MedCurious Edition 2

Welcome to the second edition of the MedCurious Newsletter.

We have included a comic psychiatrist, a poetic obstetrician, a cartooning palliative care doctor, medical story tellers, an invitation to sing, and a timely celebration of an influential, and well loved giant of Irish general practice.

If you have something that you feel would be of value to the dotMD community, whether you have created it yourself, or have spotted something that you think is worth sharing, feel free to email us and we’ll do our best to include it.

MedCurious New Writing and Poetry

We are delighted to include our first poetry submission from Prof. Chris Fitzpatrick, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist in the Coombe Hospital and clinical professor in UCD. Chris has also published short stories, has written for the stage, and for the newspapers. Chris’s poem is entitled “Dodder Walk at Dusk during the time of Covid-19“

We are also excited to include our first written submission, in the form of an essay from Matthew Shipsey, who is a Junior Doctor. Matthew originally presented this as a speech he gave in Cork University Hospital to mark the end of his intern year. Matthew’s piece,  Labore est Orare  – Requiem for a Betty is named after a favourite patient of his who suffered from a deadly respiratory illness.

Medical Tales

One the most popular sessions at dotMD 2019 was our medical story telling session – Bedside Stories –  featuring doctors Anthony O’Connor, Sarah Fitzgibbon and Austin O’Carroll. Here they are on our Youtube channel in case you missed them.

Standup Psychiatry

We could all do with a laugh at the moment. Benji Waterstones is a UK based psychiatrist who is also a standup comedian who explores the funny side of psychiatry and medicine (there’s plenty to laugh about). Find out more about Benji on his Website  or on Twitter @its_benjis .

Graphic Covid 19

The LA Times have published an Op-ed, in the form of a series of cartoons, by Palliative care doctor and comic Dr. Nathan Gray. The cartoon explores the collision between his hospital and home worlds, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nathan’s work can be found on his website and he’s also on Twitter @Nathangray

Zoom Healthcare choir

An online choir for healthcare workers? Dr. Isabel Hanson, who is an Australia based GP Registrar and Chorister has invited the dotMD community to join an online choir (based on Zoom). Originally formed as part of a staff wellbeing project, the choir has now moved online during the pandemic.

Although the timing might not suit everybody on the northern hemisphere (5:45-6:45pm AEST on Zoom every Monday), they are also starting to create video mashups, where solo choir members send in a video of them singing and we edit together all the parts into one big choir. This could be a way for anyone interested to get involved if they are in different time zones. If you are interested you can find her on Twitter @isabelJhanson or on email

Celebrating a remarkable GP

Dr. Michael Boland, who sadly died in March of this year at the young age of 71, was a hugely respected and influential GP, as well as being so much more. Once asked to describe himself in 12 words for a newspaper feature, he said: “Failed obsessional; relaxed Catholic; unelected politician; international Irishman, specialised generalist; ageing juvenile.” His daughter, Mary Jane, remembers him in this reading, recently broadcast on RTE’s Sunday Miscellany.