At a glance

• Value: Medal
• You must be a current UCC Student to be eligible for this award
• Questions about this award can be directed to Aoife Nash at a.nash@ucc.ie

Dr Bridget V. Foley MD, known to all as Biddy, was the first Consultant Bacteriologist in Munster, appointed in 1961. Born in Manchester to parents from Cork, Biddy studied medicine at UCC, graduating with First Class Honours in 1948. She returned to Cork after postgraduate medical training in Belfast. At the time of her Consultant appointment there was no formal University teaching in Medical Microbiology at UCC, and at the medical students' request, Biddy began lectures and small group teaching. UCC formally appointed her as Lecturer in bacteriology in the Department of Pathology in 1969. Biddy spent over 30 years delighting students with her highly practical and entertaining classes. Her wise support and mentoring, long before there was any such thing as Student Counselling, was also much appreciated.

As Hospital Consultant she established the Microbiology department for the Cork Regional Hospital in 1978 and also had a major role in community infection control. Biddy was a founder member of the Faculty of Pathology and established the first Medical Microbiology training post in Cork University Hospital. She provided great support for the establishment in the 1980’s of the first clinics in Cork to provide services to people living with HIV. Her wit and direct manner were legendary, as was her habit of affectionately addressing all-comers as “child”.

In honour of her exceptional contribution to Microbiology, especially to medical student teaching, her colleagues established the Dr B. Foley Medal in Microbiology. The design of the prize, by jeweller Stephen O’Shaughnessy, includes representation of bacteria, viruses and fungi.

The fund was established by invited subscription. It will be administered by University College Cork, which will act as its trustees. The medal will be awarded annually to the student judged best in Medical Microbiology based on aggregate marks in Graduate Entry to Medicine Years 1 & 2 and Direct Entry to Medicine Years 2 & 3, on the basis of an examination in that year. Only registered students in UCC are eligible.

The prize will consist of a gold medal and will be awarded at the Annual UCC School of Medicine Prize-Giving ceremony

Note: These awards are funded from endowments made by the respective donors to the University for awards to be made in perpetuity. The funds donated are invested, and the annual income is the amount available for the award. Due to fluctuation in the investment market, the amounts available from year to year may vary, upwards and downwards; for this reason, the value of any award referred to in this section is indicative only and may be higher or lower when the amount of the award is completed.