UCC honours medic whose unit inspired ‘ER’

An Irish medic and gunshot wounds expert, who headed up the trauma unit which inspired the hit US TV medical drama ER, is to be honoured by his university.

Leading surgeon Dr John Barrett will be among five distinguished UCC graduates to receive an Alumni Achievement Award from the university at a gala black-tie dinner in UCC this day week.

Acclaimed movie director John Crowley, High Court Judge Ms Justice Marie Baker, internationally recognised internet historian Prof John Naughton, and a former secretary general of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Brendan Tuohy, will also receive the highest honour UCC can bestow on a graduate.

Dr Barrett, from Turner’s Cross, graduated from UCC with a degree in medicine in 1969.

He is the former director and chairman of trauma at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, where hit medical drama ER, starring George Clooney, was based.

He was appointed director of the trauma unit in 1982 and under his direction, it became a separate department within the hospital structure in 1995.

Douglas native John Crowley studied English and Philosophy at UCC and went on to complete an MA in Philosophy in 1992.

He has an impressive body of film and TV work, including Brooklyn (2015) based on Colm Toibin’s novel, starring Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson, the four times BAFTA Award-winning Boy A (2007) and Intermission (2003).

Mayo man John Naughton, who graduated from UCC with a degree in engineering in 1968, has written extensively on technology and its role in society.

His book, A Brief History of the Future: The origins of the Internet, is required reading on university reading lists across the world.

Ms Justice Marie Baker, who holds a BA (1974), MA (1979) and BCL (1982) degrees, all from UCC, was called to the Bar in 1984 and was appointed a judge of the High Court in January.

She was a member of the Government committee to advise on Pre-nuptial Agreements that reported in 2007, and has been a member of the Law Reform Commission since September 2012.

Corkman Brendan Tuohy, who graduated from UCC with a degree in civil engineering in 1977, will receive the Alumnus Award for Voluntary Service to UCC. Originally from Montenotte in Cork City, he is currently chairman of Science Foundation Ireland’s Marine Renewable Energy Ireland, based at UCC, which, when fully operational, will be the world’s largest marine renewable research group.

Each recipient will receive an ‘acorn to mighty oak’ sterling silver trophy, designed by Don O’Mahony, an engraver and jeweller in Cork.