The first group of 298 graduates from the College of Medicine & Health were conferred with: MB; BCh; BAO Medicine; BDS; MD; PhD (Medicine); BDS; MD; PhD (Medicine); BPharm (Pharmacy); BSc (Occupational Therapy); BSc (Speech & Language Therapy); MMedSc (Sports and Exercise Medicine); MSc.  A further 60 PhDs from across the other three Colleges were also conferred.

Also conferred were 62 graduates with BSc (Nursing Studies) and BSc (Public Health & Health Promotion).

The guest speaker at the conferring ceremonies was Dr Ruth Barrington, Chief Executive of Molecular Medicine Ireland.  Dr Barrrington, in her speech, extended her warmest congratulations to the graduates and commended them on their determined hard work.  She also acknowledged the contribution of the staff members who had so diligently guided and supported them through the various courses.

Referring to the health service, Dr Barrington said the service requires a high level of team work to deliver care to patients and to improve the health of the population.  “UCC has taken a major step towards recognising the team nature of health care by educating so many health professionals in the one building. Successful team work depends on members acting in the best interest of the patient or the population and respecting the contribution of different disciplines and team members”, she said.  Commenting on the importance of research, she said that today’s health research is tomorrow’s health care.  She went on:  “All of you, by engaging or facilitating research can help improve tomorrow’s outcomes for patients and for the whole population at a clinical, service and policy level.  By generating new knowledge that can be commercialised, health research also contributes to economic growth, the generation of new jobs and the creation of the knowledge society and economy.  A strong track record in research will help build your career, in whatever field you choose.”  “There are many opportunities available to undertake research-based, post graduate studies in UCC and other universities in Ireland and join in the challenge of the 21st century”, she added.
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Conferring Address by Dr Ruth Barrington, Chief Executive of Molecular Medicine Ireland, June 18th 2009

President, Members of the University, graduates and distinguished guests,

I offer my warmest congratulations to the graduates who have been conferred today. Today is your reward for all that hard work, determination and I suspect not a little anxiety. May I also congratulate your support teams – your mothers and fathers and partners especially but also your extended families, all of whom contributed more than you may be aware to the award of your degree today. I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the staff of this great institution, University College Cork, to your formation to degree or post graduate degree standard in your discipline of choice.

What does it mean to be a University Graduate?  There’s good news and bad. The good news is that you have been equipped as well as anyone in the world to tackle the careers of your choice. You have great opportunities before you, even in these recessionary times, and each one of you can and will make a difference to some aspect of life, either in this or your home country, in Europe and internationally..

The bad news is that tomorrow you have to start again! You have reached the pinnacle of your university career. Now you have to begin afresh in a new environment, applying what you have learnt over the past few years to new challenges. And be prepared for many such new beginnings throughout your careers. You do not know where life will take you. Some of you will have careers that are closely linked to the discipline in which you graduated today. For others your discipline will be a stepping stone to other things, things that we may not even be able to imagine today. My own career is an example or perhaps, a warning! I graduated with a degree in history and politics in UCD. My current job is CEO of Molecular Medicine Ireland, a charitable company established by five academic institutions, including UCC, to coordinate their postgraduate training and research activities in molecular medicine.  When I left college, the term ‘molecular medicine’ had not been invented!

How will you cope with all this change and uncertainty? Fortunately, the world is full of people who want to help you.
People who want to support you or to pass their experience on to you.
People who will give you an encouraging word at a crucial time.
Search out these people and learn from them - your lives and career choices will be much easier if you do.

Second, life is mostly a team game. The health service in particular, requires a high level of team work to deliver care to patients and to improve the health of the population. UCC has taken a major step towards recognising the team nature of health care by educating so many health professionals in the one building. Successful team work depends on members acting in the best interest of the patient or the population and respecting the contribution of different disciplines and team members.

Third, recognise the uncertainty of so much of what is done in the health service and help build the knowledge base for health or your discipline of choice. You may already be aware or will soon discover how little we know about what works and why it works. Thanks to a commitment to research, we know an awful lot more than we did 100 years ago. But it is extraordinary how much is still not known or understood about human health and disease.

Remember that today’s health research is tomorrow’s health care. All of you, by engaging or facilitating research can help improve tomorrow’s outcomes for patients and for the whole population at a clinical, service and policy level.  By generating new knowledge that can be commercialised, health research also contributes to economic growth, the generation of new jobs and the creation of the knowledge society and economy.   A strong track record in research will help build your career, in whatever field you choose.

Research too is a team game. In Molecular Medicine Ireland, we believe that by working together in a national collaboration, the partner universities can accelerate the translation of major advances in science into more effective ways of treating patients and protecting the health of the population. We want to encourage more medical graduates to study the science underlying the diseases or conditions that interest them. We want to encourage more scientists to understand how disease impacts on patients and the issues clinicians face when treating patients. And we want to encourage scientists and clinicians to talk to each other, ask questions of each other, so that together, they can generate new ways of overcoming the scourge of disease and disability.  As those awarded MD and PhD degrees today demonstrate, there are many – and increasing - opportunities available to you to undertake research-based, post graduate studies in UCC and other universities in this country and to join in this grand challenge of the 21st century..

One way or another, the paths you take will be a constant fascination and topic of conversation among you for the rest of your lives. You will be surprised and amazed at what your class mates do, what they achieve and the people they become.

You may not realise it, but you will also be ambassadors! Maybe not formally accredited ones, but ambassadors none the less – for UCC, for your discipline and for your country. Let me recount you a story that illustrates this point.

I had the good fortune to represent this country at a WHO conference on health research in Mexico city in 2004.  At one of the formal dinners I found myself sitting beside a senior health official from India. When I introduced myself as Irish, her face lit up and she said how pleased she was to meet me. She told me that her sister had lost two sons – her only children - in the Air India disaster on 23 June 1985. The boys lived in Canada and were on their way home to India to spend time with their grandparents and extended family. What she wanted to tell me about was how much her sister had been touched by the response of the doctors, nurses, other health professionals and the good people of Cork to their tragedy. Although they were strangers from the other side of the world and in great distress, the people they met in Cork could not have done more to ease their pain. This grieving mother appreciated the support so much, that each year she had returned to Ireland to participate in the memorial service for the victims of the disaster. She continued to be overwhelmed by the number of Irish people who attended these services each year. My Indian colleague thanked me for the humanity and care demonstrated by so many people in Ireland.   I never felt more proud to be Irish than on that occasion.

Any graduate of this institution in this city can be proud of the contribution of such ambassadors. Yet it is a contribution that needs to be rekindled in each generation.  Let me finish on the theme of being an ambassador with a few lines from Seamus Heaney’s wonderful and challenging poem, From the Republic of Conscience.

I came back from that frugal republic
with my two arms the one length, the customs
woman having insisted my allowance was myself.
The old man rose and gazed into my face
and said that was official recognition
that I was now a dual citizen.
He therefore desired me when I got home
to consider myself a representative
and to speak on their behalf in my own tongue.
Their embassies, he said, were everywhere
but operated independently
and no ambassador would ever be relieved.

May I once again congratulate you, the graduates, on your achievements and wish you well in the years and challenges that lie ahead. May I thank the President of UCC, Dr Michael Murphy, for the invitation to address you today.

ENDS

1148MMcS

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