Medical Gerontology celebrates 25 years of excellence

Posted on: 18 November 2024

The Discipline of Medical Gerontology marked a significant milestone—its 25th anniversary—with an event in the historic saloon of the Provost’s House at Trinity College.

Honouring a Legacy of Leadership and Innovation

Following a warm welcome by Provost Dr Linda Doyle, Professor Roman Romero-Ortuno, Head of the Discipline of Medical Gerontology in the School of Medicine (pictured above), paid tribute to the visionary leadership of the late Professor Davis Coakley in establishing the department in 1999. This milestone represented the culmination of years of dedicated effort to embed Medical Gerontology into Trinity’s academic landscape, paving the way for transformative advancements in research and education to improve care for older adults.

Inaugural Davis Coakley Undergraduate Awards: Recognising Excellence in Professionalism and the Humanities

A highlight of the event was the presentation of the inaugural Davis Coakley undergraduate awards, established at Trinity in 2024 to recognise outstanding professionalism in the care of older people across the Faculty of Health Sciences, and the integration of the humanities in medicine:

The Outstanding Professionalism Awards were presented by Regius Prof Rose Anne Kenny, Chair of Medical Gerontology:

•  Thiago Silva (General Nursing), for his exceptional dedication during his placement on a specialist geriatric ward.
• Orla Keane (Medicine), for her compassionate contributions to a Mind and Movement clinic
• Daniela Izzaldinova (Physiotherapy), for successfully rehabilitating an older patient to independence despite significant challenges.

Regius Professor Rose-Anne Kenny

The Davis Coakley Medical Humanities Medal was presented by Professor Aileen Patterson, Head of the Discipline of Medical Education and coordinator of the Medicine, Health, and the Humanities module at the School of Medicine, with Professor Joseph Harbison also in attendance at the event. 

• • Claudia Clarke Gosalvez (Medicine), for her outstanding essay, which highlighted the vital role of the humanities in fostering reason, emotion, and empathy to improve the human condition and inspire meaningful connections between individuals.

The event included the presentation of the Disciplines’ annual Postgraduate Research Awards, presented by Professor Martine Smith, Dean of Graduate Studies (above):

• Conor Reddy (PhD student), for his research on how socioeconomic status and psychosocial stress affect immune function and ageing.
• Eoin Duggan (PhD student), for his work on sarcopenia and orthostatic haemodynamics in FRAILMatics.
• Aoife McFeely (MD student), for her study on frailty using data from the Intellectual Disability Supplement to The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (IDS-TILDA).

Special postgraduate research awards were also presented for:

• Scientific Communication: Louise Newman (PhD student), for her work on cerebral oxygenation in older people with coexistent supine hypertension and orthostatic hypotension, using data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).
• Relevance to Patient Care: Colm Mac Eochagáin (MD student), for research in Oncogeriatrics.
• Scientific Discovery and Impact: Lucy Chapman (MD student), for research using data from the Irish National Audit of Stroke (in absentia).

There was a special address by Mary Coakley, who reflected on the legacy of Professor Davis Coakley and the significance of establishing student awards in his honour at Trinity.

Looking to the Future

Reflecting on the event, the Head of Discipline, Professor Roman Romero-Ortuno, said:

“Over its short history, our Discipline has achieved remarkable successes in research, teaching, and societal engagement. Together with our Trinity staff, clinical academic teams at St James’s Hospital, Tallaght University Hospital, Naas General Hospital, and Peamount Hospital continue to deliver outstanding teaching and research benefiting the care of older people. I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone involved and encourage continued enthusiasm, collaboration, collegiality, and dedication to the vision that brought us here. We look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries.”

(L to R) Professor Colin Doherty, Head of School of Medicine, Professor Roman Romero-Ortuno, Head of Discipline of Medical Gerontology, Professor Damien Brennan, Head of the School of Nursing; Professor Brian O’Connell, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor Cathal Walsh, Professor of Biostatistics.

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