The Pulse - School of Medicine Newsletter - Spring Edition 2022

the

Pulse

Trinity School of Medicine Newsletter

Spring Edition 2022 Spring Edition 2022

EDITORIAL

PROF IRACEMA LEROI

Welcome to our Spring edition of The Pulse. Our theme, as we emerge from the latest wave of the pandemic, is ‘health equity and inclusion’.

Our top news story celebrates the Trinity students’ campaign for vaccine equity, featured on the front page of the Irish Times and tweeted out by Bono as well as the Director general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus. Great work, students!

Under our banner of ‘Beyond’, we highlight Trinity Alumnus, Ambassador Dr Vincent O’Neil’s compelling talk on Ireland’s role in global health diplomacy. In this section we also focus on two new Patient and Public Voice (PPV) initiatives in our School, valuing and including the voice of people with lived experience of health conditions.

Through ‘Bedside’, St James CEO Mary Day shares her thoughts on the dovetailing of academic clinical medicine, and with ‘Blackboard’, we continue the theme of inclusion with a contribution from the Trinity Inclusion Curriculum from School Champions, Julie Broderick and Elizabeth Forde.

In our Showcase of Delights, we share stories of book publications, ‘singing for gout’, and two new brain health initiatives, including one in collaboration with the World Rugby.

Finally, for your ‘long read’, please delight in the fascinating life story of Eamon Mulligan, Area Executive Craftsman at St James. Interviewed

by Dr Michelle Leech, Eamon’s story will take you on a journey from a childhood in McKee Park to 1970’s Dublin bomb sites and deployment in South Lebanon. Enjoy!

Regards from the TP team – Iracema Leroi, Lucie Mingmei Hao, Michelle Leech, Mary ONeill, Michelle Hendrick, and Steve Thomas 2

Spring Edition

CONTENT NEWS HIGHLIGHT

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THE BLACKBOARD

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CLUSTER STRUCTURE FOR POSTGRADUATE TAUGHT (PGT) COURSES

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THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE’S ONLINE EDUCATION COMMITTEE (OLEC) DEVELOP KEY LEARNING STRATEGY FOR TCD

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INNOVATIVE INCLUSIVE LEARNING LED BY PHYSIOS AND RADIATION THERAPY TEAM

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THE BENCH

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IRISH RESEARCH COUNCIL ‘NEW FOUNDATIONS’ FUNDING WILL ALLOW INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION ON RARE DISORDER, RETT SYNDROME

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SEEKING A REMEDY FOR NEURODEGENERATION IN LEWY BODY DISEASE: TACKLING NEUROINFLAMMATION

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RESEARCH PROGRAMME DELVES INTO THE ‘PERCS’ OF EXERCISE AFTER CANCER TREATMENT

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THE BEDSIDE

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A CHAT OVER COFFEE WITH MARY DAY, CEO OF ST JAMES

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‘MORNING REPORT’ INITIATED BY TRINITY/ST. JAMES

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THE BEYOND

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GLOBAL MEDICAL DIPLOMACY HIGHLIGHTED IN TRINITY

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PUBLIC AND PATIENT VOICE (PPV) IS GROWING IN THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

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SHOWCASE OF WONDERS

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A LONG READ

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NEWS HIGHLIGHT

#students4vaccineequity

Students campaign for vaccine equity makes headlines A minute of silence in solidarity with 3 billion people around the world who have not yet received a first dose of a vaccine was held in Front Square on Thursday January 20 2022 at dusk. The MSc in Global Health students were joined by fellow students from across campus and RCSI, with staff from the School of Medicine.

The campaign was part of a Global Week of Action organised by the ONE Campaign to #EndThePandemic.

Prominent buildings throughout Europe turned red for #VaccineEquity from 18th January to 23rd January 2022 and the Living with COVID-19 Committee approved a request by Ann Nolan and the MSc in Global Health students to turn Trinity red in support of #VaccineEquity. We extended that idea to ask everyone to wear red in Trinity and post their a photograph of support on Twitter – people who became involved in this included our Provost, Linda Doyle who wore red boots for #VaccineEquity; Pro-Chancellor, Shane Allwright who posted a photograph in full ceremonial robes with bright red lipstick and a red chain; Dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Lorraine Lesson posted her Wizard of Oz red shoes. Others posted their dogs wearing red or wearing red face masks jumpers, hats and scarves around campus.

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The student campaign, organised and executed over 5 days, was a living lab experiment in activism for global health and was immensely successful and received support and commendation from Dr Mike Ryan, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, Bono and U2, and the President of Ireland sent a message of congratulations to the students.

The students were invited by the WHO to a live feed interview with Dr Mike Ryan which was watched by an audience of 2 million people. The spokespeople who were elected by their class to represent the campaign to the media will receive media support and training from WHO communications this week.

A photograph taken by Alan Betson from the Irish Times made the front page of the Irish Times on Friday 21st Jan. It was also covered by the University Times.

The social media campaign has been extraordinarily successful, reaching an audience of millions around the world and we are still responding to messages and retweets from universities and activists Tweeting their support from all corners of the world.

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THE BLACKBOARD Teaching

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Cluster Structure for Postgraduate Taught (PGT) Courses

By Lina Zgaga

Director of Postgraduate Teaching and Learning

The School of Medicine has over 20 PG Taught Courses.

These are covering a wide range of areas related to biomedicine, biomedical sciences and health and healthcare. Courses were historically largely operating independently. Prof Kumlesh Dev (Director of PGTL, 2019-2021) embraced the opportunity to build efficiencies between courses in the School as a part of the Strategic Plan (2021-2026) and proposed a Cluster Structure to be developed. The proposal was focused on developing a smaller number of pathways with greater shared teaching and increased resilience.

