A chara, – I was saddened to hear of the death of Dr Muireann Brennan (“Epidemiologist who led emergency responses in world’s most difficult places” Obituary, December 3rd).
The reference to her love and commitment to the people in the developing world was particularly appropriate in Muireann’s case.
I had the honour of introducing her to her first exposure to tropical medicine when she was a third-year medical student at RCSI, Dublin. I placed her with the Holy Rosary Sisters who were then working at Ortum Mission Hospital in Kenya as part of the Overseas Elective Scheme. The impact of her two-month student elective was immense, and following graduation she was determined to secure a similar post as a doctor. I secured the funding to place her for two years in the remote environment of Lodwar, Turkana, where she worked alongside the legendary Kiltegan Bishop John Mahon and Fr Dr Robert MacCabe.
Muireann of course became indispensible to all around her and drove along harsh desert roads. On occasions she undertook serious medical operations under the light of a battery-powered torch.
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I smiled at the obituary description of her as “a physically small Irish woman who was tough, and brave”. That was entirely true; however, though she was physically small, her heart was immense and her passion for the marginalised was of gigantic proportions. – Is mise,
Dr VINCENT KENNY,
Knocklyon,
Dublin 16.
