2020 - 2029
Honorary Citation by Professor Geraldine Boylan for Lily Collison
President, Colleagues, graduates of University College Cork and distinguished guests, it is my honour to present Lily Collison for the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Medicine. I am delighted to welcome Lily, Lily’s husband Denis, sister Gabrielle, dear friend Gerry Dundon and CEO of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, Rachel Byrne to University College Cork on this momentous occasion.
In 1994, Lily Collison’s life changed forever.
A mother of two, she welcomed her third child, a beautiful baby boy named Tommy, with all the joy and hopes that accompany new life. Following Tommy’s birth, Lily found herself in uncharted waters because Tommy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of one, a condition Lily had never encountered before. From that moment on, Lily was not just a mother; she was a researcher, an advocate, and an unwavering force determined to ensure her son Tommy had the best possible future.
Cerebral palsy is a group of conditions that affect movement and posture, caused by damage to the developing brain before, during, or after birth. Its impact varies from mild to severe. Tommy was diagnosed with spastic diplegia, one of the more common forms.
At the time of Tommy's diagnosis, specialist services for Cerebral Palsy care were not available countrywide in Ireland.
Having studied medical microbiology at Trinity College Dublin, Lily did what scientists do, she approached the challenge by gathering the evidence and research. She immersed herself in medical literature, searching for solutions that did not yet exist within the Irish healthcare system. Doctors told her that Tommy would likely need a wheelchair by adulthood. If that was truly the case, she would accept it, but only after exhausting every possible avenue.
Her research led her to a groundbreaking approach in the United States, at Gillette Children’s Hospital in Minnesota, and at just nine years old, Tommy and his family travelled across the Atlantic, where he underwent transformative surgery. Intensive rehabilitation followed which became an entire family mission. Even his older brothers took part in his therapy, designing exercises to help him rebuild strength and creating games to make the process engaging. It was in these moments that Lily’s philosophy took root: that disability does not define a person, resilience does.
Tommy has thrived and Lily’s experience ignited a passion for advocacy, leading her on a mission to reshape cerebral palsy care. What began as a quest to help her own child soon became a lifeline for countless families. And if resources did not exist, she would create them.
She wrote the book she had once desperately needed herself, Spastic Diplegia: Bilateral Cerebral Palsy, an innovative medical text that combined rigorous scientific research with personal lived experience. The book’s structure was groundbreaking, presenting two distinct voices: one as a medical researcher and the other as a mother, ensuring both scientific accuracy and human connection.
The book led to the launch of Gillette Children's Healthcare Press, making Gillette one of the first children’s hospitals in the world to have its own publishing arm. The book Spastic Diplegia was an overwhelming success, and its reception was so positive that it led to the Gillette Children’s Healthcare Series, which includes nine books covering a range of childhood acquired physical and/or neurological conditions. Lily became programme director for the healthcare series and is a co-author or editor on all nine books, ensuring that medical knowledge reaches those who need it most and in a way that can be easily understood.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-wrote Pure Grit, a collection of stories from 19 people worldwide leading in sport, the arts, medicine, and business. These are not stories of overcoming disability; they are stories of embracing challenges while pursuing dreams. The book shines a light on boundless possibility, regardless of personal circumstances.
After Spastic Diplegia was published, Lily was invited to join the Board of the Cerebral Palsy Foundation in New York. At her first board meeting in 2022, the Executive Director, Rachel Byrne, spoke about the foundation’s expanding international efforts. Straight away Lily jumped at this opportunity and advocated for Ireland to be the partner for the Foundation’s international programme. This led to the creation of the Irish Cerebral Palsy Programme of Excellence, launched in May 2023, which aims to transform care and research for the 3,000 children and adolescents and 9,500 adults living with cerebral palsy in Ireland. The budget for this five-year programme is €25 million, coming from private funding and research grants. Already, for the first time in Ireland, three key Cerebral Palsy research hubs have been established at University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin and RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences and a number of high impact research projects are underway.
Lily’s ability to see not just the problem but the potential solution is what sets her apart. She has dedicated her life to breaking barriers; not just for her son, but for thousands of families facing the same struggles.
Her commitment to education and transformation extends beyond medicine. In 1989, before the term ‘entrepreneur’ was widely used in Ireland, she founded SQT Training, a company providing specialised training in international standards. The company flourished under her leadership, and even after her retirement, it continues to thrive today.
Lily’s impact has also been recognised at the highest levels of healthcare governance. In 2024, she was officially appointed to the Board of the Health Service Executive (HSE), ensuring that patient advocacy remains a cornerstone of national healthcare policy.
In summary, Lily Collison is a scientist, an entrepreneur, an inspiring author, a passionate advocate, a visionary leader and a devoted mother. But above all, she is a woman who has steadfastly refused to accept limitations; not for her son, not for her family, and certainly not for the countless other families whose lives she has impacted.
It is with great pleasure that I present Lily Collison to the University for this honorary degree, a doctorate in medicine.
Praehonorabilis Cancellarie, totaque Universitas, praesento vobis hanc meam filiam, quam scio tam moribus quam doctrina habilem et idoneam esse quae admittatur, honoris causa, ad gradum Doctoratus in Medicina; idque tibi fide mea testor ac spondeo, totique Academiae.