RCPI Faculty of Paediatrics has announced the winners of its annual awards.
These prestigious awards celebrate excellence and significant contributions in the field. The ceremony took place during the faculty’s Annual Conference.
KATHLEEN LYNN MEDAL
The highest award in Ireland to recognise paediatricians that have been outstanding in their careers and in their contribution to paediatrics, named after the pathfinding founder of St Ultan’s Children’s Hospital.
Recipient: Dr Owen Hensey (Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street)
Dr Owen Hensey graduated from UCD in 1973. After training in paediatrics, and specialising in neurodisability, he became a consultant at Children's Hospital Temple Street, where he worked for over 30 years – including five years as Chair of the Medical Board. He also worked as Medical Director of the Central Remedial Clinic, a charity dedicated to care, treatment, and support of children and adults with physical disability. In 1986, along with Dr Patrick Deasey, his contemporary at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children (now CHI at Crumlin), Dr Hensey lobbied the Department of Health for funding to set up a child sexual abuse assessment unit. Much of his life work has been in improving outcomes for children and adults with cerebral palsy, and in 1983 he set up the Eastern Region Cerebral Palsy Register. After decades, his ideal of a needed National Cerebral Palsy Register has been acknowledged by the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health, leading to the establishment of an Irish CP Registry Development Steering Committee at RCSI, on which Dr Hensey sits as vice-chair.
SIR HENRY MARSH MEDAL
Named after one of the founders of the first hospital for sick children in Dublin in 1822, the Sir Henry Marsh Medal is awarded to the lead author of the best paper by a Paediatrics trainee on the topic of child health or the delivery of child healthcare in Ireland published in the preceding year.
Recipient: Dr Aoife Ward
VICTORIA COFFEY AWARD
The Victoria Coffey Award, named after the outstanding expert in the field of congenital abnormalities and metabolic disorders, is awarded to the lead author of the best paper by a Paediatrics trainee arising from work produced as part of a higher degree, published in the preceding year.
Recipient: Dr Dermot Wildes
CONOR WARD ESSAY COMPETITION
Named after Prof Owen Conor Ward, founding dean of RCPI Faculty of Paediatrics and a pioneer in the development of paediatric cardiac services in Ireland, this prize recognises the best original and thought-provoking paediatric narrative/essay.
Recipient: Dr Emily Tan Chiao Wei
The Doctor Patient relationship, challenges and opportunities?
PAST DEAN MEDAL
Recipient: Dr Judith Meehan (faculty dean 2023-2026)
NATIONAL TEACHING AWARDS
Voted for by RCPI trainees in paediatrics.
NATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING (SUBSPECIALTY PAEDIATRICIAN):
Dr Aisling Flinn (immunologist, Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin)
NATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING (NEONATOLOGY):
Dr Mahmoud Farhan (Children’s Health Ireland, Crumlin)
NATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING (GENERAL PAEDIATRICS in a REGIONAL HOSPITAL):
Dr Joanne Beamish (Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street)
NATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING (GENERAL & COMMUNITY PAEDIATRICS in GENERAL HOSPITALS):
Dr Fionnuala O'Brien (St Luke’s General Hospital Kilkenny)
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