Clusters have been initially identified in consultation with Course Directors. By 2021, four clusters were in place: Biomed & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Health & Healthcare, Mental Health and Imaging & Physical Courses. Course Directors selected the cluster most closely aligned with their course (Figure). Cluster Lead were appointed for each Cluster, to assist in the review of the programmes and development of their Cluster. We currently have over 180 modules being taught to over 250 students per year, resulting in many modules being 6

taught to a handful of students. Thus, the key focus is on the development of core and elective modules that can be shared between courses. Improved efficiencies and collaborations between courses will enable the joint development of online modules and unified approach to marketing.

The initial stage of review is ongoing. Course Directors presented the structure and content of their course to the Cluster, and highlighted areas for collaboration and challenges that might be addressed. The structure has improved collaboration and experience is very positive.

Several issues were specific to each cluster were identified, such as CPD opportunities or HSE funding.

Several groups started exploring ways to incorporate staff, resources and expertise with a view of enabling the sharing of modules and resources. Many courses offer a module on Research methods and/or statistics, presenting an opportunity to extend efficiencies across clusters, but such initiative will need further support from the School.

Spring Edition

Imaging and Physical Sciences Report December 2021 Directors and course coordinators of postgraduate taught courses in the Imaging and Physical Science courses cluster met in early October for an information sharing session to identify common course challenges and explore potential collaborations between courses.

Directors and or coordinators gave short presentations outlining their course structure, challenges, areas for collaboration and challenges needing possible further support from the school. Despite seemingly disparate modules both between and within the cluster strands and across individual courses, one area for future potential collaboration emerged in Research Methods.

Since the meeting Asst. Professors Neil Fleming, Laure Marignol and Cuisle Forde have had further preliminary meetings with a view to developing a shared on-line

module incorporating staff, resources and expertise from existing taught and on-line modules within the cluster. In terms of challenges there was much more unanimity across strands and courses and given the consultation process for renewal of graduate education recently announced in the College’s Strategic Plan 2020-25 one would hope that many of these challenges will be addressed. Issues raised included difficulty with the admissions process, the move away from primary investigative research projects due to extended ethics timelines, PG student supports, more flexible degree completion options, and course staffing and administration support.

The School of Medicine’s Online Education Committee (OLEC) develop key learning strategy for TCD The School of Medicine Online Education Committee (OLEC) have been highly active since it was established two years ago working to advise and support those involved in teaching and learning online. We recently published a detailed Online Education Policy with summarised fliers for staff and students (Online Education Policy). These are included on our website (Online Education Training Page) along with a wealth of useful resourses for staff involved in online education.

The website also highlights many examples of the online teaching currently taking place across the School. There are currently over 45 purpose built online education projects within the school (details can be found here). These projects focus on many different aspects of online education, whether stand-alone courses or in support of more traditional teaching. They represent all 5 undergraduate disciplines, postgraduate

By Jennifer Conlan

teaching and the public domain (through MOOCs).

We are currently developing the School of Medicine’s first Online Education Strategy which will also be the first of its kind in TCD. The aim of this strategy is to help direct and shape effective online education in the School, into the future and beyond the current pandemic situation.

The IT Skills Development and Training page is also a very useful resource for staff and worth keeping on eye on any updates here.

To contact the Online Education Committee e-mail our Communications Officer, Dr Jennifer Conlan, on conlanje@tcd.ie

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Innovative inclusive learning led by physios and radiation therapy

By Julie Broderick As School Champions, Julie Broderick, Elizabeth Forde and their team from the physiotherapy and radiation therapy are raising awareness of the Trinity Inclusive Curriculum (Trinity-INC) project within the School of Medicine. This will ensure that curricula are designed with the needs of diverse learners in mind. Over the next 6 months, through 20 School Champions, the team will roll out a programme of events to share knowledge about UDL (universal design for learning) and stimulate discussion among staff and students, aiming to embed principles of UDL in their respective subject areas. The leads, Julie and Elizabeth completed training and were awarded a UDL badge in 2021 from the National Forum for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

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Spring Edition

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THE BENCH

HEADLINE

HEADLINE

Translational Biomedicine

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Irish Research Council ‘New Foundations’ funding will allow international collaboration on rare disorder, Rett Syndrome Dr Daniela Tropea was among 9 Trinity researchers who won a coveted ‘New Foundations’ award from the Irish Research Council (IRC), announced by the Minister for Further Education, Research, Innovation and Science last week. The IRC said that 55 funded projects aimed to enhance research partnerships with civic society organisations, while a further 22 projects will address global development, north-south reconciliation, our shared island, and police-community relations. Dr Tropea’s research will help the sharing of knowledge around Rett Syndrome. Most people with Rett syndrome, a rare disorder of brain development associated with a genetic mutation in the gene MECP2, are impaired in their ability to speak, walk and breathe. Rett Syndrome affects girls almost exclusively.

Dr Tropea has worked with the Rett Syndrome Association of Ireland (Rett Syndrome Ireland) for several years to increase the awareness of this devastating disease which affects at least 80 patients in Ireland. Speaking about the effects of the disease, Dr Tropea said: “As well as difficulties with basic functions such as speaking, walking and breathing, patients with Rett Syndrome often have hand stereotypies (repetitive movements) and other pathologies, including seizures.”

Dr Tropea is an Associate Professor of psychiatry at the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute and is also affiliated with the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute and the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience. She studies the mechanisms that control the development of the brain and those that are altered in disorders of the brain, including Rett syndrome. As a rare disease, funding which focuses on Irish patients with Rett Syndrome is particularly valuable. This IRC award will support the creation of a data platform to increase the visibility of the Irish patients with Rett Syndrome globally, which will foster collaboration between 10

scientists and clinicians researching this condition.

Crucially, studies on Rett Syndrome may also shed light on other disorders. Dr Tropea explains: “For rare diseases it is particularly important to collaborate to reach meaningful results. In addition, the data platform funded by the IRC will increase the visibility of Irish patients with Rett Syndrome, so they can be involved in international studies.

