SPIRIT OF CORK AWARD 2014 – MR. EDWARD KIELY
The Kiely name is synonymous with medicine in Cork…and with UCC and rugby. Edward Kiely, the first recipient of the Spirit of Cork award epitomises all three links and elevates them on all counts. He is, quite literally, world renowned as a paediatric surgeon; a distinguished graduate of his college; and could be described as the Peter O’Mahony of his day as captain of UCC and Lansdowne rugby teams and a member of the Munster and Combined Universities fifteens as a rampaging and deadly back row forward. He has performed operations as an invited visiting surgeon all over the world…Australia, India, Egypt, Tunisia, Singapore, the Middle East, Italy, Israel, Sweden, Mexico, the United States…even in Dublin. Many of these have been in the separation of conjoined twins…as we were reminded earlier by Angie Benhaffaf and her Little Fighters, Hassan and Hussein. He is a visiting Professor in Adelaide, New York, LosAngeles, Belgrade and Toronto.
His medical career began in UCC, bringing him to the Mercy Hospital, the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Trinity College, the Mater Hospital and then on to London, Birmingham and Johannesburg before he first landed at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London. Still only in his thirties he was appointed Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Great Ormond Street, one of the most prestigious roles in medicine in London, a post he still holds. He has never loosened the ties which bind him to Cork, ties of family, in sporting contexts, to his alma mater UCC, which honoured him a few years ago with the UCC Medical School Medal and an Alumnus Achievement award. He and Nicola have three children and she has links with Cork’s Lord Mayoralty through a Hegarty ancestor around the turn of the last century. The Spirit of Cork awards have been established to honour those who by their achievements have added further lustre to our city and county and their country.
Edward Kiely is a most worthy exemplar of the Spirit of Cork as the first recipient of this award.