Charles Institute Seminar Series 2024-25: Life under the knife with Guest Speaker Ms Siún Murphy
Date of Talk: Wednesday 02 Oct 2024 @ 12pm
Location: In Person & Online Via Zoom
Talk Title: Life under the knife
Speaker Details: Ms Siún Murphy
Plastic Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgeon, Blackrock Clinic & Hermitage Medical Centre Dublin.
Short Biography:
Ms Siún Murphy qualified from Trinity College Dublin (1999), completing Basic Surgical Training (RCSI BST) before pursuing a career in plastic surgery. Her Masters Degree and Thesis was on neovascularization (in Canada) for which she was awarded the Edward Hallaran Bennett Medal by Trinity College Dublin. Returning to Ireland Ms Murphy joined the Higher Training Programme in Plastic Surgery (RCSI) in 2005 and later completed the FRCS (Plast) examination.
Siún then moved to Sydney, Australia for a Fellowship in Cosmetic & Plastic surgery (Macquarie University Hospital), specializing in drainless abdominoplasty, skin cancer and skin cancer reconstruction (SCC/ BCC and Melanoma) amongst others. She has a particular academic interest in wound healing and scar formation and treatment. Siún is a full member of the Irish Association of Plastic Surgeons and a member of Blackrock Clinic Medical Advisory Committee
Abstract for talk:
Humans are unpredictable. No two are the same. Anaesthesiologists feel the same. Surgeons feel the same. We strive to pursue equilibrium between what we achieve on the table and what the human response will be to our scalpel. We are the interface between the human and the science that lies beneath. Try as we do to understand the human and biological response to surgery, we have yet to grasp what influences the skin response to surgery, or trauma. The cellular pathways of healing responses are well understood with regard to initial responses, but what happens after this initial sequelae of events is completely unknown.
Why do some humans make beautiful scars? Why do they predictably, or most often unpredictably make pathological scars such as hypertrophic or keloid scars? Why do some ethnic groups have a predisposition to making a pathological scar? Can we predict it? Can we prevent this? How can we fuse this bridge between science and surgery? How can our knowledge of the cellular pathways of wound healing enhance our treatment of scars. Collaboration is the key!