History of Medicine Award 2025

Kevin Finnan, PhD student in the School of History and Geography, was awarded the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland’s (RCPI) Kirkpatrick History of Medicine Award, at an event on 8 April. Kevin’s presentation was entitled, ‘“I was not a volunteer … but I was known by the volunteers and trusted”: identifying the doctors who treated Volunteers during the War of Independence.’ This presentation was based on his research in Military Archives and in the archives of the RCPI and is an element of his broader exploration of doctors and the medical profession during the Irish War of Independence.

This year’s prize was jointly awarded to Kevin and Dr Caitlín Smith, PhD graduate of Ulster University, for her presentation on maternal mortality rates in Belfast during the first half of the twentieth century. The award is named in honour of physician and historian Thomas Percy Claude Kirkpatrick (1869-1954), who was Registrar of the RCPI for over forty years. He devoted his energies to preserving and developing the College’s library and heritage collections.