Trinity College Dublin (TCD) is refusing to extend the contract of Emeritus Professor of Anatomy Moira O'Brien, a leading expert in osteoporosis, when it expires at the end of this month.
Prof O'Brien (72) says the osteoporosis unit she set up and runs in the college will have to close if she leaves, even though she has patients booked until August. More than 11,000 patients have attended the unit since its establishment in the late 1980s.
Prof O'Brien, who has been medical officer to the Irish Olympic team, wishes to continue running the unit, at which she sees patients and conducts research. She does not believe it is practical for her to set up in practice elsewhere, and is not planning to do so. Trinity is not expected to continue offering a similar service to patients after her departure.
Secretary of TCD Michael Gleeson told The Irish Times that college regulations required that she quit her post at the end of the month.
Mr Gleeson said Prof O'Brien had been facilitated in research after her retirement, and also in finishing a clinical research trial completed last month.
"She agreed to the terms of the extension and the college regulations state she must abide by it. Her contract ends on December 31st and she has known this for almost a year."
Paul Glacken, head of the anatomy department in Trinity, is currently engaged in discussions with Mr Gleeson in an effort to keep Prof O'Brien in her position.
"I do support her wish to stay. She is a professor of international repute and one of the leading authorities in the world on osteoporosis. She is producing research which is published under the name of the department and she brings in money which defrays expenses of the department. And all departments now are under enormous financial pressure. Her work and her contribution is very valuable."
Mr Glacken agreed Prof O'Brien had been retired for five years and that an extension to her contract expires at the end of December.
Prof O'Brien also has strong supporters in the medical profession. David Borton, a consultant at St James' Hospital in Dublin, describes her as "an institution" and says her work has "put Trinity on the world map".
Surgeon Keith Synnott of the Mater hospital in Dublin - one of her former students - said that "as an educationalist, she is fantastic".
Appointed professor of anatomy in 1985, Prof O'Brien was head of the department until she retired in October 2000. In 1992, she set up the first masters degree course in sports medicine in Britain and Ireland.
She is the founding president of the Osteoporosis Society of Ireland
She is now an honorary professor in Trinity and a fellow of the college, running the osteoporosis unit, lecturing and carrying out research. She also heads up a long-term research project into the progress of over 11,000 patients who have attended the unit.
Patients, particularly elite athletes, from across the State attend the unit for testing on bone-density carried out on a DEXA scanning machine.
"After we pay expenses, the unit brings in about €50,000 a year for Trinity," Prof O'Brien told The Irish Times.
The unit provides DEXA-testing facilities free of charge to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin and Temple Street children's hospital. It has been involved in clinical trials for osteoporosis medication for pharmaceutical companies.
Prof O'Brien has spoken and been published across the world and has just returned from Vancouver where she was examining PhD students in anatomy.
