Ireland’s newest medical training body, the Institute of Medicine, launched

23 January, 2020

Institute of Medicine will enhance the oversight of 18 Clinical Medicine specialties in Ireland

The Institute of Medicine was launched in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland on 23 January 2020. The launch was marked by a special meeting of National Specialty Directors and Training Leads in No.6 Kildare Street.

The College has established the Institute of Medicine to enhance the oversight and practice of the 18 Medicine specialties in Ireland:

1. Cardiology
2. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
3. Clinical Genetics
4. Dermatology
5. Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus
6. Gastroenterology
7. General Internal Medicine
8. Genitourinary Medicine
9. Geriatric Medicine
10. Infectious Diseases
11. Medical Oncology
12. Nephrology
13. Neurology
14. Palliative Medicine
15. Pharmaceutical Medicine
16. Rehabilitation Medicine
17. Respiratory Medicine
18. Rheumatology

The Institute of Medicine now represents the largest spectrum of medical specialties in Ireland, with over 1,000 trainees and consultant trainers.

I am delighted to launch the Institute of Medicine. This new governance structure will represent the interests of over 1,000 trainee doctors and consultant trainers in adult clinical medicine in Ireland. It builds on the remarkable tradition in RCPI of promoting excellence in the practice and education of physicians for nearly 400 years. I am really encouraged by the engagement of our members and I look forward to working with them to deliver a strategy focused on high quality clinical care and training in the changing times of modern medicine.

Professor Anthony O'Regan
Dean, Institute of Medicine

Priorities for the first year will be education and training

The Institute of Medicine is now the training and professional body for Clinical Medicine specialties in Ireland. It will oversee matters relating to the medical specialties that were up to now governed by the Irish Committee on Higher Medical Training (ICHMT). The ICHMT will be fully subsumed into the Institute of Medicine.

Professor Anthony O’Regan, Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, Galway University Hospital, is Dean of the Institute of Medicine, while Dr Ed McKone, Consultant in Respiratory Medicine, St Vincent’s University Hospital, is the Institute’s Director of Education and Training.

In developing the new governance structures for Clinical Medicine, the priority areas for the first year of the Institute will be education and training.

The Institute will also support professional affairs related to clinical medicine and will aim to forge close working relationships with specialist professional societies, hospitals and other healthcare sites, the HSE, universities, other postgraduate medical training bodies, and the Medical Council.

What does this mean for doctors in Medicine specialties?

The Institute of Medicine will oversee training in Basic and Higher Specialist Training in Clinical Medicine specialties
The Institute of Medicine will be responsible for the management of Professional Competence Schemes in Clinical Medicine
The Institute of Medicine will play a lead role in organising educational conferences for doctors in Clinical Medicine at all levels

Contact details for the Institute of Medicine

Institute of Medicine

Tel: 01 8639 624

Contact details for the Institute of Medicine

Professor Anthony O'Regan

Dean of the Institute of Medicine

Professor Anthony O'Regan is Dean of the Institute of Medicine. A Consultant in Respiratory and Internal Medicine in University Hospital Galway, Professor O’Regan is the Chief Academic Officer for Saolta University Healthcare Group and an Honorary Professor of Medicine at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Professor O’Regan graduated from University College Dublin in 1990. He completed postgraduate training at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Boston University School of Medicine. In addition to holding Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Professor O’Regan is American board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Allergy and Immunology, and is a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians. He was conferred with an MD doctorate from UCD in 2003 and has received several distinguished teaching awards in both Ireland and the USA. He is a past-President of the Irish Thoracic Society.