mycase it was up to me to pull the plug.And this I did with unpleasantregularity.

There is little dignity in the death of achild and playing God grows old veryquickly. I knew instinctively that therewas no longevity in the situation, so,after 16 years of hospital work Ientered private practice where I havebeen for the past 24 years.

Where my father had lived to see therevolution wrought by the developmentof antibiotics, I was also to see overthe years my own share of medicalmiracles. First, the introduction ofintensive care saw me leaveMassachusetts General with a follow-up clinic of 300 premature infantswho had survived by the interventionof a ventilator. Second, thesubsequent development of 11 newimmunisations, to add to the originalfour that were in place when Igraduated from UCC had virtuallyeliminated serious infectious illness inchildren. This became apparent to melast summer when I was first preparingmy talk on Behavior Problems inChildren for Grand Rounds. Itoccurred to me that in the 24 years Ihave been in private practice only oneof my patients has died of aninfectious condition. One fromSudden Infant Death Syndrome andseven from suicide or suicidalbehaviour. This latter statistic cameas a shock to me especially after myyears in intensive care where infectionand trauma were established realities.But subconsciously it did explain andvalidate the direction my medicalfocus has taken in recent years.

While I was in my final year in UCCand Robert Kennedy was predicting toa crowd in Harlem that it would be 40years before there would be a blackman in the White House we werestudying in our Psychiatry rotation atSt. Ann’s John F Kennedy’s speech toCongress on mental health. It wasJFK’s contention that mental illnessposed a unique challenge to society.In contrast to other illnesses, wherethe patient either recovered or died,patients with mental illness live longunhappy lives at considerableemotional and financial burden tothemselves, their families and tosociety. Research has taught us thatone in six children have a conditionthat can be labeled psychiatric. It hasalso taught us that the vast majority ofthese children will go undiagnosed,untreated and never be seen by apsychiatrist. How serious is thisproblem? Well, my experience in 24years of private practice would suggestthat they may be the most commoncause of death to walk into aPaediatrician’s office. Theseconditions do not necessarily go away.Nor do they stop with the child. I have

witnessed two parents in my practicetake their own lives following thedeath of their child. Two additionalfactors compound this sorry state.Children’s behaviour is seen purely interms of misbehaviour, not within thecontext that they may be sufferingfrom a treatable condition. And evenif this were not so, society disapprovesof medicating children. Open anyformulary at any page and the mostcommon phrase that will meet youreye is: “Not approved for use inchildren.” For some perverse reasonsociety at large believes that you onlybegin to suffer when you arrive atadulthood.

With the elimination of one set ofproblems we are invariably beset by anew set of problems. Now, theseproblems were probably always thereto begin with but were obscured byour preoccupation with the first set.An example of this is Alzheimer’sDisease. It received little or nomention in the Medical textbooks ofmy era. However, ten years after I leftUCC it was ubiquitous. That was notbecause of a sudden epidemic of thedisease but because it was hiding inplain view. These psychiatricconditions of childhood, which soonenough will become those ofadulthood, have always been there butdid not become apparent to me, atleast, until the serious threat ofinfectious diseases were mostlyeliminated. With the introduction ofnewer medications their treatmenthave become richly rewarding not justfor the families involved but for thedoctor. In one respect they aresymbolic of much of what Medicine isabout. New research casts new lighton the human condition. Change isconstant, inevitable and ineluctable.So how is one to keep up with it andstill remain relevant? To quote F ScottFitzGerald: “You don’t have to be thesmartest one in the room. Just themost observant.”

Forty years ago when I was attendingUCC a great event was being observedin Poland: its first thousand years ofChristianity. The Catholic hierarchyand the Communist Government wereat each other’s throats, the former tomake it into a galvanizing event forthe Polish people who laboured underthe yoke of communism, and the latterwhich was well aware of what wasafoot and not about to let it happen.The joke circulating in Warsaw at thetime was: “The first thousand yearsare the most difficult.”

Rest assured, in Medicine, the first 40years are the most difficult

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A MEMOIR OF THE PLAGUE YEARThe memories came back when reading Patrick Cockburn’s book ‘The Broken Boy’. A son of the gadfly journalist and scourge ofthe British establishment Claude Cockburn, dedicated Communist, editor of ‘The Week’ and godfather of ‘Private Eye’, Patrickwas a victim in the Cork Polio epidemic of 1956, one of the last great outbreaks of that enemy of the mostly very young. Hisfather had brought the family to a house near his mother’s people’s place close to Youghal from England. Though well aware thatthe epidemic was raging in Cork that August, Cockburn thought that they would be safe there though he continued to travelthrough the city on his journeys to and from England. He seems to have experienced minor symptoms of the disease himselfshortly before his two sons became ill.

