Fergus Shanahan, emeritus professor of medicine at University College Cork and foundation director of APC Microbiome Ireland, ‘the largest human microbiome research centre in the world’, is a clinician-scientist who has published over 600 papers in the areas of inflammatory bowel disease, gut immunology and the microbiome, written or edited 10 books, and received many awards. A former president of the Irish Society of Gastroenterology, his book Fast Facts in Inflammatory Bowel Disease won the BMA Book Award for gastroenterology in 2006. In 2013, Science Foundation Ireland named him as its Researcher of the Year and, in 2016, the Royal Irish Academy honoured him with a gold medal for his research contributions. In 2020, Fergus published The Language of Illness, a critically-acclaimed book, described as ‘part-manifesto, part-memoir, and part-instruction manual’. In it he appeals for the use of ‘clearer, more holistic language by all those involved with, and affected by, illness’, which he argues - passionately - is an integral part of the human condition. In this episode of Irish Medical Lives, Fergus reflects on his happy childhood in Dublin, his halcyon days at the Mater Hospital and subsequent immunology and gastroenterology fellowships in Canada and California, the creation of the first germ-free lab in Cork and the revolution in ‘gut science’ in Ireland over the past few decades. He also provides fascinating insights into the human microbiome, the vital importance of dietary variety, and contemporary gastroenterology, and he concludes with his hopes for a better balance between technology and humanity in modern medicine.

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