Ep. 11 Irish Medical Lives with Dr Chris Luke and guest Professor James Bernard Walsh
Irish Medical LivesShow Notes
Professor James Bernard Walsh
Professor (‘JB’) Bernard Walsh, Clinical Professor in the Department of Medical Gerontology, at Trinity College Dublin, and Honorary Consultant at the Bone Health and Osteoporosis Treatment Unit of the Mercer’s Institute for Successful Ageing at St. James’s Hospital, is one of the outstanding geriatricians of his era.
Throughout his training Bernard was greatly influenced by many of the great masters of Irish and British Medicine, including - in Cork - the late Dr Michael Hyland, pioneer of geriatric medicine in Ireland, Professor Tim Counihan at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, Professor Gordon Mills in Liverpool, and - following his appointment as consultant at St James’s Hospital in Dublin - a series of ‘rock-star’ colleagues, such as Professors Davis Coakley, Rose Anne Kenny and Joe Harbison.
In this episode, Professor Walsh recalls his tough - and at times tragic - early years in Cork, and the invaluable lessons he learned in humility, gratitude, and human relations. He remembers pivotal moments of sheer good luck, kindness and serendipity that – along with hard work - took him into medical school and beyond. And he describes the evolution of St James’s Hospital in Dublin from a collection of 19th century workhouses into the beacon of world-class clinical, academic and research practice at the heart of Ireland’s capital that it has now become.
This is essential listening for those who are interested in ‘diversity’ in medical school applications, the vital importance of altruism (and philanthropy), the notion of good hospital management, the use of the Irish language in daily life, and the very meaning of ‘successful ageing’. Indeed, given his recent cycling trips between Cork and Dublin and around the Ring of Kerry, and his remarkably busy life as an academic, medical advisor to the Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes, and grandfather to a dozen doting grandchildren, listeners will hear a description of a veritable paragon of ‘successful ageing’! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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