Now a distinguished journalist in hisown right specialising in Middle Eastaffairs, Patrick wrote of hisrecollections of his illness in a bookwhich also provides insights into theAscendancy lifestyle lived by hismother’s family. Ironically both Polioand the Ascendancy are fast fadingmemories for Irish people; Poliosuccumbed to advances in Medicineand the Ascendancy class, who startedoff their long decline to oblivion byvoting for the Act of Union;subsequently they obstinatelycontinued to back the wrong politicalhorse in Ireland and now have eitherfled their country or been married outof existence. A fine literature riven bya haunting schizoid vein of manqueIrishness is their sole, if substantial,legacy.

In the Spring of 1956, I was relievedand somewhat surprised to pass thedreaded 2nd MB exams which openedup a long Summer to be lived at will.In the relaxed atmosphere of the timesone could no longer flunk out as therewas now no deadline for passing theexams in the clinical years of thecourse. Proof of this was offered bythe appearance now and again inCollege of some legendary ‘chronicmeds’, including a mysterious ladyknown as ‘The Cuckoo’ due to herhabit of showing up from England inSpring with the avowed purpose ofsitting Finals but never actuallygetting around to it. Her appearancewas always taken seriously by thecurrent Final Med students as itsignaled that the time to really getdown to serious study had arrived..

As teaching rounds were held at thevarious hospitals in the morningfollowed by formal lectures at UCC in

the afternoon a motorised mode oftransport was essential, especially ifone wanted to stop for lunchdowntown while en route from theNorth Infirmary, where the bedsideteaching clinics of the elegant O.T.D.Loughnane in Medicine and thepopular and saturnine ‘K Jack’ Kiely inSurgery were eagerly attended. Aquiet pint with a half dozen oysterscould be had inexpensively at Hoare’sbar in a laneway near the Examineroffice. This was felt to be a necessityby some of us to withstand theboredom of some of the lectures, oneof whose habit was to read passagesout of a textbook and indicate wherehe personally didn’t agree with theauthor now and again. To raise thenecessary cash to buy wheels I hiedoff to London to Wall’s Ice Creamfactory, where by working the nightshift in the huge storage freezers, onecould fairly rapidly acquire significantfunds if one didn’t get involved in theperpetual poker games ongoing dayand night. On return I bought thefamous Hackett Special, a blacksinister-looking mainly Triumph 350twin motorbike put together byMedical student Tom Hackett andPhysiology lab technologist JohnnyCagney from the cannibalised remainsof two crashed bikes. It servedfaithfully until one wet day in theCounty Limerick when it mysteriouslycaught fire under me as I was blastingalong a road near Caherconlish whileup in Limerick doing an elective withthe respected Dr John Nash, PhysicianSuperintendent at the RegionalHospital.

When I got back to Cork after theSummer the Polio epidemic was in fullswing. Over its course over 500patients, mostly children were

admitted to hospital within less thanfour months. The public healthauthorities had anticipated anoutbreak but nothing like this. AsPolio attacks about 100 patients forevery one it brings down with visiblesymptoms it meant that in Cork withits then population of 75,000 therecould have been possibly up to50,000 affected. Though the vastmajority of these were symptom-freethey could have been potential carriersof the virus for a time. The authoritieshad designated some hospitals asPolio reception centres thoughapparently no attempt was made toimport and use the newly releasedSalk Polio vaccine which was soon toobliterate the disease in the westernworld. The old Fever Hospital inBlackpool was recommissioned andthe Fever Hospital block in StFinbarr’s was readied with arespiratory intensive care unitcontaining various artificial respiratorsfor the most seriously ill patientssuffering from respiratory paralysis.

This is where we got involved; in aprior outbreak in Copenhagenvolunteer Medical students had beencalled upon to manually ventilatesome patients who for one reason oranother could not be placed onartificial ventilation machines. In StFinbarr’s there was a little girl who fellinto this category. A call went out forvolunteers to help the overworkedNursing staff by working mainly mightshifts to manually ventilate her.Several of the class who would go onto graduate in 1959/60 came forward.

A rota was organised to cover the nightshift. Among the volunteers was NoelMcCarthy, son of the then Cork CountyMedical Officer of Health. Though the

Dr Paul O’Brien

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public health doctors came in forcriticism by Patrick Cockburn, Dr.McCarthy had no hesitation in lettingNoel volunteer. Others were RaymondHegarty, Jerry O’Connel (RIP), OliveO’Donoghue, Ben Meade (who wentback to his digs after one shift only tofind his personal belongings neatlypiled outside the door with a politenote from the landlady asking him tomake himself scarce) and ElizabethHealy, also asked to vacate herlodgings at short notice.

Another volunteer was my friend thelate John Joe Kelly who was onholidays from TCD at the time; JohnJoe was the only one to come downwith symptoms of the disease butluckily it was not the paralytic variant.Other volunteers at the Blackpool siteincluded John A. Kelly whose fatherUCC graduate Surgeon LieutenantKelly had been lost at sea when thehospital ship ‘Ceramic’ was torpedoed.

