On the night, UCC will also honour a graduate with an Alumnus Award for exceptional Voluntary Service to the University, which this year recognises a graduate for his excellent voluntary contribution to UCC’s Medical School.
The distinguished UCC graduates who are being honoured with Alumni Awards are:
PHILIP KING is a musician, songwriter and a multi-award winning film and music producer/director as well as radio broadcaster. He is a founding member of the critically acclaimed band, Scullion. With his company, Hummingbird Productions, he won an Emmy Award in 1991 for the landmark television series Bringing it all Back Home and a Bafta Award for the film A Beautiful Mistake in 2000. He established South Wind Blows Productions in 2006 with Nuala O’Connor and Tina Moran and has collaborated with musicians and performers of many different traditions from all over the world. He is the series producer of RTE’s music television series Other Voices, is Series Editor of The Full Set and has directed the Sé Mo Laoch series of traditional music profiles. He is also the Executive Producer of the history series The Limits of Liberty, written and presented by Diarmaid Ferriter. He presents South Wind Blows for RTE Radio 1 and is a member of the Arts Council.
THE HON MR JUSTICE LIAM McKECHNIE was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2010 and holds the distinction of being the first ever UCC graduate to be appointed to the country’s highest judicial court. As a Judge of the High Court he presided over all competition cases both civil and criminal from 2004. Notably, he made the first declaration of incompatibility under the European Convention of Human Rights Act, 2003, in the Transgender case of Foy. He is President of the Association of European Competition Law Judges and since 2002 has been Chair of the Editorial Board of the Judicial Studies Institute Journal.
MR EDWARD KIELY is a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, specialising in neonatal surgery, upper gastrointestinal surgery, paediatric surgical oncology, minimally invasive surgery and the separation of conjoined twins. Earlier this year, he led the medical team which successfully separated the Cork conjoined twins Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf. Edward Kiely’s clinical skills are in much demand internationally. He has trained a generation of Paediatric Surgeons at University College, London and has had the distinction of being a Visiting Surgeon worldwide and Visiting Professor in Australia, US and Europe. He has edited or co-edited over 160 articles for medical journals and has contributed 21 book chapters. He has received many awards and honours for his work.
DR PAUL AHERN is Senior Vice-President of Indianapolis based pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly and is responsible for all of the company’s bulk active operations. He is also a member of Lilly’s senior management council. Globally, the multinational employs around 42,000 people and markets its medicines in more than 140 countries. Paul joined Eli Lilly in 1980 and was involved in the start-up of the company’s facility in Dunderrow, Kinsale, which employs 500 people, and has now become the company’s primary active ingredient location. The Kinsale operation is now poised to become a centre of excellence in biopharmaceutical manufacturing technology with construction of a €400m facility underway. Paul Ahern has also been Operations Manager at Eli Lilly’s main chemical synthesis plant in Lafayette, Indiana and was General Manager of the company’s manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico in the Caribbean where he has overseen major business transition in technologies and movement from older to newer facilities. He has facilitated an innovative research collaboration in process development, linking researchers in UCC with researchers in Eli Lilly in Kinsale and Indianapolis. Nationally, Paul Ahern has played a critical role in fostering interactions between industry and academia.
DR WILLIAM FENNELL is the recipient of the Alumnus Award for Voluntary Service to UCC for his outstanding contributions to the University’s Medical School. As a highly respected Consultant Cardiologist at the Bon Secours Hospital and Cork University Hospital, he has taught, mentored and inspired generations of UCC medical students and healthcare professionals. He has supported UCC’s research endeavours and has actively fundraised for Medical School programmes including the Centre for Research in Vascular Biology and the Chair of Cardiovascular Science at UCC. He is Chair of the Alumnus Committee of UCC’s Medical School and has organised a number of successful annual Alumni Scientific Meetings. He has been a member of many boards and committees including the UCC Alumni Board, is past President of the Irish Heart Foundation and Irish Cardiac Society. He has spearheaded many fundraising initiatives including the Cork University Hospital Heart Education & Research Trust, Fundraising Associates for Cardiac Equipment (FACE), the Munster Cardiac Service Fund and the William Harvey Golf Society.
UCC is very grateful to the sponsors of the 2010 UCC Alumni Awards Programme; Architectural & Metal Systems (AMS), Bank of Ireland, Boston Scientific, Henry Ford & Son Limited and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
The annual UCC Alumni Achievement Awards Programme honours graduates who have obtained extraordinary distinction and success in their chosen fields. Both the Alumni Achievement Awards and the Alumnus Award for Voluntary Service to UCC aim to foster a spirit of loyalty, involvement and commitment to UCC amongst alumni. Dr Michael Murphy, UCC President said: “It gives me great pleasure to present an Alumnus Achievement Award to these graduates whose outstanding accomplishments have brought great honour to their alma mater. We regard our graduates as our global ambassadors and a valuable resource to the University.”
Picture: Mr Edward Kiely
