This website has been established to satisfy a demand for information and towards this end I have let my activities as a doctor fall into four categories. This categorisation has the advantage of convenience albeit at the expense of tradition that might have dictated otherwise.
Firstly, there has been my commitment to the practice of medicine and, in particular to my speciality – cardiology – or more correctly to cardiovascular medicine, which obliterates the restrictive confines of the former denotation. I can only document this aspect of my career by indicating milestones that show where I was at a particular time, and the medical personalities whose influence might have been lighting my future path, but my success or failure (are the two ever separable for long?) must ultimately be left to my patients to judge.
Secondly, there is the spirit of enquiry, which attracted me to examine critically how I practiced medicine and this inevitably led me to research, and particularly to research into hypertension and the risks associated with heart attack and stroke. The currency of research is the dissemination of the endeavour of enquiry, which calls for presentation at international meetings and publication in specialist and general journals. In addition to publication of research in prestigious peer reviewed scientific journals, I believe there is also an obligation on scientists to inform colleagues in general practice of research developments and I have included such papers under the broad title of ‘General and Educational’. My scientific publications beginning with an article in the Lancet in 1968 are listed under ‘Bibliography of Scientific Publications’. The majority relate to hypertension and pdf copies strictly for personal research use are available for the majority of some 1000 articles. For those wishing to dig deeper publications are grouped according to subject.
Another logical extension of enquiry, or so it seems to me, is a study of the past. By standing on the shoulders of earlier researchers we can view the pathways to the future. This realisation led me inevitably to study and write about the history of medicine. I have included, therefore, a section on my foray into this subject, which led me to write a number of papers and books. Again a website is ideally suited to not only to documenting these productions, but also to providing illustrative material on the past.
The presentation of communication in medicine, if I may call it such led me inevitably to the editorship of two journals – the Journal of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons (for two terms) and the Irish Medical Journal and probably to founding two presses – Black Cat Press and Anniversary Press – to publish what might be regarded by the establishment as somewhat esoteric works. Again a website allows me to archive the somewhat turbulent consequences of these activities.
Finally, it is my contention that medicine should not be divorced from the humanities, which can bring a sense of compassion and understanding to doctors distracted by the materialistic and technological demands of the present age. This activity removed me from science for some pleasant and rewarding years to the study of literature, in particular the writings of Samuel Beckett. It led moreover to a friendship, from which arose The Beckett Country. Again, a website allows me to share some of the results of this period of my career.
Links
Books by Eoin O’Brien (available under a Creative Commons License)
The Charitable Infirmary, Jervis Street 1718-1987: A Farewell Tribute. Edited by E. O’Brien. Anniversary Press. Dublin 1987.
The House of Industry Hospitals 1772-1987. The Richmond, Whitworth and hardwicke (St. Laurences’s Hospital). A Closing Memoir. Edited by E.O’Brien, L.Browne, K.O’Malley. Anniversary Press. Dublin. 1988.
The Beckett Country: Samuel Beckett’s Ireland. The Black Cat Press & Faber and Faber. Dublin. 1986.
A.J. Leventhal 1896-1979: Dublin Scholar: wit and man of letters. Edited by Eoin O’Brien. Leventhal Scholarship Committee.The Glendale Press. Dublin 1984. Pp. 19-31.
Nevill Johnson 1911-1999: Paint the smell of grass. Dickon Hall and Eoin O’Brien. Ava Gallery. 2008.
Nevill Johnson. The Dublin Legacy. Edited by Eoin O’Brien. Anniversary Press. Dublin 2014.
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
Disclaimer
All material on this site has been made available for scholarship and personal research only, and must not be used for any commercial purpose whatsoever.
Dear Dr. O’Brien,
I have a Desmond Lyons Memorial medal issued to a C.T. O’Brien, issued
by The Goveners Richmond Whitworth and Hardwicke Hospitals Dublin in 1927. Is this something you’d be interested in having? I’m “decluttering” and I’m not sure what to do with it. A little Google research led me to you. Please let me know if this is of interest to you or your family. It feels wrong to just throw it away without some effort to find someone who might appreciate this little bit of history.
Dear Dr OBrien
my name is John Ryan , a former student and intern at the Richmond (77-78).
I came across the book info you edited about the history of the Richmond at its closure .I would dearly love to acquire a copy .With very best wishes ,
John Ryan LRCP@SI , FRCSI, FRCS, FACS .
Dear Eoin,
I’m a Rheumatologist at St James’s Hospital/TCD and am currently writing up the history of Irish Rheumatology. No one has ever done this before. Unfortunately, there is little hard data/ photographs on the subject, as there was no central repository for information until about a decade ago.
The first president of the Irish Society for Rheumatology (or Irish Association of Rheumatology and Rehabilitation as it was then known) was Dr Thomas J O’Reilly. I’ve searched through the national archives and newspaper archives as well as Davis Coakley’s book on St James’s Hospital, but have very limited information on him.
I would welcome a chance to talk with you about this, if you had some time to do so.
With best wishes,
Gaye Cunnane
gayecunnane@hotmail.com
I’m researching a family ancestor and find a Patrick Corrigan baptized 1772, Dublin. It appears this may be a brother to Dominic’s father John Corrigan. I wanted to ask that if in your research on Dominic you may have come across any information that John had a brother Patrick and if so what may have happened to that Patrick? Thank you.
Please forgive me for being so slow responding but I rarely look at my website and I have only just discovered your message. I am afraid I have no information on a brother Patrick but I have not been active in this area of medical history for some time. Sorry not to be of more help. Eoin
Please forgive me for being so slow responding but I rarely look at my website and I have only just discovered your message. I have left medical history behind me with regret and I am afraid I would not be of any help to you in your research. With best wishes. Eoin
Dear John, Please forgive me for being so slow responding but I rarely look at my website and I have only just discovered your message. I am afraid the only way you will obtain a copy of the Richmond book is on Amazon or one of the international booksellers – they do come up from time to time. With best wishes, Eoin
Dear Laura, Please forgive me for being so slow responding but I rarely look at my website and I have only just discovered your message.It is so far back that I suspect you have thrown the medal out but if by any chance you still have it, I would love to have it as it was inscribed to G.(rather than C) T. O’Brien, who was my father and like him I won the medal a generation later. Thank you so much for offering it and if by chance you still have it please contact me at profeobrien@icloud.com. With best wishes, Eoin