7 minute read
e Colles Q&A
by RCSI
e Colles Q&A Professor Freddie Wood
RENOWNED HEART SURGEON FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS, PROFESSOR FREDDIE WOOD TRANSFORMED CARDIAC SURGERY AND HEART AND LUNG TRANSPLANT SURGERY
Professor Freddie Wood RCSI Fellow (1975)
Professor AE (Freddie) Wood graduated from University College Dublin in 1971 and obtained FRCSI in 1975. He trained in Cardiothoracic Surgery rst in Dublin, then in the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast in the late 1970s during the Troubles before completing his training in the Hospital for Sick Children Toronto. He was appointed to the Mater Hospital in 1983, and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin in 1985 pioneering complex infant congenital heart surgery and reparative valve surgery. With the late Maurice Neligan he pioneered heart transplantation in 1985. From 1999 to 2010 he served as Director of Heart & Lung Transplantation at the Mater Hospital and led the development of the Lung Transplantation Programme culminating in successful lung transplantation in 2005. He served on the Council of RCSI in Ireland from 2000 to 2014 and was the rst Chairman of Governance in 2008, as well as the Chair of the Finance Committee. He retired from the Mater Hospital and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in autumn 2010.
Between 2011 and 2013, Professor Wood was Consultant Cardio oracic Surgeon in Congenital Heart Disease to the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast to direct, manage, mentor and provide surgery whilst a solution for its all island provision was nalised. He served as President of the Medical Council from June 2013-2018 during which time he raised concerns about physician health and wellbeing. Now he spends time teaching anatomy as a Surgeon Prosector in the Department of Anatomy RCSI.
When and where are
you happiest? In the operating room operating on a newborn baby with complex heart disease using profound hypothermia and circulatory arrest or performing and managing a heart or lung transplant- real life applications of science and surgical skill.
What is your ideal evening?
Sharing good burgundy with great food and conversation with close friends a er a game of bridge which I have only recently taken up.
If you could research and write a book on any subject, what
would it be? Probably the history of oracic and Cardiac Surgery with particular reference to the island of Ireland and Irish surgeons both here and abroad who contributed to the specialty. What relaxes you most? Going for a long run (regrettably now much shorter at 73 years) or a long hike/ climb in the mountains.
What is your greatest fear?
Drowning or being caught in a crevasse and freezing to death.
When did you decide you wanted to become a surgeon?
At 15, I decided to try and become a doctor hoping to become a surgeon. I liked xing things and wanted to help people. In late 1967, the rst heart transplant was performed, I had just started in my second medical year and I was fascinated. en, in autumn 1968, I was privileged to hear Christian Barnard speak in St Vincent’s Hospital when he visited Ireland on the invitation of Dr John O’Connell, TD later to be Minister of Health. My goal was set.
Would you have any advice
for your younger self? Go a bit slower. Qualify in something else other than surgery such as law, economics, education or regulation. Have the ability to change career mid-career. How do you have fun? Sail competitively, hill walk, alpine trek/climb.
Where would you be if you decided not to become a
surgeon? Probably a barrister. e research, attention to detail and the cut and thrust of the courtroom I nd fascinating.
In what ways do surgeons struggle and what issues do
surgeons today face? Now more than ever surgeons’ outcomes are being scrutinised. An active, progressive surgeon over three decades of practice can expect to be litigated at least once and possibly appear in the High Court, attend the Coroner’s Court, be complained about to the Medical Council, have a HSE-instigated Serious Adverse Event Inquiry and lastly be the subject of a HIQA investigation. I have had all of these to contend with except the last but I expect there will be more instances in the profession and clinicians and surgeons will have to endure them. Surgeons will need con dential and counselling support that is independent of employment or college. It is important that surgeons so challenged are not lost to the profession.
What has been your proudest
moment? Standing on the steps of the Mater hospital alongside Maurice Neligan on the 26th of September 1985 watching the rst heart transplant go home.
Who have you learned the most
from in your life? My wife, érèse in the rst instance. Professionally, my trainers in Dublin (Professor Eoin O’Malley, Mr Keith Shaw and Mr Maurice Neligan), Belfast RVH (Mr Jack Cleland, Mr Hugh O’Kane and Mr Maurice Stevenson) and nally, Dr George Trusler in the Hospital for Sick Children Toronto.
How does a surgeon in 2021
cope with pressure? ey very much need outside interests especially physical activity. And have a good support/family structure. e COVID-19 pandemic is creating huge concern for surgeons and surgical trainees. Surgeons like doing things and xing things. Prior to COVID-19, 65% of all surgery was being performed in the “independent” private hospitals – 33% of which was on publicly funded patients through the NTPF. Since the arrival of COVID-19, much surgery in the public hospitals has been stopped/ deferred with the result that surgeons and surgical teams are nding it di cult to maintain their skills.
What is the best thing about the system of training young
doctors in Ireland? Bedside teaching and clinical exposure – though it is considerably less than when I went through medical school.
Edward Jenner
What is your greatest
extravagance? It is hard to say, owning a small yacht maybe. Recently, I bought a Mark 1 Mini Morris Minor which was assembled in Dublin for me to modify and tune up. Wine as I get older.
Do you have a mantra to live
by? Greet everyone as I would like to be greeted. Leave everyone as a friend and happy, you may never see them again.
What do you consider your
greatest achievement Hard to say, I suppose the Heart-Lung Transplant programme which I worked on from 1997 but I am proudest of the All-Island Congenital Heart Disease programme which now provides surgery for all newborn children with congenital heart disease on the island of Ireland. It was possible to structure this on foot of Appendix 8 in the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement.
In your profession, a historical
fi gure you admire? I admire a number of gures: Edward Jenner for vaccination, William Morton for introducing general anaesthesia, Ignaz Semmelweis for antisepsis, Joseph Lister for asepsis, Marie Curie for x-rays, C Walt Lillehei for open heart surgery and Norman Shumway for heart and lung transplantation. All showed tremendous courage and resilience in the face of considerable professional opposition.
Joseph Lister
What is your favourite memory?
Getting married.
Do you have any hobbies and if so, what do you enjoy about
them? I probably have too many hobbies – old cars, radio-controlled model sailing boats and planes, sketching and now gardening. What I like about them is you have to make them work. Sketching I like because you can leave something personal that’s timeless.
Name your favourite writer?
I don’t have a particular favourite. I like biographies and European history. I have just nished a book on Dr Barry O’Meara, Napoleon’s surgeon on St Helena. It transpires he was born in Newtown House, Blackrock just down the road from where I live.
If you could invite any historical fi gure to dinner, who would
it be? Napoleon Bonaparte, Florence Nightingale. One changed the landscape of Europe, the other changed the assessment of medical and nursing care with a focus on patient outcomes.
Which talent would you most
like to have? To be able to make music – play the piano or the violin.
What is the wisest thing you
have ever said? Asking my wife érèse to marry me.
Name virtues all surgeons
ought to have. Humility and Courage.
Name vices no surgeon should
have. Arrogance and deafness. ■
Norman Shumway