Furthermore, as Rett Syndrome is a disorder with a known genetic cause, it is possible to create models to study Rett syndrome and to test candidate treatments. However, many mechanisms that are malfunctioning in this condition are also responsible for other disorders, and therefore the findings of research on Rett syndrome may have a broader application.”

Dr Tropea has worked on Rett Syndrome for more than 15 years, and a candidate treatment she identified with colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (in a study funded by the National Institute of Health) has recently passed phase three in clinical trial. Whilst there is work to do to improve the efficacy of the drug and make sure it is suitable for all the patients with Rett Syndrome, these results offer real hope for children affected by this condition. In her studies, Dr Tropea has been supported by several foundations including Rett syndrome Ireland, International Rett Syndrome Foundation, Lejeune Foundation, and Rett Syndrome Research Trust. Dr Tropea spoke of her gratitude for the patients and their families: “I would like to thank all the families of the patients with Rett Syndrome. They are wonderful and a great source of inspiration.”

For more information on Dr Tropea’s work, visit here and for information on Rett syndrome, go to the website of Rett syndrome Ireland.

Spring Edition

Seeking a remedy for neurodegeneration in Lewy body disease: Tackling neuroinflammation Supervised by Professor Andrew Harkin, PhD candidate Caoimhe Tyndall is now funded by the Irish Research Council to investigate potential new therapies to arrest neurodegeneration in Lewy body disease (LBD) models. LBD include Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia (the second most common form of dementia), also called ‘synucleopathies’, are characterised by accumulation of alpha-synuclein protein in the brain.

This accumulation may trigger neuroinflammation, leading to neurodegeneration and resulting clinical symptoms such as movement deficits and cognitive decline. The neurotransmitter Noradrenaline (NA), upon interaction with its receptor, beta2-adrenoceptor (B2AR), has potent anti-inflammatory properties. It is

Caoimhe Tyndall, Irish Research Council PhD Candidate Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group Dublin, Ireland

thus possible that drugs targeting NA may reduce alphasynuclein-induced neuroinflammation and potentially, limit neurodegeneration and clinical symptoms.

Caoimhe and the Neuropsychopharmacology Research Group are now investigating whether targeting B2A receptors in the brains of animal models alleviates inflammation and neurotoxicity. In the short term, this project will further our understanding of the antiinflammatory action the NA system. In the longer term, it may pave the way for new treatment approaches.

Caoimhe is one of the research leads on the newly launched charity ‘Lewy Body Ireland’ (LBI). Her work aligns closely with the goals of LBI and the Parkinson’s Association of Ireland in seeking better ways to support individuals with alpha synucleinopathy-related conditions.

Research programme delves into the ‘percs’ of exercise after cancer treatment Physical activity is a fundamental part of our everyday lives, but many cancer survivors have experienced drastically reduced access to crucial rehabilitation services due to the pandemic. The ability to get back out into the community again is incredibly important to those who have been through cancer treatment, according to Dr Emer Guinan, Associate Professor in the School of Medicine Trinity College and Irish Cancer Society funded researcher. However there have been far fewer opportunities for cancer survivors to do so amidst rolling Covid-19 restrictions, which have also hugely curtailed support services that help people get back to an adequate level of physical activity. Dr Guinan says access to specialist support is “urgently needed” to address the devastating effects of cancer

and treatment. This is the driving motivation behind her PERCs (Personalised Exercise Rehabilitation in Cancer Survivorship) Programme, which is based in the Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute at St James’s Hospital. Alongside a web-based resource that will provide patients with access to vital tools including exercise advice, the PERCs programme will also see the introduction of an ‘exercise triage and referral system’ for participants who have been diagnosed and treated at St James’s. It will see patients referred to a specialist physiotherapist for assessment and treatment where required, while others may be considered suitable for referral to community-based exercise programmes with further supportive information available through the website. Read the full article here.

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THE BEDSIDE ... OUR 4B’S

Clinical Practice

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Spring Edition

A chat over coffee with Mary Day, CEO of St James Our TP Editor conducted an e-mail interview with Mary to gather insights about our clinical services…

Since becoming CEO of St James in 2020, what has been your greatest challenge?

The role of a CEO in a large acute hospital has a number of challenges, as well as opportunities. One thing the pandemic has taught us is that there has been an under-investment in infrastructural development. St James’s is 50 years old, a hospital built in the 1970s and developed in the 1980s, and no longer meets the needs of the 21st century. If you look at other Health systems, both in Europe and North America, there is a strategic planning process to develop infrastructure, which includes replacing hospitals after 50 years.

Moreover, we know from the pandemic that it’s no longer safe to have patients in open wards. We need to start moving into single room facilities, have modernised, fit-for-purpose theatre facilities, critical care etc. The key challenge securing investment in the infrastructural deficits that we have.

Capital investment can drive change and the service delivery model. Adequate capacity to meet demand and moving to new models of delivery will be pivotal to healthcare transformation. Capital investment is the biggest challenge.

You are a strong advocate for the delivery of an integrated academic health sciences centre - how do see this developing with the SoM as a partner?

The hospital is at an historic point in its evolution as Ireland’s largest teaching hospital. It is now 50 years old and the campus has grown in that period, embracing the integration of academia, research innovation with the delivery system. The James’s campus already houses a major research infrastructure, including a dedicated Cancer Clinical Trials Unit, the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, and the Clinical Research Facility. This will be further consolidated in the next few years with the opening of the National Children’s Hospital which will bring a further opportunity for collaboration with both the Hospital and the University.

St James’s will be a major national hospital with very strong tertiary services under a health sciences

umbrella. It will consolidate clinical services with research, academia and innovation into one centre, which will come together under the umbrella of an Academic Health Sciences Centre.

