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Professor Muiris FitzGerald was appointed Dean at UCD School of Medicine in Sept 2000.
Muiris FitzGerald is Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics at UCD and was Professor of Medicine and Consultant Physician at SVUH (St Vincent’s University Hospital) from 1977 to 2006.
Muiris is a former two-term Chairman of the HRB (Health Research Board) and served on the Foundation Board of HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority), the ISCP (Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists), the NMBI (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland – formerly An Bord Altranais) and Comhairle na nOispideal for four terms.
In professional education, Muiris served as Chair of the Education Committee of the Irish Medical Council for four years and was Chair of the HSE Medical Education, Training and Research Committee from 2006 to 2009.
Muiris was the recipient of the inaugural ITS (Irish Thoracic Society) Award for Outstanding Contribution to Respiratory Medicine in 2009, which proved an excellent opportunity to celebrate and recognise the Professor’s distinguished career and his unique and invaluable contribution to the field of respiratory medicine.
After his Internship, Muiris trained at the Seton Hall Medical School Jersey City, New Jersey, US, the University of Birmingham and as an International Fogarty – NIH Fellow at Boston University Medical School Thoracic Services under the aegis of Ed Gaensler, Gordon Snider and Charles Carrington.
During his training in Boston, Muiris published numerous papers on Environmental and Occupational Lung Disease, Surgery for Bullous Lung Disease, the Evaluation of Electronic Spirometers, the effects of Marijuana on the Lung, the Natural History and Treated Course of UIP and DIP. The latter three of these papers were published in NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine).
On returning home in 1977, to take up his appointment as Consultant Physician at SVUH, Muiris established the hospital’s first Pulmonary Function Laboratory and initiated the first Adult and Adolescent CF (Cystic Fibrosis) Service in Ireland, in addition to a suite of specialist outpatient clinics for patients with sarcoidosis, lung fibrosis/rare lung diseases and asthma.
Muiris served as Secretary of the ITTS and as first Secretary of the newly formed Irish Thoracic Society in 1980, later becoming its third President. Muiris has also served as Chairman/President of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland and Asthma Society of Ireland.
Muiris FitzGerald was born in Dublin in 1941 and graduated from UCD School of Medicine in 1964. He did postgraduate training in UCD, Seton Hall University New Jersey, US, University of Birmingham, UK and Boston University School of Medicine, US.