The College bestowed its highest award of Honorary Fellowship on world renowned paediatric surgeon Dr Patricia Donahoe at its annual Millin Meeting today.

Dr Donahoe also delivered the keynote lecture on ‘Mandate for Innovation in Surgery’.

Dr Donahoe is the President of the American Paediatric Surgical Association. She is also Director of the Paediatric Surgical Research Laboratories in Massachusetts General Hospital and the Marshall K. Bartlett, Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Chief Emeritus of the Paediatric Surgical Services at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Reading her citation Mr John Hyland said: “Dr Patricia Donahoe occupies an iconic position in the field of paediatric surgery. Her greatest achievement has been her ability to train, support and inspire several generations of academic paediatric surgeons across the globe.

“Her long list of honours include Boston University 1984 Alumni Award for distinguished public service, the 1990 Ortho 21st Century Science Award and the Columbia Alumni Association 1995 Gold medal for distinguished achievements in medicine. In 2002 she was President of Boston Surgical Society.”

This year’s Millin Meeting was devoted to issues surrounding the provision of paediatric surgery in Ireland. It also addressed plastic surgery issues and how these relate to other disciplines of surgery.

The day culminated with the award of Honorary Fellowship to Dr Donahoe, who was awarded for the outstanding contributions she has made in her field of paediatric surgery. Following the ceremony, Mr Conor Shields delivered the 31st Millin lecture entitled ‘Abnormal Saline: Interactions Between Intravenous Fluids and Morbidity’.