In the content below you can read the story of my professional life, my medical focus, and the sort of things one finds on a resume or bio. I invite you to explore that. This blog is opens up a more personal side of who I am and is being developed as a forum for conversations, a sharing of philosophies, passions and musings on a variety of topics. My experiences in my field have formed insights, ideas and a philosophy of intense caring for the patients I treat. My blog posts will reflect that.
As an avid reader I find endless inspiration from great writers and thinkers, and I will share some of my favorite books from time to time. But conversations are not meant to be one-sided so your comments are welcome. Let’s talk.
Professor Kieran Murphy MB BAO BCH FRCPC FSIR is a full-time physician and Interventional neuroradiologist at Toronto Western Hospital. He personally treats over 300 patients a year with malignant and serious spine issues using image guided therapy. (ResearchGate Profile can be accessed HERE)
He graduated in 1986 from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. During his 6 years in Medical school he spent time overseas developing primary health care projects with Tibetan refugees with whom he still maintains involvement today. He initially pursued the surgical pathway with primary Fellowship in Surgery and BSc in Anatomy, before becoming interested in medical innovation and moving to Radiology Residency at Albany Medical Center, Albany NY.
He completed his Radiology residency and Neuroradiology fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Interventional Neuroradiology fellowship at University of Geneva. He was then recruited by Johns Hopkins University to lead the Division of Interventional Neuroradiology from 1998 to 2008. During that time he filed 60 patents on new medical devices, pioneering new routes, techniques and approaches to complex spine and neurovascular and CSF pathologies.
He has started 10 medical device companies, two in France, 4 in Canada, 4 in the US. He has authored 176 peer reviewed publications, delivered hundreds of lectures and published several textbooks. His papers have been cited 6587 times and he has a H Index of 42. ResearchGate, a social network site for global researchers ranks Dr. Murphy in less than 2 percent of their 15 million global academic members.
He has mentored over 100 undergraduate, Masters, and PhD candidates, med students, residents, fellows and staff physicians.
In 2008 he was recruited by University of Toronto and University Health Network as Professor and Vice Chair of Radiology and Deputy Chief of the UHN Dept of Medical Imaging. He launched and led UHN’s international Health care program, successfully negotiating with the Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Saudi governments. Since his move to university health work he has filled a further 10 patents
From 2012 to 2018 he was Director of Clinical Faculty at the Techna Research Institute. He has been heavily involved in developing a culture of innovation, incubation, and entrepreneurial behaviour in the Techna and with UHN faculty.
He has the development of techniques and devices to treat brain hemorrhage from aneurysms or avms. His current focus in on spine augmentation, radiofrequency ablation of bone metastatic disease, ozone in disk herniations. Because he always accepts challenging patients he has invented many novel techniques and devices that treat spine fractures and disc disease. His devices are used over 100,000 times a year worldwide. His patients have a mixture of patients with fractures of the spine and sacrum from cancer or osteoporosis, or have degenerative spine disease. He has developed a unique expertise in the causes and treatment of back pain in women.
Concerned at the large radiation doses he was receiving during his image guided procedures he invented an anti oxidant that blocks 90% pf DNA damage from x rays.
He developed an online platform to teach these techniques called medlantis.com.
His hobbies include medical device development, race car driving and taking things apart.
He was awarded the 2015 Society of Interventional Radiology Innovator of the Year award and was nominated for the 2016 Manning Innovation award.
Dr Murphy is a pioneering clinician, translational researcher and inventor.” He invents techniques to treat spine fractures and if devices don’t exist to do the procedure he invents them and gets them made. He then teaches his colleagues and students how to do the procedure.
His needles, bone cements, injection systems and the modifications he has made to CT scanners and angiography suites save lives and decrease pain and suffering globally.
He has built a culture around him of invention, creativity, and engagement. He sees medicine as a form of social engagement. He stimulates his student’s imagination and teaches them how to practice with humor and compassion.
He and his team have changed the outcome of patients with multiple myeloma, and metastatic disease in the spine by successfully stabilizing their fractures. He developed a unique 18 Cm long 11 G needle that allows bilateral sacral fractures to be treated with one needle.
He is a compassionate physician, a role model mentor, researcher, and inventor.
The Essence of Invention 