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Medical Alumni Newsletter 2013 Medical Alumni and Faculty Newsletter No. 12 December 2013 Contents Diary in Pictures p2 Introduction / Welcome p3 The Hunt for Dicer 1 – Dr. Paul O’Brien p4 Is it a Boy or a Child – Dr. Fergus Moylan p7 Alumni Interview – Prof. Tony Gallagher, Professor of Technology Enhanced Learning Dr. Dan Burke, Prof Katy Keohane Prof. Michael Molloy, Dr. Con Murphy, p9 Jennings Gallery – Dr. Bridget Maher Dr. Will Fennell p10 Summer Elective Report – Rory Crotty p10 Dr. Henry Hutchinson Stewart Scholarships – Dr. Bridget Maher p11 €6 million CU Cystic Fibrosis Research Award – Dr. Barry Plant p12 Today’s research is tomorrows health care Dr. Pat Cogan-Tangney, Prof Paul Finucane Dr. Jim O’Regan, Dr. Rory O’Brien, – Prof. Jonathan Hourihane Mr. Peter Ganey, Mr. Fionnan O’Carroll p13 Improving Care for People with Diabetes: A Population Approach to Prevention and Control – Prof . Patricia Kearney p14 Charles Donovan Memorial Lecture - Introduction – Prof. Katy Keohane p15 Charles Donovan Memorial Lecture – Prof .Fergus Shanahan Prof. Barry Ferriss, Dr Eamann Breatnach Prof. Cillian Twomey, Dr. Bill O’Dwyer p16 Medical Alumni & Faculty Scientific Conference 2013 p18 Appreciations Dr. Pat Sullivan, Dr Tom Crotty Dr. Colm Quigley, Dr Dan Burke Prof. Catherine Keohane Introduction Welcome to the 12th newsletter of the UCC Medical Alumni and Faculty Association am delighted to represent the UCC Medi- the Western Gateway Building, the Glucks- Sadly, we have been informed of the deaths I cal Alumni and Faculty as Chairman of the man Gallery and main campus can be of former teachers and colleagues in the Alumni Committee. arranged. Put the date in your diaries quickly!! past year, and I would like to thank those who have kindly prepared appreciations. Dr. Will Fennell, my predecessor, along with the Prof. George Shorten achieved a great deal as Our sympathy goes to all those who have Committee, deserve both thanks and praise former Dean, and the School has now grown lost loved ones. for their hard work over the past few years, for to nearly 1000 students, including the Direct organising the Annual Scientific meetings, Entry and Graduate Entry programmes. Re- The Committee look forward to meeting as publishing the newsletter and staying in touch cently, our Alumni from Malaysia have grown many Alumni as possible, and hearing your with Alumni. to significant numbers, and we also have the news. Special thanks to Rachel Hyland and first 2 years of the Graduate Entry Alumni, many Bridget Maher for preparation of the newslet- I would like to encourage all UCC Medical of whom originate from North America, ex- ter. Alumni and UCC College of Medicine and panding the influence of UCC School of Medi- Health Staff to actively get involved with us, cine abroad. We have many distinguished and let us know your up to date contact de- alumni working in all fields of medicine, or For contact details: tails. For those with special anniversary years prominent in other areas of public life. We Catherine.keohane@ ucc.ie of graduation, it is a great idea to plan your would like to maintain and build on these links [email protected]. class reunions around the Scientific Meet- for the benefit of the school and its alumni. I ing which will be held on Thursday Sept 11, wish Prof. Mary Horgan every success in her See you in September! n 2014, in Brookfield Health Sciences Com- term as Dean. plex, followed by the Annual Dinner in the Aula Max. It is a wonderful opportunity to The newsletter includes several articles on renew acquaintances with your own class- recent developments inthe School, items of mates and those of other years, as well gain- interest, and some highlights of the Scientific ing valuable continuing medical education Conference. ‘’points’’. Returning classes have been both impressed and keenly interested to see the develop- ments in UCC and quick tours of Brookfield, Prof. Mary Horgan Welcome Medical Alumni 2013 have had the opportunity to reflect on the The development of the Hospital I past decade of the School of Medicine in Network has formally partnered UCC with UCC. The changes cover the spectrum in edu- the South/Southwest Hospital Network. I am privileged to have been ap- cation, research and clinical care. The School of Medicine warmly wel- pointed to the role of Dean of the comes Waterford to the network School of Medicine in November 2013. The campus has expanded beyond rec- and looks forward to the education, I look forward to the further development of ognition with the building of state of the research and innovation opportunities this the Medical Alumni and its network in this art teaching facilities at Brookfield Health partnership provides. world of modern communication. n Sciences Complex and Western Gate Build- ing that has facilitated the expansion of De- The School took advantage of opportunities partments in the School of Medicine and in the good times to develop the campus the College of Medicine and Health. The but continued to successfully seek out other School is proud of its world class research opportunities in leaner times particularly in groups whose excellent track record has been medical research. acknowledged by significant Science Founda- And the developments continue! tion Ireland funding. 