Mayo medic an NUI Galway Alumni Award winner
NUI Galway has announced the winners of the 2019 Alumni Awards to be presented at the 20th annual Alumni Awards gala banquet on April 13.
The awards recognise individual excellence and achievements among the university’s more than 100,000 graduates worldwide.
Among the winners this year, receiving the Alumni Award for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (sponsored by Medtronic), is Mayo-based surgeon and clinical educator Dr. Ronan Waldron.
Dr. Waldron is a consultant surgeon in Mayo University Hospital. An NUI Galway medical graduate of 1976, he is a highly-respected clinical educator and was awarded the Silver Scalpel Award 2018, awarded by surgical trainees to the best Irish Surgical Trainer of the Year.
The full list of award winners is:
Alumni Award for Arts, Literature and Celtic Studies – journalist and RTÉ London correspondent, Fiona Mitchell – BA 1993.
Alumni Award for Business and Commerce - aviation entrepreneur Dómhnal Slattery - BComm 1988.
Alumni Award for Law, Public Policy and Government - senior counsel and jurist Grainne McMorrow - BA 1980, LLB 1983.
Alumni Award for Engineering, Science and Technology - cancer scientist Dr. John Lyons - BSc 1979.
Alumni Award for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences - Dr. Ronan Waldron, MB BCh BAO 1976, MMedSc 1984.
Gradam Alumni don Gaeilge - journalist and broadcaster Póilín Ní Chiaráin - BA 1965.
Alumni Award for Contribution to Sport - sports medicine pioneer Dr. Mick Molloy - MB BCh BAO 1968.
Dr. Molloy, a former Irish rugby union player, is originally from Cornamona, and played club rugby for UCG RFC while a medical student. He moved to England to further his medical career, playing club rugby with London Irish before returning to Ireland, where he served as Ireland team doctor and medical advisor to the Irish Rugby Union.
Molloy served as a member of the International Rugby Board Medical Advisory Committee and in 2005 was appointed as the IRB's first ever medical officer. In that role, he sought to ensure the highest standard of care for all players, and he has been recognised internationally for his achievements particularly in the key areas of global injury surveillance and the development of concussion guidelines.