An Academic Health Science Centre is about a university and a hospital system coming together. We will be working across the hospital university system so it will essentially be a unique re-launching of that relationship. This will include the expansion of clinical academic positions, opportunities for innovation on the campus and the surrounding environs as we look to deepen our partnerships with Dublin 8, developing our digital delivery and research system.

How can SoM support a seamless integration of academia, innovation and research into service delivery?

Academic Health Science Centres are well established internationally, particularly in the United States and in countries like England and the Netherlands, where they have focused on achieving excellence through integrating the areas of service, research and education.

The achievement of the AHSC on campus will drive the seamless integration. I am currently working on the development of the AHSC Programme office which I would see as a catalyst to driving the integration and delivering a work plan to enable an AHSC model to evolve and the SOM will be a key partner in this work. The Mercers Institute of Ageing is another good example of integration of the School with the clinical services, as is the Trinity /St James’s Cancer institute (TSJCI). The ambition is to have TSJCI as the first comprehensive cancer institute in Ireland that will integrate innovative science and medicine in the treatment and prevention of cancer.

Do you have any messages to the Trinity SoM community?

The key messages are collaboration and partnerships.

We have a strong relationship already and I believe the ambitions for the campus will strengthen and grow that relationship further to deliver a world class health system on the St James’s / Trinity Campus. I am excited about the future and working with our colleagues in the SOM to deliver this ambitious strategy.

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‘Morning Report’ initiated by Trinity/ St. James

Trinity/St. James Clinical Medicine has launched a new interactive medical student session - called ‘morning report’. Although held in the afternoon, this weekly case presentation is fashioned on the mainstay of American Residency Education, of the same name.

This interactive teaching has been well received by our final medical students. A students presents a recently admitted patient, and the discussion is moderated by Professors Keane and Harbison. Thankfully they are assisted by an invited expert in the field, drawn from the St. James consultant faculty. Thus far we’ve had contributions from David Bradley and Liam Townsend (a case of meningitis) David Kevin’s (Chrons) Suzanne

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Norris (alcoholic hepatitis) Susan O’Callaghan (HOCM) Caroline Daly (post MI CHF) Brian Kent (Asthma) and Ruari Fahy (complicated pneumonia). The intent will be to have an open door invitation for students and faculty, and enticements (coffee and pastries) will be served. What case is next week … who knows?

Morning report is organized by Dr Naomi Beard, and Dr Thong of SJH

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THE BEYOND

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Global Medical Diplomacy highlighted in Trinity The Ghassan Abou-Alfa and Eileen O’Reilly Annual Medical Diplomacy Lecture is supported by an endowment from Dr Ghassan Abou-Alfa and Dr Eileen O’Reilly (a TCD medical alumnus). The lecture aims to raise awareness of medical diplomacy among students, faculty and the general public by celebrating individuals and actions that exemplify its values. Medical diplomacy describes a collaboration between physicians, policy makers and political leaders to put health on the agenda of key national and international institutions. In his inaugural lecture in the series delivered to an audience of in excess of 250 people on 13th January 2022, His Excellency, Ambassador Dr Vincent O’Neill, an Alumnus of the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin and a classmate of Eileen O’Reilly’s, highlighted Ireland’s Role in Global Health: linking politics, diplomacy and technical expertise.

Dr O’Neill joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1995, initially as a technical advisor in health and HIV/ AIDS, and subsequently as Head of Development in Ireland’s partner countries in sub-Saharan Africa before taking up post as Director of Policy and Planning.

Now serving as Ireland’s Ambassador to Jordan, Dr O’Neill focused his lecture on Ireland’s ability to punch 16

By Ann Nolan, Centre for Global Health

significantly above its weight on the international stage, which he demonstrated by recalling multilateral, political and global health achievements during the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Reflecting on the achievements of medical diplomacy for global health over the last three decades, Ambassador O’Neill said that he remains proud of Ireland’s ongoing commitment and prioritisation of the world’s poorest people, while suggesting the need to re-prioritise global health equity in civil society, educational and other institutions of the state.

The full recorded lecture is now available here.

Spring Edition

Public and Patient Voice (PPV) is growing in the School of Medicine Public and Patient Voice (PPV) is becoming a central part of the research landscape in Ireland. PPV, or Public & Patient Involvement (PPI), is the active partnership between the public and researchers/professional to improve research and enhance advocacy, training and service development. In Ireland, the Health Research Board and the Irish Research Council have stated explicit strategic commitments to PPV, co-funding a national PPI Ignite Network across the universities.

Within Trinity, the PPI Ignite Office provides advice and support and forms part of the School of Medicine’s Research Strategy.

Together with the PPI Ignite office in Trinity, Dr Jane McGrath (Psychiatry) and Prof Robert Whelan (Psychology) are developing a Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) program for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) research as part of two innovative interdisciplinary neuroimaging projects to investigate the mechanism of action of stimulant medication in children and adolescents with ADHD. The development of this PPI programme will involve

families attending ADMiRE, Ireland’s first public specialist paediatric ADHD service, led by consultant psychiatrist Jane McGrath, and stakeholders in ADHD Ireland, Ireland’s largest ADHD advocacy group. The team includes Dr Jane McGrath, Dr Robert Whelan, Michael Connaughton Alannah Smyth, Julia Paterson, Tom Farnan, and Karen Conlan.

Also supported by PPI Ignite, the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) is championing PPV and has committed to ensuring that the voices of individuals with lived experience of brain health challenges are central to its mission and vision. As part of a dedicated two-year PPV program, GBHI has developed the Dementia Community Research Advisory Panel (DC-RAP) of people with lived experience who input into the work of GBHI and is educating GBHI Fellows and faculty on the principles and practice of PPI. Together with Senior Fellows around the world, the project will develop a PPV Global Toolkit so that Ireland can be at the forefront of promoting culturally appropriate PPV activity internationally.

