Medicine & Medical Specialties

Custodians of a major part of our clinical curriculum and leader of our translational research programmes, this academic section comprises staff with expertise in all medical specialties traditionally found within secondary and tertiary care centres.

Led by Professor Yvonne O'Meara, Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics at UCD and Consultant Nephrologist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, the Section includes subject areas of Medicine & Therapeutics, Gerontology, Clinical Pharmacology, Infectious Disease Medicine, Psychiatry, and Rheumatology.

This section is responsible for a substantial component of the undergraduate medicine clinical curriculum, contains a number of clinical scientists who lead active research programmes and provides MD and PhD opportunities for graduate research students.

Subject Areas

Clinical Pharmacology

The science of medicines and their use for clinical interventions including their adsorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion following administration. Clinical pharmacology is concerned with the safe prescription of medications to maximise the desired drug effect whilst minimising unintended side effective.

Head of Subject: Associate Professor Helen Gallagher

 

Medical Microbiology

The branch of medicine, microbiology and immunology involving microbial disease pathogenesis and epidemiology including the study of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites capable of causing an infectious disease.

Head of Subject: Dr Koon Meng Chan

 

Medicine & Therapeutics

The diagnosis, treatment and care of a patient for the purpose of preventing and combating disease and/or alleviating injury through the administration of a pharmacologically active substance. Modern medicine is about understanding the environmental factors and treating the patient, not just the disease.

Head of Subject: Professor Yvonne O'Meara

 

Psychiatry

The branch of medicine which involves the study and treatment of mental illness including affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual disorders.

Head of Subject: Professor Anne Doherty

Biography: Prof Yvonne O'Meara

Yvonne O'Meara

Yvonne O’Meara is Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics (Interim) at UCD and Consultant Nephrologist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. She graduated from University College Cork in 1982 and after initial clinical training in Ireland she moved to Boston University (BU) in 1998 to take up a clinical and research fellowship in Nephrology. She joined the faculty at BU in 1992 and ultimately was Director of Clinical Nephrology and Director of the BU Renal Fellowship Programme.

Professor O’Meara returned to the Mater Misericordiae University hospital and UCD as Consultant Nephrologist / Senior Lecturer in Medicine in 1997. Her research interests include mechanisms of glomerular injury in experimental glomerulonephritis, diabetic nephropathy and quality of life in end stage kidney disease.  She has published approximately 50 original articles, reviews and book chapters in leading international journals and text books.

She has a keen interest in Medical Education and has been the Academic Lead for both the undergraduate and graduate entry teaching programmes in Clinical Medicine at the Mater since 2007.  She has served on a range of national committees and roles, including the Irish Postgraduate Medical and Dental Board, Irish Committee on Higher Medical Training, National Specialty Director in Nephrology, and President of the Irish Nephrology Society. She was appointed as Subject Head in Medicine in September 2018 and as Section Head of Medicine and Medical Specialties in November 2018.

Biography: Professor Michael Keane

Prof Keane

Michael Keane is Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics at UCD and Consultant Respiratory Physician at St Vincent’s University Hospital. He graduated from UCD in 1989 and following initial clinical training in Dublin, moved to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor for a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine in 1995. 

He subsequently took up a faculty position at University of Michigan in 1998 and in 2000 moved to University of California, Los Angeles where he was Professor of Medicine and Programme Director for the UCLA Interstitial Lung Disease Center.

Professor Keane returned to UCD and St Vincent's University Hospital in 2007 where he is an SFI Principal Investigator at the UCD Conway Institute and SVHG Lead Clinical Coordinator for Lung Cancer services.  He is Chairman of the Medicine Division, Chair of the SVHG Medical Executive and a member of the hospital Board of Directors. He is Clinical Director of the UCD Clinical Research Centre and a member of the Molecular Medicine Ireland Board of Directors.

His research interests centre on molecular investigation into, and treatment of, inflammatory lung diseases; particularly pulmonary fibrosis.

Staff Profile