Five miles outside the County Mayo town of Westport, a conically-shaped mountain looms over the surrounding countryside. This is Croagh Patrick. It’s 2,500 feet high. It’s a place of ancient history. It’s associated with Ireland’s patron saint and on a rainy day this June, I was determined to climb it. The rain was lashing from the heavens when I began my ascent. The summit … [Read more...] about The Pain and the Pleasure
Health and Wellness
Fionnula Flanagan Remembers Husband Garrett O’Connor, Addiction Treatment Pioneer
By Fionnula Flanagan
January, 2016
I met him in 1969. In the corridor of the Round Towner Motel in Baltimore. Maryland. Following a Broadway run, I was on a national tour with Lovers, the play that had brought me to the US. He was an Irish psychiatrist running the Psychiatric Emergency Clinic on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. But when I first saw him, having opened my motel room door to … [Read more...] about Fionnula Flanagan Remembers Husband Garrett O’Connor, Addiction Treatment Pioneer
Queen’s University Making Waves in Europe
This summer saw laurels upon laurels laid on Queen’s University Belfast, as cancer experts there received major U.S. and U.K. research awards, and researchers launched a €50 million, Europe-wide, cystic fibrosis drug treatment trial. Most recently, a £2.9 million U.S.-Ireland Research and Development Partnership Program grant was awarded to Queen’s, Dublin City University, and … [Read more...] about Queen’s University Making Waves in Europe
Researchers Cite ALS Ice
Bucket Challenge for Ground-
Breaking Discoveries
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, co-founded by Irish America Hall of Fame inductee Pat Quinn and re-launched this past August, is being credited by researchers at Johns Hopkins University for recent breakthroughs in research for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Jonathan Ling, Olga Pletnikova, Juan Troncoso, and Philip Wong of Johns … [Read more...] about Researchers Cite ALS Ice
Bucket Challenge for Ground-
Breaking Discoveries
Rowing Back to Life
Survivors of breast cancer join together to paddle dragon boats for fun, physical well-being, and good old-fashioned competition. They come out of the drizzly mist of a very early Saturday morning headed for Flushing Bay, Queens, carrying paddles and life jackets, dressed for action. The Empire Dragon Boat Team – 42 women ranging in age from their early 30s through 70s, who … [Read more...] about Rowing Back to Life