Irish Migration Studies in Latin America Early Medical Education in Ireland

From Druidic times to the present century, Ireland has had a long tradition of healing and excellence in medical education. Education in medicine evolved from the Druid physicians to the medical schools of hereditary medical families of the tenth century to the famed medical schools of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Trinity College and the Catholic University which was incorporated into the University College of Dublin in 1909. This article describes the evolution of medical education in Ireland, from Druidic times to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and forms a background to the Irish physicians and surgeons who achieved renown in Latin America and the Caribbean