Arnie Hill
Occupation:Professor and chairman of the department of surgery in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Beaumont Hospital.
Personal/family:Married to Gemma with four sons, David (8) and triplets Gerard, Peter and Evan (6).
What figure from the world of medicine or health do you most admire?
The nurses in our acute hospitals who continue to provide wonderful frontline care to the sick and elderly in a highly criticised health service for minimal remuneration.
What other career might you have chosen?
I can't remember wanting to do anything other than surgery.
If you could grant three wishes for the health service, what would they be?
I would ensure that breast cancer patients would not have to compete with casualty patients for admission for elective surgery. I would make certain that breast cancer research would receive direct Government support (currently the only specific funding for breast cancer research is from charitable fundraising sources). Finally I would see that funding for the supra regional cancer care centre in Beaumont is not subject to the usual Government delays.
What is your greatest fear?
Having to look after my four sons on my own for more than a day.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
Fortunately, I have never been a patient.
When or where are you happiest?
Any holiday with my wife and children.
How do you cope with stress?
Talk to my wife or occasionally go for a walk.
What is the trait you most admire in yourself?
I think I am a good listener, optimistic and decisive.
What is the trait you most dislike in yourself?
Difficulty in leaving work.
Do you use alternative or complementary medicine or therapies?
No.
Who or what makes you laugh?
My wife and sons always make me laugh. The funniest is to overhear the innocence of a conversation between my sons during a car journey.
What is your motto?
Do unto others what you would do unto yourself.
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
On TV I like Questions and Answers and Podge and Rodge. On radio I listen to Maxi on the way to work.
What books would you bring to a desert island?
The Pope's Children by David McWilliams because it is so entertaining.
In conversation with Fiona Tyrrell