We were given a crash course on howto bag the little girl whose name wasMargot; the bag was connected to atracheotomy and we did alternatingtwo-hour stints of regularlycompressing it, interrupted only byaspirating secretions when necessary.I still recall the subdued lighting ofthe special unit with the silenceregularly broken by the hiss of the ironlungs. Margot would gaze at ussteadily as we kept her going; she hadincredible fortitude and did eventuallyrecover enough function as to managelargely breathing on her own. Laterwhile doing clinics at the OrthopaedicHospital in Gurranebraher she greetedus from the rehab unit where she thenwas. One of the patient’s in an ironlung was Michael who hailed fromWaterford; he had developed the habitof attempting to cough to attract theattention of the nurse looking afterhim for fear she might nod off.

Raymond Hegarty remembersmanually ventilating a little girl with asad and tragic history. Her motherhad sent her to relatives in Skibbereento avoid the epidemic; there she cutherself while tree climbing anddeveloped tetanus; now she was in theunit suffering from respiratoryparalysis and also being bagged.Sadly she died.

Towards the end of September ourservices were no longer needed andwithout fuss or fanfare we slippedquietly in to the routine life of themedical student. Dr. Saunders, CityMOH and Professor of Public Healthat the time, did offer a few gruff wordsof thanks to the volunteers as a groupat the first lecture he gave us thatFall. Indeed far from getting us anyspecial treatment academically therewas the distinct impression that hehad failed one of the volunteers in thePublic Health exam the next Summer.By that time deemed faulty knowledgeof more pressing Public Healthsubjects such as Salmonella outbreakscaused by imported Chinese frozenegg, the dimensions of septic systems,and the Loch Maree disaster cancelledout any brownie points that mighthave been gained by volunteering forfrontline duty in the Polio epidemic.

While Patrick Cockburn was critical ofthe Cork Medical establishment’shandling of the crisis the truth is theepidemic was well managed once itbroke out; however an inexplicableoversight was the failure to organisethe rapid introduction of massvaccination once it was recognisedthat an outbreak was likely thatSummer.

Doctors and Nurses went about dutieswith dedication. Though we volunteershad no knowledge of medicaladministrative and management

matters, I can recall no instance ofpanic. Names that come back to meare Sister Stanislaus who ran the Unitwith quiet efficiency and nurses likeNancy Riordan and Kathleen Stoker aswell as many others we didn’t come incontact with and so unknown to mewho went about the duties of goingout in ambulances for affectedpatients and faithfully nursing themthrough their illness. Looking backthrough a veil of over 50 years Irecognise the heroism of thesededicated professionals so matter offactly taken for granted at the time.For those I haven’t mentioned I mustplead the incomplete memory bank ofhalf a century.

Stanley Leeson, a member of the Classof ’59 and now Chief of CardiovascularAnesthesiology at Brigham andWomen’s Hospital in Boston, tells methat it was experiences gained inepidemics such as those in Cork andCopenhagen that gave rise to theintroduction of controlled ventilationduring routine anesthesia.

Ironically it appears the conditionsthat facilitated the epidemic were dueto improvements in hygienicconditions in the City and not theopposite, as many Cork residentsbelieved at the time. Many of theaffected children came from the newsuburbs such as Gurranebraher, builtexpressly to eliminate the old slumareas of the city. The newer cleanerenvironments paradoxically gave riseto a new population raised without theimmunity they might have acquiredunder the old living conditions

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Young Irish Anaesthetist in LondonIn the 1970s, I applied for a job in Anaesthetics in Charing Cross Hospital, one of London’s most famous teachinghospitals. I was encouraged by my father, who was a surgeon, to do so. Without much soul searching or deep selfanalysis, I did it!Looking back now, I regard it as quitea brave thing to do, although at thetime I certainly didn’t. I had aMedical Degree from UniversityCollege Cork, but it was a quantumleap into the world of Anaesthesia, theNHS and the London Hospitals.

I enjoyed my early days in Anaesthesiaenormously. I very quickly realised itwas less daunting than I imagined.After several weeks of intensivesupervision, my consultant, adistinguished man, told me that thetime had come when I would have todo a case all on my own. He would besitting in the coffee room close by. Ifelt some trepidation, and asked if hewould at least come and watch me.He was very firm, and said “No! I wantyou to do it alone”. He then jokedthat he would only come and watchme if the patient was a Bishop or amember of the Royal Family. I wentto give my first solo Anaesthetic. Ifound my patient in the waiting area.He was a very big African man, full ofcharm with beautiful manners.

I asked him all the usual questionsand he answered in a courteous way.Lastly, I checked the consent form tomake sure he had signed it. To myamazement he had the title of Bishop.I couldn’t believe it! Stunned I askedhim if he really was a Bishop. Hereplied politely that he ran a hugeDiocese in Africa and was just visitingLondon.