Members of one of the SoM Patient and Public Voice panels: Global Brain Health Institute’s ‘DC-RAP’ group

Carmel Geoghegan Damien Peelo Helen Medsger

Carol Lei

Nicola (Nikki) Curran

Donnchadh O’Neill

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SHOWCASE OF WONDERS

Here we showcase an array of wonderful contributions from across our School of Medicine community representing our four pillars of Bench (basic research), Bedside (clinical work), Blackboard (teaching), and Beyond (our links to the wider world beyond Trinity). Enjoy!

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Spring Edition

Listening to gout and other BMJ tunes

Desmond (Des) O’Neill, Medical Gerontology, Tallaght University Hospital Professor Des O’Neill has just achieved his fourth Christmas BMJ publication, entitled, this time entitled ‘Listening to gout and other medical conditions through music’. Thethe Christmas BMJ is widely known as a forum where medicine lets it hair down for Christmas (one of the other articles from a geriatrician colleague in Australia is on ageing of Marvel super-heroes!) but usually with a scientific bent as well. The innovative music and gout article has added QR codes to the print version (ask for a copy!) to enable readers to listen to the music.

Previous Christmas BMJ pieces include one with Denise McDonald in Paediatrics (Tallaght); one on jelly babies and ageing - Jellyatrics, and an analysis of ageism in the Economist. Almost certainly only Irish centre to have produced four Christmas BMJ papers!

Two SFI awards for Trinity rheumatologists

Fiona Wilson from the Department of Physiotherapy and members of the global rugby brain health expert panel, which includes current and former players, was involved with the launch of a global education campaign to increase understanding of the importance of brain health within the rugby family.

Initially aimed at current and former professional players, the initiative, supported by World Rugby, national unions and International Rugby Players was launched at the World Rugby Medical Commission Conference in London. It reflects World Rugby’s aim to maintain rugby as the most progressive sport on player welfare and their ongoing dialogue with the healthcare sector.

Prof Ursula Fearon and Dr Viviana Marzaioli from the Molecular Rheumatology Group have been awarded two SFI awards. The first award is, led by Ursula Fearon is a SFI Frontiers Award for over 600,000 euros entitled ‘Molecular signatures that distinguish RA and PsA pathotypes impact for disease progression and response’. The second award, led by Viviana, is a SFI-IRC Pathways award for over 500,000 euros, entitled ‘Decoding the impact of the joint micro-environment on monocyte molecular signatures and function: ‘Impact for prediction of disease pathotype and disease outcome’. Good luck to both of them and their mutidisciplinary teams of immunologist, clinicians and bioengineers from TCD and UCD for this important work.

Brain health for rugby players launched in London

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Physiology professor appointed to Board of the Physiology Society Congratulations to Prof Áine Kelly has been appointed as a Board member and Trustee of the Physiological Society and now begins her four year term. Founded in 1876 as the Physiological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, this is the largest network of physiologists in Europe. Its mission is to advance research, teaching and public understanding of physiology, a discovery science that is also one of the cornerstones of the health sciences.

Best Scientific Abstract award for pancreatic cancer biomarker work

Provost Award PhD scholar has platform presentation on familypatient caregivers in palliative care Collaborating with St Francis Hospice in Dublin, PhD scholar Rachel McCauley (PI – Dr Geraldine Foley), presented ‘A systematic review with narrative synthesis on mutual support between patients and family caregivers in palliative care’ as a platform presentation at 17th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care. An honour indeed and a great showcase for such important work. The work was conducted in collaboration with St. Francis Hospice Dublin and supported by a Provost’s PhD project award.

Laura Kane, PhD student with the Department of Surgery, was awarded first prize in the Best Scientific Abstract session at the 2021 Irish Society of Gastroenterology Winter Meeting, for her presentation entitled “Multi-omic profiling of pancreatic cyst fluid for the identification of a novel biomarker of patient cancer risk”. Supervised by Dr. Stephen Maher, Ussher Assistant Professor at TCD, and Prof. Barbara Ryan, Consultant Gastroenterologist at TUH, and MD candidate Dr. Gregory Mellotte at TUH, Laura’s work focuses on early detection of patients who are at risk of developing pancreatic cancer, an aggressive cancer with a low rate of survival. This important research is funded by the Meath Foundation at TUH, Viatris, and the TCD boost programme.

Building Brain Healthy Communities through Creativity with GBHI As part of its innovative Brain Health & Housing Seminar Series, the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) and Respond Housing brought together a panel of experts, working at the intersection of arts and brain health, for an event to explore how creativity can be used as a tool for building and sustaining brain healthy communities. Led by GBHI faculty, Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health around the world, the event included Provost Linda Doyle, Trinity College Dublin and external speakers from Accenture, the UK National Centre for Creative Health and Dublin City Arts Office.

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Spring Edition

Professor Pritchard Medal for best clinical teaching This prestigious award was won

by Dr Andrew Lockhart for his outstanding clinical teaching, shining a spotlight on the centrality of clinical instruction for the next generation of Trinity doctors.

Occupational therapists address post COVID syndrome

Dr. Tadhg Stapleton and Dr. Deirdre Connolly, Discipline of Occupational Therapy, are working collaboratively with the Occupational Therapy Department in St. James’s Hospital in designing and evaluating an occupational therapy intervention programme for patients with post COVID syndrome.

The principle focus of the intervention is on selfmanagement strategies to lessen the impact of post covid fatigue on everyday living. Interventions are delivered in group and individual format. Preliminary findings are promising with significant reduction in the impact of fatigue and anxiety, and significant improvement in self-perceived wellness and overall mood among patients.

Medical educational storybook for rare genetic disorders published by psychiatrists

Publication of Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life

Professor Kenny is Professor of Medical Gerontology in Trinity and Director of the Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing in St James’s Hospital, and the founding Principal Investigator of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Age Proof distils the learning from 35 years of experience as a physician, teacher and researcher, and findings from over a decade of of research outputs from TILDA which celebrated its 15th year in 2021. The book incorporates findings from other longitudinal studies in ageing around the world, and the latest ageing research emerging from animal and clinical trials. Extracts from the book were serialised in the Times UK in January 2022. The book is available now.

