HX10 The contribution of Hume Street Hospital to patch testing in Ireland

Abstract

The City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital was founded in 1911 with an initial emphasis on the treatment of cancer. Dermatologists were not appointed until 1934, but by the 1970s to the 1980s, the hospital functioned primarily as a specialist dermatology centre. This continued until its closure in 2006 and dermatology services were transferred to St Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH). Dr Paul Collins (1961–2018) and Professor Sarah Rogers (1946–2023) worked in Hume Street Hospital and subsequently in SVUH and contributed hugely to modernizing dermatological medicine in Ireland. They, in particular Professor Rogers, created the first dedicated outpatient clinics for the investigation and management of contact dermatitis (May 1980). She also instigated a study on setting up a clinic for the treatment of contact dermatitis. Professor Rogers, one of the first female consultants in Ireland, graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1968 and obtained her MRCPI in 1971. She pursued dermatology in Leeds, Belfast and Newcastle upon Tyne, where her Medical Research Council-funded clinical trial comparing psoralen plus ultraviolet A vs. dithranol for psoriasis was published in The Lancet. Dr Collins graduated in medicine from University College Dublin in 1984 and pursued a career in dermatology. His higher specialist training was completed in Hume Street Hospital. He completed fellowship at the University of Minnesota, before he took a consultant post in Hume Street Hospital/SVUH in 1997. Dr Collins’ most cited publication (2013) in patch testing is currently ‘The relevance of 7-day patch test reading’, with 47 citations. He and Professor Rogers also had two further 2015 publications in Dermatitis and published numerous case reports. The Dr Paul Collins Fellowship supports Irish dermatology trainees undertaking overseas patch-testing fellowships, while the Rogers Prize recognizes her contribution to dermatology research. They both contributed enormously to dermatology in Ireland both clinically and academically.