Dr Aoife Egan graduated with a first class honours degree from NUI Galway School of Medicine in 2007 and completed her intern year in Galway and Mayo University Hospitals. She completed her basic specialist training in internal medicine in the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital and Mayo Clinic Arizona (2010), and then embarked on higher specialist training in Endocrinology. Dr Egan received her Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2017 and was also awarded a PhD in Medicine from NUI Galway. The title of her doctoral thesis was "The Importance of a continuum of care before, during and after pregnancy in women with diabetes along the Irish Atlantic Seaboard". Her primary supervisor was Professor Fidelma Dunne, an internationally recognised expert in the field of diabetes in pregnancy.
In order to further her sub-speciality and research training, Dr Egan moved to Rochester, Minnesota and graduated from the 3-year fellowship program in the Division of Endocrinology at Mayo Clinic in June 2020. She received the Randall Sprague Award for Excellence during training and was promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic.
Dr Egan joined the consultant staff at Mayo Clinic in July 2020 and her clinical work focuses on the management of nutritional disorders and diabetes mellitus. She was recently granted a position on the Mayo Clinic-National Institutes of Health K12 Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program. This competitive award will fund Dr Egan's research investigating the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes in women, with a focus on the role of pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus.
Outside of work, Dr Egan spends her time with her husband and three small children, and maintains close contact with family and friends in Ireland.
My fondest memory would have to be the Med Ball organised by the NUI Medical Society each year. It was always the highlight of the social calendar and nice for students and faculty to relax and enjoy an event together.
During my training at NUI Galway, I became fascinated by the field of endocrinology where biochemistry and clinical medicine run in parallel. I was inspired by the endocrinology consultants at NUI Galway/Galway University Hospitals who not only provided high quality patient care but also dedicated time to education. At the same time, many of them were running major research programs to develop better ways to prevent and treat disease. I have endeavoured to follow in their footsteps with a career that involves clinical practice, research and teaching.