Dr. Ciara Molloy, Prof. Louise Gallagher, Isabel Hernandez (artist) collaborated on a new Educational Storybook: Ned & Nelly’s NRXN1 Deletion Story.

Educational books provide important information about rare genetic conditions, making it is easy to understand for parents/caregivers or their children when they receive a diagnosis. The team from psychiatry created a storybook about one rare genetic condition, called NRXN1 Deletion, to help families to learn about this rare condition together.

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Trinity geriatricians lead care home study on the built environment

‘Dying and death in Ireland’ – critical report published Led by Peter May, Soraya Matthews, Eimir Hurley, Bridget Johnston, Charles Normand in collaboration with the Irish Hospice Foundation (with data provided by CSO, HIPE and others), a major new report: ‘Dying and death in Ireland: what do we routinely measure, how can we improve?’ has just been published. End-of-life care is a core function of the health system but seldom recognised as such.

This report will enhance our knowledge about the end-of-life phase in Ireland: where people die, what health care they use, and how palliative care shapes these experiences.

Led by Prof Iracema Leroi and Dr Sanjib Saha, Senior Atlantic Fellow for Brain Health Equity, both from the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), IDAB aimed to upskill Bengali medical professionals in the diagnosis and management of dementia.

Funded by a grant from ESTHER Ireland, the team, in collaboration with the Alzheimer Society Bangladesh and Neurology Academy and other partners, developed and piloted a 6-month remote course with interactive live case-based learning offered by members of GBHI living around the globe. The program, which included delegate teams developing local QI projects for dementia can be seen here. A second grant from ESTHER Ireland has just been awarded for the team to re-run the course and expand to India. The work is coordinated by Ms Abhisweta Bhattacharjee.

Successful UK Biobank workshop for autism with over 90 researchers from across Ireland in attendance

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TCD Medical Gerontology (PI Prof. Des O’Neill, Trinity Haus Research Centre (TCD) and Tallaght University Hospital are currently conducting a research project titled ‘Residential Long-term Care: Build Environment, Quality of Life and Infection Control from a Universal Design Approach’, funded by Science Foundation Ireland’s 2020 COVID-19 Rapid Response Funding Call. The team includes Tom Grey, Dimitra Widows, Jennifer O’Donoghue, Emma Burke, Mehak Puntambekar.

International Dementia Academy Bangladesh (IDAB) for clinicians successfully completed

The “Big Data in Biomedical Research - Using the UK Biobank in Ireland” online workshop brought together 92 researchers from across the island of Ireland from a range of research fields as well as six distinguished experts familiar with the UK Biobank cohort, the largest biomedical cohort in the world. This was a collaborative event between the Autism and Neurodevelopment Research Group at TCD, led by Prof. Louise Gallagher, and the Family Genomics Research Group in Maynooth University, led by Dr Lorna M. Lopez. It was funded by the UK Biobank. It included Prof. Louise Gallagher (PI), Dr Nadia Bolshakova (Team Manager), Dr Ciara Molloy (Post-doctoral researcher), Sarah-Marie Feighan (PhD candidate), Áine McNicholas (Research Assistant), and Linda Lisanti (Research Assistant) from the Autism and Neurodevelopment Research Group, Dept. of Psychiatry, School of Medicine.

Spring Edition

Prof Barbara Ryan’s book

Last year TCD Alumna and current TCD Clinical Professor and Gastroenterologist Barbara Ryan, joined forces with Clinical Dietitian Elaine McGowan to create The Gut Experts. The educational platform focuses on the management of gut conditions and symptoms.

They share expert medical and dietary advice for IBS and other chronic debilitating gut conditions, with a particular focus on women. Their first book which has been written specifically for women and is a product of their more than 50 combined years of clinical experience, is due out in April. @thegutexperts on Instagram & Facebook

Important new study on T cell function in rheumatoid arthritis Achilleas Floudas from the Department of Molecular Rheumatology has just published an important study on inflammation. This interdisciplinary study is the first characterisation of newly identified protective and pathogenic polyfunctional T cells in the inflamed joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Co-authors include Nuno Neto, Carl Orr, Mary Canavan, Phil Gallagher, Conor Hurson, Michael G Monaghan, Sunil Nagpar, Ronan H, Mullan, Douglas J Veale, and Ursula Fearon.

New publication on a communitybased stop-smoking trial Catherine Hayes and a team for Public Health and Primary Care, IPH and SoM have just published results of pilot trial of the We Can Quit (WCQ)is communitybased stop-smoking programme. Developed using a Community-based Participatory Research approach and delivered by trained community facilitators, tailored to women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) areas of Ireland, the WCQ2 pilot trial found that the interventions was feasible to deliver and indicated a positive direction in abstinence rates.

Member of the team include Catherine Darker, Stefania Castello, Nicola O Connell, Emma Burke, Aurelia Ciblis, Joanne Vance, Declan Devane, Jenny Patterson, Kirsty Loudon, Fiona Dobbie, Linda Bauld, J, and Nadine Dougall. The work included collaboration from TCD, Irish Cancer Society, HSE, PPI, HRB, Trials Methodology Research Unit, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh Napier University.

Appointment to special examiner role for the Royal College of Radiologists

Congratulations to Dr Laure Marignol from Radiation Therapy for her appointment as a special examiner (Radiobiology) to the first FRCR Clinical Oncology Exam Board of the Royal College of Radiologists (UK) as In this capacity, Laure will participate in the preparation of the exam questions, and the assessment of all incoming candidate registrars in Radiation Oncology.

