It is with great sadness that we inform the IUGA community of the death of a dear friend and IUGA member, Professor Jim Dornan. Jim was Chair of Health and Life Sciences at Ulster University and former chair in Fetal Medicine at Queens University Belfast, N. Ireland.
Few will forget his wonderful and extremely humorous debate on childbirth trauma at the 2013 IUGA Annual Meeting in Dublin. After that he joined the newly formed IUGA Obstetric Pelvic Floor Trauma Special Interest Group (SIG) and provided much help and advice. Jim, along with Don Wilson, Bob Freeman, and Ian Milsom, developed the idea of a risk assessment tool (UR-CHOICE) which was subsequently developed by Eric Jelovsek and his team.
During his long and distinguished career, Jim lobbied politically both nationally and internationally as vice president of the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for women’s health issues and with much success. He wrote a wonderful book, An Everyday Miracle, giving a unique insight into women’s lives and experiences in childbirth; it is well worth reading.
Jim was a great character with a wonderful sense of humour and a friend to so many. He will be sadly missed. The condolences of all at IUGA are with his wife, Samina, and the rest of the Dornan family at this difficult time.