I excused myself and whizzed back tothe coffee room. My Consultant wasabsorbed in The Times crossword. Itold him he would have to come andhelp me because the patient was infact a Bishop. He started to chuckle.We went to the patient together. I wastold some years later that he used thisstory in his after dinner speeches atthe many Medical functions heattended in London. So my firstpatient was a Bishop, but I can’t reallyclaim him.

Soon I was doing a lot of cases on myown, and liked standing on my owntwo feet.

My next job was in the HammersmithHospital which was also the RoyalPost-Graduate Medical School. It was

next door to Wormwood Scrubs, thelegendary prison with its dark secrets.

From the theatre changing rooms wecould look right down into the prisonexercise yard. At certain times theprisoners would take their exercise.They always looked subdued and self-contained. We got “The Scrubs”prisoners as patients. They werealways on their best behaviour inhospital and were happy if their staywas prolonged.

“The Scrubs” patients were alwaysdone first on the lists. They alwayshad at least one prison officer withthem when they came to theatre,occasionally they were handcuffed, butthis was unusual enough. In theanaesthetic room the prison officerwould stay until the patient was welland truly “under”. The officers werewarm and chatty and asked all sorts ofquestions about life in the hospital.The “prisoner patient” tended to bemuch quieter, sometimes even timid,but occasionally offered somefascinating anecdotes about why theywere “inside”. I remember one veryfriendly prisoner, who was very witty asI was putting him to sleep. Hethanked me very nicely indeed. Hethen went to sleep. The officer thentold me of his very murky past. It washair raising stuff!

Occasionally the officers would faintwhen needles were produced. Theprisoners were always highly amusedwhen this happened. I think it gavethem just a brief feeling of one-upmanship for a change!

Next came Moorfields Eye Hospital. Iworked in the large City Road branch,but every Tuesday night, one had tocover a smaller branch in HighHolborn. It was an old, very tallbuilding, with wonderful rooftop viewsof the West End. It was on theperiphery of Covent Garden and rightin the middle of theatreland. On myway to do a case at night, I wouldhave to make my way through thecrowds flocking to see the shows.Afterwards, I would walk downShaftesbury Avenue and see theexcited theatre goers coming out,clutching programmes and talking

animatedly.

More work followed in the famous redbricked Royal National Ear, Nose andThroat Hospital in Golden Square, justoff Piccadilly. There had been aThroat Hospital there since earliesttimes. It was an amazing location towork in. The operating theatres werehigh up in the building. We lookedstraight down onto Golden Squarewhich was very pleasing to the eye.There was a statue of King George IIIin the centre (see picture). In hisnovel, “Nicholas Nickleby”, CharlesDickens describes “the mournfulstatue that watches over a wildernessof shrubs”.

In my day there were a lot of neat,geometric colourful flowerbeds in thesquare, all very well kept. We used toobserve the office workers atlunchtime. It was a very popularplace, especially on a fine London day.People sat on the wooden benches,gossiping, devouring sandwiches,sausage rolls and huge slices of pizzafrom the many Italian establishmentsin Soho. Squadrons of plump pigeonskept a watchful eye on the scene.There would be rich pickings whenpeople left to disappear into thenarrow streets of Soho. Going in to doemergency cases at ungodly hours, Iwould see many strange and oddthings as Soho emerged from the blueof the night into yet another day –Soho waking up at dawn was quitesome sight to behold!

Free tickets for the Palladium oftenarrived at the hospital. One night Iwent to see “The King and I” withsome staff. As we took our seats, aManager asked if there was a ladyanaesthetist present. He then told methat Deborah Kerr would receive me inher dressing room at the interval.Totally mystified, I went backstage.She explained that I had put one ofher relatives to sleep and wanted tothank me in person. She thenintroduced me to Yul Brynner. Ithought I was dreaming – it wasslightly unreal. Even to this day thepleasant dreamy quality of that nightsums up my warm and affectionatememories of being a youngAnaesthetist in London

Dr Carol Dundon

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Jennings Gallery - Brookfield News

On 8th October 2008, the Jennings Gallery in Brookfield, launched an artexhibition under the banner of “Le Violon d’Ingres”. The name of the exhibitionwas suggested by Dr Angela Ryan of UCC, and is derived from the artist JeanAuguste Dominque Ingres (1780-1867), a French Neoclassical painter, who gavethe phrase to the French Language to describe a hobby that becomes a parallelobsession. In his case, he was a painter whose other obsession was playing theviolin.

‘Le Violon d’Ingres’ was comprised ofa selection of works by Dr DerekO’Connell, Dr Carl Vaughan and DrMichael Whelton, all practisingMedical graduates medical graduatesof UCC for whom painting is morethan a pastime. For two of our threeartists it was their first publicexhibition of their work, a step ofsome courage into regions ofvulnerability with an uncertainoutcome. The exhibition ran until19th November and then moved toCork University Hospital’s canteen fora few weeks – where Edelle Nolan,Arts Coordinator, curated theexhibition. It was receivedoverwhelmingly by staff and visitorswith great interest. I am delighted toreport that the show was a wonderfulsuccess with approximately half theworks on show sold on the openingnight and within the next two weeks.This was a great result and follows onfrom our first exhibition of the worksof the KCAT artists last January.

