Pictured L to R at the announcement last week of the new Dr Kate McGarry award by the RCPI were: Dr Cormac Kennedy, Chair, RCPI Trainees Committee; Prof Mary Horgan, President, RCPI; and Dr Finbar Lennon, husband of the late Dr Kate McGarry.

The RCPI has established the Dr Kate McGarry award to honour a dedicated doctor and former President of the Irish Heart Foundation.

The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) has announced that it plans to honour the memory of the late Dr Kate McGarry, former President and dear friend of the Irish Heart Foundation, with a prestigious new award for doctors in training to be established in her name.

Dr McGarry, who died in January 2018, was a consultant cardiologist in Our Lady’s Hospital and the Mater Private Cardiology Clinic in Navan and she also served as President and Board Member of the Irish Heart Foundation .

A leading figure in the community Dr McGarry was responsible for developing cardiology services in Navan from 1983 to 2014.

Dr McGarry served as chairperson on the Irish Heart Foundation’s Voluntary Council on Women’s Heart Disease and as a member of the Board from 2009 to 2014. She was appointed President of the Irish Heart Foundation in September 2015.

The new Dr Kate McGarry award will be given annually to the trainee doctor who has submitted the best review of an article in a medical journal.

Doctors who are training to be specialists are encouraged to keep up to date with current medical literature throughout their training and with this in mind, a new e-Journal Club was launched by the College at its annual conference last week.

The initiative is the brainchild of the RCPI Trainees’ Committee and will be facilitated by new virtual learning technology. Trainee doctors will submit their reviews of practice-changing articles throughout the year, with the best ones being shortlisted for the Kate McGarry Prize.

The inaugural Kate McGarry Prize will be awarded in 2020 and the winner will be chosen by a judging panel at an annual educational event for doctors in training in September each year.

The award is a fitting tribute to Dr McGarry, who was a very popular and skilled trainer of young doctors. She was a much-loved Consultant Physician in Navan and a Fellow on the RCPI Council for 25 years.

In the RCPI, Dr McGarry served as Vice President, Censor, and Associate Director of Hospital Site Accreditation. She had over 30 international publications and helped discover a new genetic abnormality in an Irish family with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Dr McGarry was also trailblazer for Irish women in Medicine, and a thoughtful and compassionate doctor.

Commenting on the award Mr Tim Collins CEO of the Irish Heart Foundation said, “the creation of this new award by the RCPI in memory of Dr Kate McGarry is very welcome and a fitting tribute to her legacy”.