The Pulse - Trinity School of Medicine Newsletter

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New publication on molecular aspects of arthritis Congratulations to Dr Viviana Marzaioli and her team for publishing new research involving patients with Rheumatoid (RA) and Psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The study identified a novel subset of monocyte-derived dendritic cells (CD209/CD14+DC), which displayed unique characteristics in RA and PsA patients, with specific transcriptomic and migratory profile between the two disease pathotype. In addition, these cells were found to be enriched at the site of inflammation and are sensitive to selective JAK/STAT therapeutic targeting. The work was a collaboration among between the Molecular Rheumatology Group in TCD and the Centre for Arthritis & Rheumatic Diseases in UCD. See publication.

TCD professor appointed Editor in Chief of the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine Professor Richard Reilly has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the open access IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine. He is the first Irish Editor in Chief of any of the IEEE Biomedical Engineering journals.

This is one of the features of this journal is the combination of engineering and clinical aspects. The focus is on translation from basic science to the clinic or from small pilot studies to a larger cohort. The is an opportunity for Trinity research to disseminate results of studies and those which are translational from the lab to the clinic.

St James’ enrols first participant in Ireland for a new industrysponsored dementia trial Led by the Dementia Research Group at SJH, coordinator Lara Gibney and her team (PI: Prof Iracema Leroi) successfully kicked off the global EVOKE Alzheimer’s Clinical Trial in Ireland. TCD hosts two sites for this important re-purposing trial of a commonly prescribed diabetes drug (semaglutide) for Alzheimer’s disease modification.

The other site is lead by Ruth Ennis and Prof Sean Kennelly at TUH. The team also includes Dr. David Robinson and Dr. Martha Finnegan and the Clinical Research Facility in St. James’ Hospital.

Psychiatry colleagues publish new autism work

Dr. Ciara Molloly and Prof. Louise Gallagher from psychiatry have jointly published an important perspective piece in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine. It describes the importance of understanding the clinical and biological heterogeneity observed in autism spectrum disorder, and how identification of stratification biomarkers, which define subgroups of individuals with shared biology, may be clinically relevant. See doi: 10.1017/ipm.2021.73.

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Professor Louise Gallagher (TCD) and Dr Lorna Lopez (MU) from the Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine have published new work evaluating gene panel tests currently available for autism, showing their limited clinical utility. This work adds to the discussion on the benefits of applying more in-depth and widespread genome sequencing technologies in autism, particularly whole genome sequencing. This work was a collaboration between the Department of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin and the Department of Biology at Maynooth University.

Spring Edition

Trinity pharmacologist receives international recognition Dr Paul Spiers of Pharmacology and Therapeutics has been appointed as an Elected Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society in recognition of his outstanding contributions.

£1.1 million grant awarded for study of clinically assisted hydration in the last days of life Prof Andrew Davies has been awarded NIHR grant to investigate a critical aspect of end-of-life care. Andrew is Chief Investigator and achieved the funding on the background of successful completion of feasibility work.

Successful PhDs in Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Pharmacoeconomics Congratulations to Dr Helen O’Donnell and Dr Claire Gorry who recently graduated with their PhD’s supervised by Prof Michael Barry and Dr Laura McCullagh. Helen’s PhD, within the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics was titled “Cost Effectiveness of PCSK9 Inhibitors for the Secondary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Ireland: Considerations given to Population Heterogeneity”. Claire’s thesis considered the cost-effectiveness of treatment interventions for skin cancer in Ireland.

Oral presentation prize at the 11th UK and Ireland Early Career BBB symposium Dr Erin Fahey, a postdoctoral research fellow working in the Doyle lab, won the oral presentation prize at the 11th Early Career BBB symposium hosted by Nottingham Trent University. Her talk was titled ‘A novel function for IL-36 cytokines enhancing endothelial cell barrier integrity’.

Award for Outstanding Oral Presentation at the Host Pathogen Communication Conference 2021 Dr Megan Hanlon from Molecular Rheumatology won a prize for outstanding oral presentation at the hybrid Ireland-Israel-Denmark Host Pathogen Communication conference in November. It was held online and in person at TBSI (first in person conference since pandemic began). Megan gave an oral presentation entitled ‘Enrichment of a novel, pathogenic macrophage population with distinct transcriptional and metabolic signatures in Rheumatoid Arthritis synovial tissue’.

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A LONG READ...

Eamon Mulligan: A Life Less Ordinary Mr. Eamon Mulligan, Area Executive Craftsman, Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, St. James’s Hospital Campus

By Michelle Leech

Eamon Mulligan has worked at Trinity College for over 20 years.

Yet he was always destined to spend some part of his life in military service.

Born into a family originally from Co. Cavan, Eamon’s father, grandfather and great grandfather all served in the armed forces-his great grandfather in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, his grandfather as a radio operator during the Emergency period in Ireland (WW2) and his own father in administration, following a serious lower limb injury as a young soldier. Eamon was brought up in McKee Park, opposite McKee Barracks near the Phoenix Park in Cabra, one of eight children, five girls and three boys. Both of Eamon’s brothers also joined the army, but the girls chose alternate paths.

Eamon has always been interested in working with and helping others.

He joined the Red Cross in 1972 in North Brunswick Street at the tender age of 12; this group later amalgamated with another based 26

in Parnell Street. Eamon recalls spending 2 hours every Friday evening with his friend Pat O’Leary in training. It was here he found himself on December 1st 1972 when two car bombs exploded in Dublin city centre, killing two CIE bus drivers. Eamon, together with Pat and others in their Red Cross unit, ran to the scene carrying any equipment they could to help. He recalls helping an older man whose foot had been blown off in the explosion, together with a senior member of staff, undoubtedly an intense experience for a 12 year old. Eamon remembers going to school the following Monday and he and Pat were rightly hailed as heroes for the roles they had played in helping the injured.

Coincidentally, Eamon and Pat were together again on another Friday evening in 1974, on their way to the city centre to collect a coin for Pat’s collection when there was an explosion in Parnell Street.