Please view our websitewww.ie/en/jennings-gallery for moreinformation on the Gallery and itsexhibitions. You can also add youremail details and get on to our mailinglist http://www.ucc.ie/en/jennings-gallery/moreinfo/ for notification offuture exhibitions. In recent weeks,the Gallery features upgrades with theaddition of new glass doors on theexhibition cases and the installation oflighting.

Between March 24th-April 24th, theJennings Gallery is exhibiting theworks of the College of Medicine &Health’s First Year OccupationalTherapy students as a result of theirCreative Arts module that facilitatesthem expressing their own creativityand inspiring others to do so. Muchof their work will involve a diverserange of media and will be featuredthroughout the gallery.

A competition for all students in theCollege of Medicine & Health is inplanning stages that will explore,through a variety of visual forms,aspects of the relationship between aclinician and their client to patientrelationship but more of that in ournext Medical Alumni News….

Mr Michael Hanna

Dr Carl Vaughan, Ms Fiona Kearney,

Dr Michael Murphy

Dr Derek O’Connell, Mrs Sioban Murphy,

Dr Carl Vaughan, Dr Michael Whelton

Ms Hilary Prentice, Dr Garrett Fitzgerald,

Prof Robbie McConnell

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BARRY O’DONNELL, BOOK LAUNCH, 6th OCTOBER 2008 President of UCC, Dr. Michael Murphy, members of Council, Prof. Barry O’Donnell and Mary, distinguished guests, ladies &gentlemen – it is my great pleasure to welcome you here this evening for the launch of “Irish Surgeons & Surgery in the 20thCentury”.

Barry O’Donnell has had a long anddistinguished association with ourCollege, the College of Surgeons inIreland, and indeed was its Presidentfrom 1998-2000. The history of ourCollege has been admirably covered byJDH Widdess in “The Royal College ofSurgeons in Ireland and its Medicalschool from 1784-1984 as well as themonumental work published by SirCharles Cameron first published in1896, “History of the Royal College ofSurgeons in Ireland and of the IrishSchools of Medicine”, in which heprovided a number of shortbiographical sketches. Barry hasprovided a wider canvas looking at thelives of the great majority of those whopractised surgery in Ireland in the lastcentury whether or not they had anyassociation with the College. We oweBarry a deep sense of gratitude forthis great contribution.

Rudyard Kipling told us that “a gulfseparates even the least of those whodo things worthy to be written aboutfrom even the best of those who havewritten things worthy of being talkedabout”.

He even told a story about a man whoaccomplished a most notable deedand then wished to explain to his tribewhat he had done. As soon as hebegan to speak however he was struckdumb, lacked the words and sat down.There then arose a man who had takenno part in the action of this Fellowand who had no special virtues otherthan the fact that he was afflictedwith the magic of what Kiplingdescribed as the “necessary word”.This man went on to describe themerits of the notable deed in such afashion that the words “became aliveand walked up and down in the heartsof his listeners”. Thereupon the tribeseeing that the words were certainlyalive and fearing that the man withwords might hand down untrue tales

about themselves to their children,they took him aside and killed him.But, of course, they later saw that themagic was in the words and not in theman.

President, as Barry is an alumnus ofyour University and a staunch dyed inthe wool Corkonian, he is verydefinitely a member of your tribe. Imove that you do not sacrifice Barry atleast tonight! After all, not only hashe written things worthy of beingtalked about, but in his unique case I

think he has done things worthy to bewritten about.

It is said that biography serves as aprism through which history is viewed.Biographers shape unruly lives intotidy narratives of virtue rewarded orpromise unfulfilled.

Benjamin Disraeli, a former EnglishPrime Minister at the end of the 19thcentury, was also incidentally anovelist, and he wrote, “Read nohistory, nothing but biography for thatis life without theory”

Introduction by Prof Frank Keane, President, Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland

Mr Cyril Kenefick, Prof Barry O'Donnell Mr Michael Horgan; Ms Carmel Horgan and Prof Barry O'Donnell

Dr Michael Murphy, Prof Barry O'Donnell, Prof Frank Keane

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Internationally Renowned Paediatric Cardiologisthonoured with UCC Alumnus Achievement Award Internationally renowned Paediatric Cardiologist, Dr Finbarr (Barry) Keane was honoured with a UCC Alumnus Achievement Awardby UCC's College of Medicine & Health for his distinguished career in Medicine. The 2008 Awards Ceremony took place onThursday, November 27th 2008 at UCC.