2 Dr. Paul O’Brien The Hunt For - DICER 1 ne day in 2010, ten years after retirement My patient had been operated on at least Insurance numbers. Alas, further searches Ofrom my 30-year tenure as Chief Patholo- thirty years ago; the cut-off dates for retain- through various data bases, including the Pro- gist/Laboratory Director at a Toronto hospital, ing old records, path reports and blocks/slides vincial Health Plan, drew a resounding blank. I got a message from my old Department. had long passed. Everything from that era had This worried me as I thought the patient may A non-staff doctor had phoned the lab asking been discarded. I told Marc he was out of luck. have died. Some arrhenoblastomas can be- to speak with me; he left his phone number. One evening at dinner, I was telling the story have in an aggressive fashion; I had given her a I phoned the number and was mildly sur- to my wife Elizabeth, MB 1959. In response to good prognosis based on the cellular charac- prised to find myself speaking to a cancer my comment that no records were available, teristics of the growth. I hoped the lack of data cytogenetics researcher at McGill University she suggested that I check out the contents of may have meant that she had married and Medical School in Montreal. He said that his an old packing box I had stored in the garage switched her insurance cover to her spouse’s group was researching a mutation of a gene after cleaning out my desk on retirement ten account. named ‘DICER 1’ which they suspected played years before. I suspected that this was a ploy On looking again at the copy of the original a role in the development of certain rare to remind me of her many fruitless requests report, I noted that a second surname had tumour combinations which seemed to have over the years to dump the box. Nevertheless, been handwritten in beneath the original pa- a genetic predisposition. He had read a paper I had a look. I was astonished to find a slide tient identity data which is directly transcribed I had published in 19811 on an unusual com- folder containing a Kodachrome of the ovar- from the Pathology requisition form accompa- bination of lesions in a young girl-she had ian tumour with its unique Surgical Pathology nying the original specimen when it arrives in presented with a masculinising ovarian neo- accession number from 1979, as well as some the lab from the operating room. To this day, plasm, then known as an arrhenoblastoma, glass H & E slides of both the tumour and thy- I don’t know how, when or by whom this was now classified as Sertoli-Leydig Cell Tumour roid nodules. I then recalled that I’d read a pa- done. I entered this second name into the hos- (SLCT). A short while before this, she had per on the case to the Canadian Association of pital computer and got a more recent, but still been operated on for benign thyroid nodules. Pathologists’ meeting held in St. John’s, New- quite old entry containing my patient’s first On examining her family history, I noted that foundland, in 1980. As I remember, my pre- name and the same date of birth but noth- several of her relatives had a history of thyroid sentation at the time was received with what ing else. I presumed my patient had married, nodules. A review of the literature revealed which relieved me somewhat; at least my a report2 of such a combination, apparently good prognosis was correct. However, I real- the first time that this association had been ized I had reached a dead end. Shortly after, described. It seemed appropriate to write up while pursuing my hobby of the true history of the findings which I did, in association with her the Old West, (specifically the Lincoln county, endocrinologist and my good friend and col- New Mexico, troubles 3 of the late 1870’s which league, Dr. Douglas Wilansky. In those relaxed gave the world that enduring ornament W.H. times, one of the pleasures of publishing lay McCarty aka Billy the Kid), I was cruising the in counting the number of mail requests for website of Frederick Nolan, pre-eminent his- reprints, hopefully from important places with torian of the era.
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