Both boys were at the Parnell Monument and were knocked from their bicycles with the force of the Spring Edition

explosion but were fortunately uninjured.

Eamon went to the Army Apprentice School in Naas just after turning 16 in 1975 and became an apprentice carpenter. He spent three years there and completed both junior and senior trade certificates. He was then posted to the Naval Service at age 19 on the LÉ Deirdre, one of the first vessels custom-built for the Irish Naval Service and first of her class. The LÉ Deirdre was an Offshore Patrol Vessel, used for fishery protection in the Irish waters. One of her tasks was to check the net filament used by fishermen so that they were fishing for the proper species of fish for that particular season and did not exceed their quotas. This was contentious work as fishing was a lucrative business at the time and thus caused some angry exchanges between fishermen and Naval personnel which resulted in the Naval Boarding Parties being armed. Navy personnel could be attacked with makeshift weapons

the Naval Boarding Parties being armed. Navy personnel could be attacked with makeshift weapons of cleavers and fish hooks when enforcing these laws at any time.

As ‘the Troubles’ were ongoing in Northern Ireland at this time, the navy was always on the lookout for illegal arrival of arms shipments around the coast. As part of his training in the Irish naval service Eamon completed Ships Diver Reconnaissance training at HMS Vernon in Portsmouth in the UK as there were no decompression chambers in the Republic Of Ireland at the time.

Eamonn’s wife Ann was the sister of one of Eamon’s colleagues in the apprentice platoon and that is how they met. Ann worked in the Department of Defence in administration and was offered a place with the first intake of women officer cadets in the Irish Army. However she decided not to take it as Eamon would then have been her subordinate and it was not permitted for a commissioned officer to marry a non- commissioned officer while serving in the Permanent Defence Forces. It was clearly a good decision as Eamon and Ann have just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in January of this year. They have three sons, whom

Eamon speaks of with immense pride. Alan went to university in UCD and is a teacher in Kerry, Stephen went to DCU and works in financial services in Dublin and Aidan attended IT Carlow and works in IT services in St. Patrick’s University Hospital. It is also extremely apparent that Eamon has the utmost admiration for his wife Ann in how she brought up their sons, especially when he was completing tours of duty in South Lebanon.

Having left the naval service in 1981, Eamon entered the Army Ordinance Corps based at Islandbridge as a carpenter. He spent 18 years there and went to the Corps Of Engineers for the remaining two years of his army career in 1998. He completed a national trade certificate at the Department of Education and a Building Technician Certificate at DIT in 1995.

During these years, he completed a Bomb Disposal Course in the Army Ordnance School and served on border duty frequently in Dundalk, Monaghan and Donegal.

Eamon was recommended for a commendation for his part in the making safe of a 1500lb bomb in Omeath, Co. Louth in 1989.

Eamon completed five tours of duty in South Lebanon. From his recounting of life there, it is obvious that Eamon has seen both the best and worst of humankind. Eamon’s tours involved construction work as well as defusing IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and countermining (safely detonating unexploded artillery shells) When asked if he was ever frightened of what might happen during countermining operations Eamon wryly points out the one comfort in knowing that ‘at least you won’t feel anything if it explodes.

It took many years but eventually deprogramming for soldiers who had witnessed the carnage of war on such tours was initiated for the armed forces, something that Eamon is clearly very glad about. A positive of these tours of duty was his immersion in new cultures and meeting people from completely different backgrounds, something which Eamon feels has benefitted him since coming to work in Trinity, with our multicultural staff and students.

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After such an active career, one might think Eamon found it difficult to come to Trinity in 2000, but Eamon does not agree. It’s clear he relishes his role at Trinityhaving come from a career where you could be told to pack your bags and go on border patrol duty without any notice nor opportunity to tell his family, Eamon welcomed this change of pace.

Eamon started work in Trinity in 2000 on the main campus in the buildings office as a carpenter.

He quickly moved up to an Area Executive Craft Person after 3 months.

His responsibilities included the Chemistry and old Anatomy buildings and then he moved to Lincoln Place and Goldsmith Hall. When TTMI was built, Eamon was Trinity’s agent on site. He subsequently transferred to the Trinity Centre for Health

Sciences on the St. James’s Campus in 2014.

While working here at Trinity Eamon completed a Bachelor of Technology in Construction from DIT in 2006 and holds a postgraduate qualification in Applied Building Repair and Conservation from Trinity 2007, he became an Incorporate of the Chartered Institute Of Building (ICIOB) in 2007 Sport has always played an important role in Eamon’s life. All those years ago with his school friend Pat O’Leary, he played hurling for both his school and club Eoghan Ruadh. He played on the Dublin U-14 team who went on to win the Leinster Hurling Final in 1973. He coached rugby with Coolmine RFC when his three sons played with them over the course

of a decade. Eamon’s son Aidan played rugby with Bective Rangers and captained their first 15. He represented both Leinster and Ireland at underage level.

Eamon has just under three years left to retirement. It’s hard to imagine a quiet retirement ahead for him, based on what has come before. One thing is for sure, Eamon is looking forward to seeing more of the good of humankind in his retirement, especially in the form of his one grandson Ben and two granddaughters Alanna and Zoe, with another granddaughter due to arrive this June. He describes his time with them as ‘gold-dust’.

This gold-dust is well deserved by a man whose life can best be described as ‘A life less ordinary’.

Special announcements for upcoming events: Professor Mark Cunningham has announced the Centenary Celebrations for Physiology (Physiology @ 100 symposium; Blue Plaque - Physiological Society) which will take place on 01/09/2022.

Helen Murray from GBHI has announced that the Global Brain Health Institute will host Creative Brain Week to inaugurate the world leading platform for neuroscience and creativity March 12-16, 2022 28

Spring Edition

Meet the Team

Iracema Leroi

Michelle Leech

Steve Thomas

Mary O’Neill

mednews@tcd.ie

Lucie Mingmei Hao

Michelle Hendrick