Barry Keane graduated from UCC in1960 with a degree in Medicine. Hecompleted his early training in Britainand then moved to the USA where herepeated an internship in New Yorkfollowed by a medical residency inHartford, Connecticut and then startedCardiology training in the University ofVermont. During the 1970s, heestablished himself in a highlysuccessful career in the Paediatricservice at the world's pre-eminentMedical School at Harvard in Boston.He rose through the academic ranks toProfessor of Paediatrics and Directorof the Cardiac Catherization Laboratoryfrom 1990 to 1996.

Dr Keane's major research interestsare in the natural history of congenitalheart disease and interventionalcardiac catheterisation. Barry wasinvolved in many important researchstudies, but none more so than theFirst and Second natural historystudies on Congenital Heart Disease,published in 1977 and 1993,respectively. These are now thebedrock for comparative assessmentsof effectiveness of various therapeuticinterventions.

Dr Keane has published extensivelyincluding 146 peer review papers andnine book chapters, as first and co-author with many of the mostdistinguished pioneers in the field ofPaediatric Cardiology and surgery ofthe last half century, a golden era inthis field. Their innovations will havetouched the lives of many peoplewhere siblings or children andgrandchildren may have benefittedwith the gift of a normal quality of life,and life expectancy.

Dr Keane is noted for his caringattitude towards his patientsparticularly in the catheterisationlaboratory where he excelled with hiscalm, thorough approach andmeticulous attention to small detailsso often the difference betweensuccess and failure or for the patient,life and death.

Dr Keane has received many accoladesfor his work and was listed among TheBest Doctors in America, 2nd edition,on more than one occasion. Mostrecently, Dr Keane has edited thesecond edition of the Alexander Nadastext book on Paediatric Cardiology, the

standard reference text in many partsof the world. Dr Keane has been anoutstanding ambassador for the UCCMedical School in Boston and atHarvard University and has mentored anumber of UCC graduates with aninterest in congenital heart disease.

Reacting to his Alumnus AchievementAward, Dr Keane said: "I am honouredto receive this award from my almamater. As the ceremony fell onThanksgiving Day in the States, myfamily has allowed me to return toCork to receive this award provided Icome back next day to smoke theturkey!"

Dick Lehane, Dr Tomas O’Canain, Declan Kidney, Dr Barry Keane

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An Appreciation of Joe O’Donnell 1943 - 2009My first encounter with Joe was as aMedical student. I lived on theNorthside and had to commute to theRegional Hospital. Everybody elsestarted their clinics at 9-9.15am. NotJoe, we had to arrive on Ward 4A at8am bleary eyed, tired , sweaty andhungry - well he had just come backfrom the States you know! He never ever looked tired, where didhe get his energy?

July 1st 1983 first day first job as anintern working with Joe. I had toknow all the blood results by heart allthe time (especially the plateletcount). I also had to clean the "rasherrind" from the varicose ulcers. I neversaw the sunrise or sunset in those twomonths -14 hour days. He was alwaysaround as well.

July 1st 1984 I was appointed to theSurgical scheme as Joe’s SHO – myreal education begins.

As I struggle to close wounds havingto repeat the steps his wisdom pouredforth - "If you have to do everythingtwice - the operation takes twice aslong" .

As he takes care with a difficultanastomosis, his patience unwavering– "Patience and perseverance turnsthe Bishop into his Reverence"

He was full of tricks! Whenperforming Sapheno femoral ligationhe would expose the saphenous vein,ligate it, transect it, place aLanganbach retractor into a plainwhich only he ever found and lift andelevate to expose the SaphenoFemoral junction and all the branchesin about 30 seconds. This manoeuverbecame known as the "Bra Manoeuver"- It was my job to "Lift and separatelike the cups of a bra".

He was very supportive to all his staff.Whenever one did something bad heforgave, asked what you had learned

from the mistake and that was that.He would often comment “sure itcould happen to a Bishop" - I havetried to emulate him in this regard.

Joe supervised my first publication on"Below knee amputations in Ireland".In the first draft I tried to make it veryscientific and used the term "Bipedalambulation" - "What does that mean?"he laughed, can you not just use"walk" - always follow the kissprinciple" - “What is that I ask" "Keepit simple stupid" he replied - It hasworked for me ever since.

Towards the end of my time asRegistrar when it had been decided Iwould pursue a career in NeurosurgeryI had to perform a laparotomy on apatient with a massive haematemsis apresumed case of a bleeding duodenalulcer. There was blood everywhere. Iopened the stomach and blood hitmy face. There was no ulcer to befelt. The abdomen was packed andJoe was summoned from the nexttheatre. Further dissection revealedhis worst fear - an aorto-enteric fistula.Joe leaned over, put his fist on theaorta to stem the tide. He looked mein the eye and said “of course Michaelyou can't do this in the brain". It wasa very long day.

Although we all have our faults I cansay hand on heart that in the nearly30 years I knew him I never heard abad word about him from anybody. Hewas always held in high regard fromthe porters to his Peers. His patientsadored him. That is some record.

