T Joseph (“Joe”) McKenna – a brilliant clinician and a driving force in advanced medical education

Prof T Joseph (“Joe”) McKenna was a driving force in advanced medical education and was recognised internationally as an influential figure in endocrinology. He was a transformative president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and held the chairs of the Committee on Higher Medical Training and the Forum of Irish Medical Training Bodies. Those who were privileged to know him are left with the warmest memories of a brilliant doctor and teacher, a devoted family man, a talented sportsman and an intellectual polymath.

He also helped to set professional standards in a number of overseas locations. Over the course of his career he authored or co-authored more than 200 scientific papers and texts in national and international journals.

Born in Dublin in 1942, he was five weeks old when his father died in a motor accident. But his mother ensured that he had a happy childhood and he was devoted to her.

He was educated at Terenure College and at UCD, graduating in 1966 in a medical class that had more than its fair share of luminaries. Along with many of his contemporaries, he went to the United States, completing his residency at Georgetown University and fellowship at Vanderbilt University, Nashville.

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In 1970 he married Carol McGloughlin, a biochemist with whom he worked at St Vincent’s Hospital under the renowned Prof Frank Muldowney. Settling in Monkstown in 1979, in the period home they both loved, they had five children; Peter, Mary Frances, Sinead, Joe and Mark.

He returned to Dublin in 1978 and practiced as a consultant endocrinologist at St Vincent’s. He established the Endocrine Laboratory and the Diabetes Centre. In 1992 he became professor of investigative endocrinology at UCD.

He was universally regarded by colleagues with respect and affection, described by one as “the most genuine and caring person one could meet” and by another as a “once in a generation clinician scientist.” He had a commanding, not to say sometimes forbidding, presence. But his patients appreciated his thoughtful and supportive manner, his ever-present sense of humour and his unfailing courtesy.

His tenure as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland was dynamic. In 2003, as the Office of Public Works refurbished the National Library, he recognised an opportunity to restore the college to its 19th-century elegance while bringing it up to 21st-century standards in its facilities. Meanwhile, he led a fundamental review and reform of its governance.

Joe McKenna’s contribution at the Royal College of Physicians was not merely a matter of bricks-and-mortar. Determined to bring the college to levels comparable with leading medical institutions elsewhere, he drove a multifaceted programme to raise standards, develop training initiatives and encourage research. As the current RCPI president, Dr Diarmuid O’Shea, put it, “he was pivotal in laying foundations for training doctors who will be responsible for patient care for decades to come.”

In 2014 he received the college’s Stearne Medal, awarded to “persons of distinction who have made a significant contribution to medicine.”

Joe was a member of the first Terenure team to win the Junior Rugby Cup. Later he played for UCD and for the St Vincent’s teams that won the Hospitals Cup in 1962, 1963 and 1965.

In latter years he and Carol enjoyed tennis and golf in Ireland and in Spain. He had a great love of theatre and of literature and up to the onset of his illness enjoyed nothing more than a vigorous debate at his book club.

He passed away on May 3rd at St Vincent’s Hospital where so much of his work was done during his lifetime in medicine.