A message from the President of RCSI

4 September 2025

Dear Fellows and Members,

As the new academic year begins in Ireland, we see a return to meetings, conferences and opportunities to connect in-person. This month’s message gives you the dates you will need for your diary, to ensure that you don’t miss out on our forthcoming activities in Ireland and internationally. Whether surgical meetings or social gatherings, I encourage you to make the time to attend these events when you can as they provide a valuable opportunity to upskill, exchange information and meet each other.

Separately, for Irish-based Fellows and Members, I want to highlight the opportunity to share your views with the RCSI Expert Group on Best Practice in Clinical Governance for Surgery.

From Galway to Chicago

Later this week, like many of you, I will be travelling to Galway as the surgical academic calendar opens with the Freyer Meeting in Galway. This year’s meeting, co-organised by RCSI Vice-President Professor Michael Kerin FRCSI and Professor Oliver McAnena FRCSI, is a milestone event as it celebrates the 50th Sir Peter Freyer Lecture.

The full schedule and further details are available here, with an exciting programme of talks, including keynote lectures from Professor Arnie Hill and Dr Laura Esserman. Saturday morning includes a session on 'Regional Surgery in the 21st Century: Where We Are and Where We Need To Be' that I am delighted to co-chair with Professor Kerin. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible this weekend.

On the far side of the Atlantic, the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress is scheduled to take place from Saturday, 4 to Tuesday, 7 October. I know that many Irish-based colleagues intend to travel to the 'Windy City' and, as always, we look forward to seeing our North American Fellows and Members there. I’m pleased to extend an invitation to all of you to join me at an informal gathering, which will take place on Sunday, 5 October from 4pm-6pm in The Gage on Michigan Avenue. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP here.

Millin Meeting 2025

Many of you have already registered for the 2025 Millin Meeting, which takes place on Friday, 14 November in RCSI.

I shared details of our keynote lectures last month. The organising committee have been hard at work designing a programme that includes a range of sessions that will be of interest and relevance to everyone, regardless of career stage.

Session I focuses on 'Shaping the Future of Surgical Research' and will be co-chaired by Professor Kevin Conlon FRCSI, ISPTC Chair and RCSI Council Member and Professor Helen Heneghan FRCSI, Consultant Bariatric Surgery at St Vincent’s University Hospital. Commencing with an update on the role and ongoing work of the National Surgical Research Support Centre (NSRCS), five surgeons will present their research projects in the competition for the coveted RCSI National Surgical Research Medal. Last year's topics ranged from traumatic hand injuries to how AI can reduce risk during thyroid and parathyroid surgery, and we look forward to learning about the research innovations happening around Ireland.

Professor Niall Davis FRCSI, Consultant Urologist at Beaumont Hospital, and Professor John Reynolds FRCSI, Emeritus Professor of Surgery at Trinity College Dublin, will co-chair Session II which explores the topic of 'Developing Surgical Academic Careers'. The speakers will provide insights for trainees on how to integrate research into their surgical career and will contain up-to-date information for the surgical trainers who support them. Dr Suzanne Murphy MRCSI will open the session discussing the essential first steps in developing an interest in academic surgery, while Ms Nikita Bhatt will highlight the key role of surgical research collaboratives.

Professor Michael Conall Dennedy will update us on the current and future role of the all-Ireland Irish Clinical Academic Training (ICAT) Programme in enabling surgeons to pursue an academic career while Professor Jarlath Bolger FRCSI, will share his advice about how to establish your research portfolio as an early career academic surgeon.

Professor Carmel Malone FRCSI, Chair of the Faculty of Surgical Trainers and RCSI Council Member and Professor Paddy Kenny FRCSI, Chair of the Professional Development and Practice Committee and RCSI Council Member will co-chair the afternoon symposium on the topic of 'Supporting Excellence in Surgical Education and Training'. Professors Malone and Kenny will be joined by Conor Toale PhD MRCSI who will present his innovative body of research that underpins the evidence-base for surgical training in Ireland. He is followed by Professor Peter Murchan FRCSI, sharing insights from two decades of experience leading hands-on training in the Care of the Critically Ill Surgical Patient (CRISP) course. Finally, Professor Denis Harkin FRCSI, will discuss the role that trainees and trainers can play in enhancing professionalism, sharing tips for new trainers about the challenging but crucial task of assessing professionalism.

The Millin Meeting will conclude, as always, with the Millin Lecture. This is the 48th Millin Lecture and the successful candidate will join the prestigious list of past speakers when their name is added to the honor board located beside the Fellows and Members Common Room in RCSI. Open to all surgical specialties, in recent years attendees have enjoyed excellent talks on topics including future-proofing surgical training, the evolution of spine surgery and marginal gain theory in advanced colorectal cancer. Previous lectures can be watched back here and I encourage interested candidates to take the time to apply now ahead of the deadline of Friday, 19 September.

Social events on the horizon

Central to our community is the sense of shared connection, collegiality and camaraderie. I’m really pleased to share the social events that have been planned for coming months, both linked to academic events but also as separate stand-alone gatherings.

On the evening of Saturday, 1 November in RCSI, rugby greats Seán O’Brien and Bernard Jackman will take part in a panel discussion ahead of Ireland taking on the All Blacks in Soldier Field, Chicago. MC’d by Marie Crowe, Seán and Bernard will give their predictions for the fixture, discuss whether Ireland can replicate the 2016 victory and share stories and insights from their own time on the rugby field. Further information and registration is available here.

Register now to join the Fellows and Members Office as they host a Networking Breakfast in RCSI on the morning of the Millin Meeting on Friday, 14 November. This is a great way to start the day and was hugely popular last year – breakfast bagels and coffee have been promised!

The Fellows and Members Lunchtime Talk Series 2025 concludes with two fascinating talks for the history buffs among you. On Thursday, 16 October by Dr Rachael Scally, a Research Ireland postdoctoral fellow at Trinity College, Dublin, will speak about the Edinburgh Medical School’s legacies of enslavement in Jamaica. Our final talk of 2025 will be presented by RCSI graduate Dr Harald G. Sunde on Thursday, 13 November on the topic of the 'Finnmark Partisans', and the collaboration between Norway and the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany during World War II. Both talks take place in RCSI and you can register for Dr Scally's talk now.

Finally, I can confirm that the Family Fun Day will return for Charter Meeting 2026 – further information will be available in the coming months.

Framework for Surgical Clinical Governance

The valuable role of clinical governance has been the focus of much attention. Mr David Moore FRCSI, RCSI Council Member, has been leading an expert working group to develop an RCSI Framework for Surgical Clinical Governance to ensure that the voice of surgeons remains central. His group has completed an extensive review of clinical governance models across a number of health systems around the world, as well as looking at specific publications relating to surgical clinical governance.

More recently, the expert group issued a survey for Irish-based Fellows and Members with the objective of incorporating feedback provided by the surgical community into the development of the RCSI Surgical Clinical Governance Framework.

This is a hugely important topic, and I would like to thank those of you who have already completed the survey. It is very important that you share your views so that the report of the expert group reflects all surgeons. In addition to questions, there is space for free text to share best practice and areas for improvement. We have extended the closing date to Friday, 12 September and a reminder has been circulated to those eligible to submit feedback.

In closing this month, may I say how grateful I am for your support of RCSI, and of me personally. It is a privilege to hold the office of President. We are stronger when we work together, and I always welcome your feedback. I look forward to seeing many of you in person in the coming days and weeks.

Yours sincerely, 

Professor Deborah McNamara
President, RCSI

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