Owen Conor Ward

Biography

• Born 1923 Monaghan, Ireland
• 1946 – Graduated in Medicine from University College Dublin (UCD)
• 1951 – Doctorate in Paediatric cardiology, University of Liverpool
• 1956 – Paediatrician at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin
• 1970 – Professor Paediatrics UCD
• 1979 – Vice-president Royal College Physicians, Ireland
• 1990 – Post retirement served in various roles for Royal College Surgeons (Ireland), European Association of Paediatric Cardiologists, Irish Paediatric Association, Irish Cardiac Society, Irish Heart Foundation, Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital, Down’s Syndrome Association.
• 2000 – PhD in medical history (UCD) for his work on Langdon Down & Down’s Syndrome
• 2008 – Aged 85 years retired from Undergraduate teaching at St George’s Medical School, London.
• 2016 – Received an Honorary degree, Doctor of Science honoris causa from UCD. He received this award on the same day as his Grandson, Dr Cian Ward, graduated in medicine.

Medical Eponyms

Romano-Ward Syndrome (1964)

Congenital (autosomal dominant) long QT syndrome (LQTS). Unlike Jervell-Lange-Nielsen, there is no congenital hearing loss present. Multiple genetic mutations identified linked to cardiac potassium and beta-adrenergic channels.

Independently described in 1963 by Cesarino Romano, Italian Paediatrician, and in 1964 by Irish paediatrician Owen Conor Ward. Both reported an autosomal dominant long-term QT syndrome, later known as Romano-Ward syndrome.

Controversies

‘Not always a bed of roses’ – Ward speaking on his time working in Ireland where he was involved in several conflicts with Catholic Leaders. This was mainly during his work supporting Irish Women’s access to termination of pregnancy in cases of life-threatening malformation. His UCD Professorship became under threat when Archbishop Ryan discovered that Ward had been looking into the possibility of amniocentesis for a pregnant mother whose previous child had been born with gargoylism.

Major Publications

• Ward OC. New familial cardiac syndrome in children. J Ir Med Assoc. 1964 Apr;54:103-6.
• Ward OC. Blood sugar studies on premature babies. Arch Dis Child. 1953 Jun;28(139):194-7.
• Ward OC. The electrocardiographic abnormality in familial cardiac arrhythmia. Ir J Med Sci 1966;41:553–557
• Ward OC. The inheritance of paroxysmal tachycardia. G Ital Cardiol. 1972;2(1):154.
• Ward OC. Children in hospital: the past and the future. J Ir Coll Physicians Surg. 1991 Oct;20(4):266-9.
• Ward OC. John Langdon Down: the man and the message. Downs Syndr Res Pract. 1999 Aug;6(1):19-24.
• Ward OC. Prader-Willi syndrome. Lancet. 2000 Nov 25;356(9244):1856.
• Ward OC. The Irish contribution to the eradication of rheumatic fever. Ir Med J. 2010 Feb;103(2):59.
• Ward OC. Rheumatic fever in Ireland: the role of Dr Monica Lea Wilson (1889-1971). J Med Biogr. 2013 Feb;21(1):12-8.]

References

• Hunter N. A medical stalwart now in happy exile. IrishHealth.com 5 Jan 2011
• Prof Conor Ward, Abhcóide irrepressible do pháistí breoite. UCD School of Medicine. 2 June 2016
• Beighton G, Wiedemann HR. The Person Behind the Syndrome. Springer. 1997 pp 221
• UCD Medicine Conferrings 2016. Meitheamh 2016. UCD School of Medicine
• Eponymythology. History of the Electrocardiogram. LITFL