Professor Dermot Kelleher’s portrait unveiled

Posted on: 19 May 2023

Pictured left to right, Prof Colin Doherty, Head of School, Prof Dermot Kelleher and Prof Orla Sheils, the Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer

The Trinity College and School of Medicine celebration culminated in the unveiling of a new portrait painting of Professor Kelleher which now hangs in the John Stearne Library of the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI) at St James’s Hospital.

Professor Kelleher is a very proud Trinity graduate who has led major medical schools in four countries across three continents. He brings significant experience and leadership in innovation in academic health strategic planning, administration, clinical care, research and education. 

He previously served as Head of the School of Medicine and Vice Provost for Medical Affairs at Trinity College where he led the development of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, the Wellcome HRB Clinical Research Centre and the what was then, the new medical school at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences institute. 

He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, and Vice-President, Health, at the University of British Columbia.

In his opening address, Professor Colin Doherty, Head of the School of Medicine, said:

“I first met Professor Kelleher in the summer of 2000, when I was home from Boston during my residency. His willingness to talk to young researchers, his grace, generosity and good humour in doing so has always marked out my interactions with Dermot and I know that many of us feel that way. We unveil this portrait of Professor Kelleher and in doing so we have both celebrated and immortalised his massive contribution to TCD medical school.”

Professor Dermot Kelleher followed the opening address by giving his presentation on Academic Medicine, Past, Present and Future to a full house of colleagues, family and friends. 

Professor Orla Sheils, the Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Trinity College later unveiled the painting of Professor Kelleher by Dublin based artist James Hanley, RHA.

Following the unveiling, Professor Kelleher said:

“It’s an extraordinary honour to have a portrait on the historic walls of Trinity College Dublin. Trinity is one of the great schools of the world with an incredible 300-year legacy in pioneering and developing the role of the teaching hospital in medical education, research, and patient care – and in creating new knowledge that continues to challenge and inform academic medicine today.”

Professor Kelleher joined the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2015 and serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Vice-President, Health. Prior to his appointment at UBC, Prof. Kelleher served as Vice-President Health and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, where he also held a concurrent appointment as Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore until 2014.

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