Mr Michael O’Sullivan

I first met Joe O’Donnell as anIntrepid Second Medical student,having wandered into his theatre on aFriday afternoon. Although my entrywas discreet, it was acknowledged bya glare through the “Buddy Holly-style” loupe spectacles which gave Joean undeserved appearance of

sternness and formality. However,being unaware of what he was reallylike, I felt that I had intruded into aseemingly endless lower limb bypassoperation, wherein the assistant wasbeing plied with incomprehensibleanalogies about the similarity betweenassisting in theatre and picking beet.

Despite his now understandableirritability on that occasion, hispersistence, care and attention todetail were readily apparent to me, asI withdrew. I could not have knownthen that Joe was to become a greatmentor and friend to me over theyears, nor that I would follow his pathinto Vascular Surgery because of hisinfluence, encouragement andpractical career advice.

His tendency to use analogies was attimes superb, helping students toconceptualise clinical problems, andat other times enigmatic. I still wonderwhat he meant when he spoke onenight of whether to use one or twotorches when looking for a specificbook in a darkened library! Apart fromsome moments of obscurity, workingwith Joe was an exposure to aconstant stream of aphorisms, self-analysis and good humour. Even still,when on the verge of being unrealistic,I recall his phrase “you don’t have tooperate on everyone before they die”.I think he has, perhaps unwittingly,left us with the most economicallydescriptive clinical phrase of all, whenhe referred to patients with multipleillnesses and organ failure as having“the all-overs”. This pithy term hasbecome a great favourite of mine, andmany other trainees over the years.

Joe considered everything carefully.Patients with self-limiting non-seriousillnesses were treated properly, yetformally, with no unnecessaryinteraction. By contrast, those withserious problems were managed in anappropriately individual but alwaysdeeply caring way. Whenever a patient

15

was told of an impending amputation,Joe always sat beside the bed todiscuss it. He constantly analysedwhat he did, both technically and interms of decision-making, clearlylearning some nuance from almostevery clinical encounter. Being able torecall names of patients and theirangiographic findings in detailsometimes made the analysis soundquite amusing, for example “now ifMrs Moloney had the same iliac lesionas Mr O’Connor, and the run-off ofO’Mahony, she could have the bypassthat we did for your-man fromClonmel, but she hasn’t, so you knowwhat that means, don’t you”. Bypolitely answering yes, one hoped theinterpretation would follow, which italways did.

Despite his dedication to his work, Joemaintained a balance in his life thatmany fail to do. Talk of the best wayto cook monkfish, or of phrases hisfather used during his childhood wereinterspersed among accounts of hisown family. He liked going home.

I suppose the greatest tribute to himis that I think about something he saidor did nearly every week in practice, tothe extent that my Senior Registrarsoften comment about the influencethat Joe had on me, given thefrequency with which he is mentioned.I can only hope to carry on thattradition.

Mr Gerald Mc Greal

I first met Mr. Joseph O’Donnell inJuly 1990, when I came to CorkUniversity Hospital (CUH) to take myplace on the Cork Surgical TrainingScheme. The Department of Surgery

at that time had three ConsultantSurgeons in the Department ofGeneral Surgery, Professor Michael P.Brady, Professor William O. Kirwanand Mr. Joseph O’Donnell.

Joe O’Donnell specialised in VascularSurgery and the CUH, but alsopractised as a General Surgeon. Hewas an outstanding surgeon,technically gifted, and these skillsbenefited countless patients during hiscareer. These skills were most evidentwhen patients with leaking abdominalaortic aneurysms or life-threateningvascular injuries presented to theCUH, usually in the early hours of themorning. Contact would be made withthe O’Donnell home, and a seeminglyhopeless and chaotic situation wouldbe rescued once Joe arrived andeffortlessly applied the aortic clamp. Itwould be a lie, however, to suggestthat a night or afternoon in Joe’soperating room, was always a relaxingexperience. When faced with achallenging case or long operating list,Joe would apply necessary pressure onthe junior staff and would successfullycaptain his ship through difficultwaters.

However, a feature of Joe’s operatinglists was that they were alwaysentertaining, mostly because of thehumorous interactions between Joeand Dr. George Morrison, ConsultantAnaesthetist. It too a little while tounderstand this relationship, and thiswas highlighted on one occasion by aMedical student wondering at the endof an operating list how he toleratedworking with Dr. Morrison. It took mea few months following my arrival atCUH to understand that this duo had

a unique friendship and ended manyof these operating lists with a beer ina nearby hostelry. I understand fromthe CUH folklore of the time that therewas a language code betweenO’Donnell and Morrison and that theyusually exited the operating roomtogether at the end of the day toreview X-rays. Reviewing X-rays wascode word for the aforementionedmeetings for a relaxing pint.

