Trinity College Dublin as the oldest University in Ireland boasts a rich history and has played a major role in the evolution of Irish Medical Teaching not least in the field of Surgery. The medical school at Trinity was established in 1700. Many graduates of the medical school Trinity College Dublin have become famous throughout the world for their contributions to to the practice of Surgery.

Professors of Surgery

Robert William Smith, Professor of Surgery 1849-1873.

Robert Smith, Surgeon to Sir Patrick Duns Hospital was appointed the first chair of Surgery at Trinity College when it was established in 1847. Today Robert Smith is remembered for the wrist fracture which he described and continues to bear his name. Smith was interested in many aspects of pathology and was a central figure in the foundation of the Pathological Society of Dublin 1838. Abraham Colles was also a founding member of the society.

Edward Hallaran Bennett, Professor of Surgery 1873-1906.

Edward Bennett was born in Cork in 1837, the son of a barrister. He enrolled in medical school at Trinity in 1854 at the age of 17. At college he studied under the then Professor Robert Smith under who he developed at interest in fractures. He qualified in 1859 and obtained fellowship of the Royal College of surgeons in 1863. After a period as an anatomy demonstrator he was appointed as Surgeon to Sir Patrick Duns hospital in 1864. Bennett succeeded Robert Smith as Professor of Surgery in 1873 following his death. Today Bennett is best remembered for the fracture he described which still bears his name, perhaps more importantly however Bennett is accredited with having introduced Antisepsis to Dublin Hospitals.

Sir Charles Ball, Regius Professor of Surgery 1895-1916

Surgeon , Sir Patrick Dun’s  & Simpson’ Hospitals. Pioneer in neurosurgery and successfully carried out intra-cranial operations in Patrick Dun’s Hospital in the late 19th century, but it was as a specialist in diseases of the rectum that he had an international reputation.

Sir Edward Taylor, Professor of Surgery 1906-16,
Regius Professor of Surgery 1916-1922.

Surgeon in Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital. Studied under Von Eiselberg, Billroth’s successor in Vienna.  Published on Applied Anatomy and operative Surgery.  Assisted Bennett whom he succeeded in 1906.

Thomas Eagleston Gordon, Professor of Surgery 1916-1928.

Born 1867. Worked in the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin. His surgical interests were wide ranging and he published papers on abdominal surgery orthopaedics and prostatic hypertrophy.

Sir William Taylor,  Regius Professor of Surgery 1922-1934.

He initiated the change from antisepsis to surgical asepsis in the Meath Hospital. He supported the creation of two large hospitals instead of the maintaining the numerous small hospitals in Dublin.

William Pearson, Professor of Surgery 1928-1952.

Born 1182, Cork. Avid sportsman.

Sir Charles Arthur Ball, Regius Professor of Surgery 1934-1945.

Appointed  Surgeon in Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital in 1907. Publications included papers on perforated gastric ulcer, treatment of gonorrhoea and sterilisation of catgut.

Adams A McConnell, Regius Professor of Surgery 1946-1961.

Born 1884, Lisburn, Co Antrim. Specialty – neurosurgery.

Robert FJ Henry, Professor of Surgery 1952-1967.

Born 1901, Dublin. Attached to the Baggot Street Hospital. Pioneer in the field of thoracic surgery and particularly in the surgical treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.

John Seton Pringle, Regius Professor of Surgery 1961-1967.

Born 1090, Belfast. Joined the Royal Army Corps in 1939, on the outbreak of war, and served as medical officer on the Queen Mary. He was in Normandy on D-Day where he worked in a field hospital. His expertise was on safe intestinal anastomosis.

George Fegan, Professor of Surgery 1967-1973.

Born 1921, Cavan. Consultant surgeon at Sir Patrick Dun’s and Rotunda Hospitals.His sentinal paper, on compression sclerotherapy (Lancet in 1963), revolutionised the treatment of varicose veins. During this period many surgeons from the UK and elsewhere visited the clinic at Sir Patrick Dun’s and were trained in this technique.

In Memoriam (Dermatol Surg 2007;33:355–356)

Nigel Kinnear, Regius Professor of Surgery 1967-1974.

Born Dublin 1907. Pioneer in vascular surgery in Ireland.

Thomas P Hennessy, Professor of Clinical Surgery  1975 - 84, Regius Professor of Surgery 1984 - .

Born in 1933, Graignamannagh, Co Kilkenny. His particular interest was in oesophageal surgery. He focused mainly on the pathophysiology of Barrett’s oesophagus and multi-modality treatment of oesophageal carcinoma. He was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1994. In 1998 he was appointed Foundation Dean & Professor of Surgery, Penang Medical College in Malaysia.

Stanley McCollum, Regius Professor of Surgery 1974-1981.

Born 1918, Athboy, Co Meath. Travelled widely in the Middle East on behalf of the RCSI and, following retirement from the Adelaide Hospital and TCD , spent some years as Professor of Surgery at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, and in Malaysia.

John Vincent Reynolds, Professor of Surgery 2001-

Consultant Surgeon, St. James’s Hospital – Oesophageal Oncologist.

Kevin Christopher Paul Conlon, Professor of Surgery 2002-

Consultant Surgeon, AMNCH, Tallaght Hospital – Pancreatic Oncologist.