Last Friday, the School of Medicine celebrated students academic achievements at the annual prize giving. 

Dr Orlaith O' Donovan was presented the award by Prof Deirdre Murray for the RGG Barry prize.  The prize is awarded to a candidate who has obtained one of the highest marks in paediatrics at the Final Medical Examination.  The award is made by the Extern Examiner in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health.  

Ms Réiltín Werner and Dr Aoife Dempsey

The Final Medical class of 1990 subscribed to a fund for the provision of an annual Aodán Ó Donnchadha Memorial Prize to commemorate their late classmate Aodán Ó Donnchadha. Ms Réiltín Werner, sister of Mr Aodan O'Donnchadha, presented the award to Dr Aoife Dempsey and Dr Caoimhe Cronin, joint winners this year. This award goes to the student with one of the top projects.   

The Department is delighted to announce that Dr Andrea Bowe has won Publication of the Year at the recent COMH Postgraduate Research Student Awards.  

Andrea was nominated by her supervisor, Professor Deirdre Murray, for her publication in the journal JAMA Network Open in 2023 entitled ‘Prediction of 2-Year Cognitive Outcomes in Very Preterm Infants Using Machine Learning Methods’

This award is for the best publication by a PGR student as a first author (or joint authors if joint first) from work undertaken while registered as a postgraduate student in the College of Medicine and Health.

This year, 16 doctoral bursaries were awarded to students, out of which 3 were funded by the Infant Research Centre for affiliated students. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Anne Murray and Ms. Sarah Fenton were among the recipients of these awards.  

The purpose of these awards is to facilitate the training of students who wish to acquire skills that are essential for their academic development, but which they cannot otherwise receive in UCC and to facilitate students who wish to present their work at an international conference.  These awards are also aligned with UCC's Strategic Plan in research and innovation and global engagement.  

We would like to congratuate all awardees, especially our post graduate students.  

Meet Prof Velasco a renowned Pediatrician and Emergency Medicine Specialist. Dr. Velasco completed their Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Valladolid, followed by a specialization in Pediatrics at the Hospital Universitario Río Hortega in Valladolid.

Since 2009, he has dedicated their career to Pediatric Emergency Medicine and currently works at the Hospital Universitari Parc Tauli in Sabadell, Spain. With a special research interest, Prof Velasco has published over 50 papers on febrile infants and has completed a Postgraduate Master of Research Methodology in Health Sciences at the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona.

He is a member of the Research Network of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine and the Research in Emergency Pediatric Emergency Medicine. He holds the prestigious position of Chair of the Evaluation Committee of the Spanish Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. 

Prof Velasco is collaborating with the Department to develop and take the lead as a module coordinator in our Postgraduate taught program, MSc Paediatrics & Child Health. His contribution will also be instrumental in providing postgraduate support for research, statistical analysis, tutorials and lectures. Moreover, he has expressed his willingness to provide support for undergraduate lectures. Dr. Velasco's expertise and experience will prove to be valuable assets to the program, and we look forward to working with him to achieve our shared academic goals.

Prof Aoife Waters is a specialist in children’s kidney disease with 20 years working in tertiary paediatric centres in Ireland, UK and Canada and within Nephrology, for 15 years. Following a family re-location to Cork, the scope of practice now includes General Paediatrics whilst maintaining a specialist interest in nephrology and disorders of the glomerular filtration barrier.

Prof Waters has been a principal investigator on clinical trials for new therapies for glomerular diseases and works collaboratively with colleagues for rare renal diseases. The latter includes delineating the cause and understanding the mechanism through active international collaborations. Research funding awarded by the Medical Research Council and Kidney Research UK  has supported the identification of novel syndromes associated with nephrotic syndrome.  Supporting cross-sector collaborations to drive innovation and improve therapeutics for diseases with high unmet needs is the current focus.

It is with great pleasure that we announce Professor Waters' collaboration with the Department to assist in subspecialty teaching in Nephrology, research, and mentorship. The primary objective of this collaboration is to enhance the quality of education and research in the field of Nephrology, while also promoting professional development and growth among students and researchers. 

Prof Tony Ryan dedicated his life to medicine, education, and the betterment of his community. His recent passing in 2023 was a tremendous loss to the Department of Paediatrics & Child Health at UCC and to the academic community as a whole. His contributions as a clinician, educator, scholar and trailblazer will forever be remembered.