Maurice Neligan

Maurice Neligan (1937 – and performed a number of firsts in Irish medicine.

Professional career He studied medicine at UCD in 1955. There he won the Ambrose Birmingham gold medal in anatomy (1959), and graduated B.Sc.(honours) (1959) and MB, B.Ch. and BAO (1962). He also won the Mater hospital's surgical gold medal (1962), and later gained an M.Sc. at UCD in anatomy and physiology. In 1974, Neligan performed Ireland's first open-heart surgery for congenital heart defects. He attended Blackrock College. The couple went on to have seven children.

After retiring Neligan was often seen in Glenbeigh, County Kerry. Fine Gael health spokesperson Dr. James Reilly said "medicine has lost a great pioneer and a leading thinker".

In July 2012, the Mater Foundation, together with the Neligan family, established the Maurice Neligan Tribute Fund in recognition of his great achievements during the years he served with the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. The Mater Foundation plans to raise €700,000 from this Fund to purchase a core piece of equipment called a Zeego-CArm and thus enable the first Hybrid Theatre in a public hospital in Ireland, which will be named the Maurice Neligan Heart & Vascular Theatre.