Joe O’Donnell was an outstandingteacher and mentor of a generation ofsurgical trainees. Joe was alwaysapproachable to junior staff and,personally, I considered him a friendat the end of my three years. I believeI was not alone in this respect. Joewas an outstanding researcher andinnovator in Vascular Surgery. Hefounded the first vascular laboratory atCUH in 1980. I can remember anexcellent research project from Joe’svascular laboratory, which was carriedout by Mr. Diarmuid O’Riordain (now aGeneral Surgeon in a Dublin teachinghospital), under Joe’s supervision,which showed that life expectancy ofpatients with intermittent claudicationcorrelated with ankle-brachial index.The results of this study wereenthusiastically received at nationaland international conferences andwere published in the British Journalof Surgery.

Following completion of the CorkSurgical Scheme, I decided that Iwould change specialties and soughtJoe’s advice. He listened as usual,gave me excellent advice and kindlyagreed to write me a reference

Prof Michael Maher

UCC Medical Alumni News is intended for circulation among UCC Medical Alumni. The opinions and views inthe publication are those of the contributors and are not necessarily shared by the UCC Medical AlumniAssociation.

Contact Details:Ms. Rachel Hyland,Medical Alumni Association,Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, College Road, Cork

Tel: +353 (0)21 4901587Email: medalumni@ucc.iehttp://www.ucc.ie/en/DepartmentsCentresandUnits/SchoolofMedicine/MedicalAlumni/

Please send us your e-mail address to update our files.

16

UCC has always taken pride in the qualityof student experience it delivers. Itcontinues to strive to ensure that thestandard of teaching and research is ofthe highest level delivered in the mostconducive and safe learning environment.This will not be possible in the futurewithout your support. The Medical AlumniCommittee appeals to you to considersupporting the School of MedicineEndowment Fund by either making acontribution to it directly or considering itin your will or facilitating introductions forthe Fundraising team to individuals whoyou think may be indebted to theeducation which you received at UCC.

All contributions no matter how small aretruly welcome. Donations greater than€250 can be made in a tax effectivemanner through Cork UniversityFoundation by making a cheque payableto Cork University Foundation, School ofMedicine Fund and sending it to Dr Jeanvan Sinderen-Law, Director ofDevelopment, Director Cork UniversityFoundation, Development Office,University College Cork, Ireland. Tel:021 4902205; Email j.Law@ucc.ie.

Alternatively to avail of the tax deductionin the US, cheques can be made payableto the Irish Educational Foundationincorporated under section 501(c) 3 ofthe Internal Revenue Code. Its federal IDnumber is 04-3115638. IrishEducational Foundation Inc., c/o John F.Hegarty, 19 Cross Street, Medfield, MA02052, USA. Tel.: 617-861-2043; E-mail: jhegarty@financeboston.com

Message from theDevelopmentOffice

MMeeddiiccaall AAlluummnnii SScciieennttiiffiicc CCoonnffeerreennccee 22000099September 18 and 19, University College Cork

Contributors include:

Dr Frank Golden – Why bother to learn to swim, it just prolongs the agony?Dr Deirdre Madden – Ethical and Legal issues in Stem Cell Research

Prof Donal Nyhan – Vascular aging, can we turn back the clock?Prof Tim O’Brien – Can we regenerate tissue using adult stem cells?

Dr Brian O’Mahony – Informatics in MedicineDr Colm Quigley – Let us take control

Dr Mary Sheppard – Sudden Cardiac DeathDr Mike Henry – Recent advances in the Diagnosis and Management of Lung Cancer

Prof Barry Ferriss / Dr Sinead Kinsella – Prof Denis O’Sullivan FellowshipDr John Coulter – Fertility Sparing Surgery in Cervical Cancer

Prof Ted Dinan - Depression: Studies from the Cradle to the GraveDr Conor Barrett - Non-pharmacological treatment of heart rhythm

disorders - from atrial fibrillation to ventricular fibrillationDr Catherine Molloy – Osteoporosis – New Frontiers

Prof Brendan Buckley – ProsperityDr Roddy Galvin – The Sting in the Gardens of Paradise

There will be a dinner reception at the Glucksman Gallery on the evening of Friday, September 18

Please contact Rachel Hyland (r.hyland@ucc.ie / 021-4901587) if you require any further details

NNoorrtthh AAmmeerriiccaann SScciieennttiiffiicc MMeeeettiinngg aanndd 11997744 CCllaassss RReeuunniioonn

August 25 – 28, St John’s, Newfoundland

Contributors include:

Dr Brendan Barrett – Management of Chronic Kidney Disease in the CommunityDr Benvon Cramer – Teleradiology and Outreach Programmes

Dr Catherine Keohane – Recent Advances in Brain Tumour Diagnosis and Management

Prof Pat Parfrey – Molecular Genetics and Population HealthDr Eilish Walsh – Scrotal Ultrasound in ChildrenDr Joe Curtis – The Genetics of Diabetes Mellitus

A number of excursions and entertainment has been organised.

Please contact Prof Pat Parfrey (pparfrey@mun.ca) if you require any further details