School of Medicine UCC celebrates its 175th anniversary 

20 Feb 2025

The School first opened its doors on November 8^th 1849 and now graduates 200 doctors per year.

Medicine was one of the three founding faculties of University College Cork along with Arts and Law.   

The medical faculty was first opened by the then Dean and Professor of Surgery, Dr. Denis Brenan Bullen. Dr. Bullen had advocated widely for the establishment of a College-based School of Medicine. 22 students, including Dr. Bullen’s son who was the first enrolled student of the faculty, registered on that day. Students of Medicine have graduated from the School of Medicine, UCC every year since 1854.

At a special gala event on Thursday, November 7^th, President of University College Cork Professor John O’Halloran welcomed distinguished guests, alumni, former chairs of the Medical Graduates Association Professor Tony O’Brien, Professor Katy Keohane and Dr. Will Fennell. Professor Katy Keohane, Dr. Paul O’Donovan, Dr. Sarah Moran and Dr. Ronan Boland, all graduates of the UCC School of Medicine shared short reflections on their time spent studying medicine at UCC.

The School of Medicine graduates 200 doctors per year and this number is increasing further in the coming years to meet the demand for doctors in the Irish healthcare system. It also educates students in paramedicine and pre-hospital care, Diagnostic Radiography, Radiation Therapy, Medical and Health Sciences, Clinical Measurement Physiology, Sports and Exercise Medicine, Palliative Care, Surgical Science, Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Obstetrics, Neonatology, Paediatrics and Geriatric Medicine, Neuroscience and Microbiome Science through post-graduate taught and research-based programmes. It has a strong research profile across many areas ranging from infant and child health, gastrointestinal diseases, ageing, neuroscience, cancer and medical education .

The School is set to expand further with plans afoot for the construction of a long-awaited clinical medical school at the Cork University Hospital campus. The provision of additional state-of-the-art clinical learning facilities planned for this development will be a major element in the driving forward of 21^st century medical and learning technologies close to patients and the input of clinical expertise in training at this important clinical site.  

The President of University College Cork, Prof. John O’Halloran, said: “We are very proud to celebrate 175 years of the School of Medicine at University College Cork. From small beginnings, this School has since its opening in 1849 graduated some tens of thousands of doctors who have practiced their skills across diverse clinical settings, specialities and in many nations of the world. What started as a small school with big ambitions has evolved into a thriving school with bigger ambitions. We are very proud of the staff, the students, the diversity and the number of disciplines offered at the School of Medicine UCC resulting in today’s comprehensive suite of health care programmes now delivered across the six schools of the College of Medicine and Health ensuring our future healthcare professionals have all the skills they need to make a difference, meet the needs of their patients. We look forward to continuing to develop programmes and support and create meaningful research under our UCC Futures research initiative”.  

The Head of the College of Medicine and Health, UCC Prof. Helen Whelton congratulated all staff past and present. “We are immensely proud and grateful to the fantastic staff we have at our School of Medicine. Many of our staff are joint appointees with the health service and many more who work in the health service contribute to our extensive and wide-ranging programmes. We continue to deepen the partnership between the life sciences and the university and the health service through an academic health sciences system. We look forward to continuing our work to strengthen the university’s relationship with the health service so the two sectors can provide mutual benefit, deliver quality healthcare hand-in-hand with teaching, training, research and innovation, incorporating the full spectrum of the healthcare workforce”. 

The Dean of the School of Medicine UCC Prof. Paula O’Leary said: “This milestone for the School of Medicine and the University gives us an opportunity to reflect on the development of the School from its origins, the contribution of the many thousands of UCC medical graduates to high quality patient care right across the world and the achievements of UCC faculty in the provision of excellence in education and training and research with well-deserved recognition and good reputations internationally. We look forward to further developments and the next big development of the Clinical Medical School at CUH which will bring much welcomed state-of art facilities for modern clinical education and training.