RCSI conferred 415 healthcare professionals with postgraduate awards at a ceremony, which took place in the College’s St Stephen’s Green campus yesterday evening.

The awards conferred include fellowships, memberships and diplomas in surgery; radiology; dentistry, and sports and exercise medicine.

The College also conferred Honorary Fellowships on two internationally distinguished surgeons, Professor Jo Shapiro and Professor Michael Lavelle-Jones.

Prof. Shapiro is a surgeon in the Department of Surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School and a global leader in medical professionalism. She addressed yesterday’s ceremony on ‘Moving towards a Culture of Safety’.

Prof. Lavelle-Jones won the Association of Surgeons in Training Silver Scalpel award for Best UK surgical trainer 2014 as nominated by UK trainees. He was then elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh (RCSEd) in 2015 and completed a three-year term in November 2018.

The Honorary Fellowship of RCSI is the highest distinction the College bestows, recognising outstanding achievement in surgery and in other areas.

“Their conferring marks an important milestone for our candidates, as they celebrate a significant stage in their careers by setting down a maker of their serious commitment to their professional development,” said Mr Kenneth Mealy, President of RCSI.

“I congratulate them and wish them the very best in their future careers in the specialty that they have chosen. We celebrate their commitment to their training and dedication to their patients and their profession,” he said.

"On behalf of the College, I congratulate today’s Honorary Fellowship recipients, Prof. Shapiro and Prof. Lavelle-Jones, who have been influential leaders in global surgical practice and are therefore most worthy recipients of the highest Honour this College has to offer,” Mr Mealy added.

In surgery, the awards conferred included Fellowships of RCSI in General Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Otolaryngology, Plastic Surgery, Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Urology, Vascular Surgery and Fellowships Ad Eundem. Memberships of RCSI were also awarded, including Memberships in ENT.

Fellowships of the Faculty of Radiologists were awarded in Radiation Oncology and Radiodiagnosis. In Dentistry, Fellowships were awarded in Oral Surgery with Oral Medicine and Fellowships Ad Eundem; Memberships and Faculty of Dentistry Diplomas of Primary Care Dentistry were also presented to recipients.

Finally, the RCSI Faculty of Sports & Exercise Medicine awarded Fellowships by Election and Ad Eundem, and Memberships of the Faculty.