'TB and Research: a Consumptive Pursuit'
Professor Joseph Keane, MD, BSc, MRCPI, MRCP(UK)
Wednesday 25th January 2012

Joseph Keane is a Consultant Respiratory Physician in St. James’s Hospital, and Associate Professor of Medicine in Trinity College. He completed a clinical and research post-doctoral fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.

Prof Keane’s research interests include the host immune response to tuberculosis; and developing improved diagnostic tests for this disease. His NEJM article on the association of TB reactivation and the use of TNF blockers is the most cited tuberculosis paper of the last 10 years. He is the director of the TB service in St. James’s Hospital, which is the designated supra-regional center for tuberculosis.

The Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland, and the Royal City of Dublin Hospital Trust fund Prof Keane’s research.

Prof Keane was the recipient of the Inaugural William Stokes Award in September 2011 in recognition of his research activities.

Ian Lavery: Surgical Seminar

Dr Ian Lavery delivered a lecture in which he discussed the educational milestones that shaped his career as an internationally respected colorectal surgeon.  His surgical interests are varied and include carcinoma of the large and small bowel, inflammatory bowel disease, sphincter-saving operations, stoma surgery and paediatric gastrointestinal surgery.

A graduate of the University of Queensland, Dr Lavery trained at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Queensland as well as Repatriation General Hospital in Melbourne.  He undertook his Colorectal Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic under Rupert B. Turnbull, M.D. and was appointed to the staff of the Cleveland Clinic in 1976. 

J Calvin Coffey, Professor of Surgery, UL and organiser of the Annual Surgical Lecture said; "Dr Lavery`s visit to the Mid-Western region and to the students at UL represents a wonderful educational opportunity.  Dr Lavery has mentored several Chairs of Surgery worldwide and continues to inspire  Irish and other surgeons.”

With the recent establishment of the Graduate Entry Medical School at UL together with the development of the Gastrointestinal Surgery, HSE Mid-Western Region (involving Professor J Calvin Coffey, Mr David Waldron, and Mr Eoghan Condon) service delivery and research in this field has been greatly strengthened.  The relationship between the Graduate Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, the HSE Mid-Western Regional Department of Surgery and the Cleveland Clinic has been further developed through multiple collaborations in several research projects and is set to continue to generate benefits for medical education and surgery in the Mid-West of Ireland.