Annabel Kirsten FinucaneCNZMONZM is a New Zealand paediatric heart surgeon,and was Chief Surgeon of the Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Service at Starship Hospital in Auckland for twenty years. In 2009 Finucane was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medicine,in particular paediatric heart surgery. In 2021 Finucane was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health,particularly paediatric heart surgery.
Finucane was educated at Epsom Girls Grammar School,and then completed a medical degree at the University of Auckland.[1] She trained in New Zealand and the UK.[2] Finucane didn't initially intend to study medicine,and then when she did,did not intend to be a paediatric surgeon. She was advised by other surgeons that it would not be possible to have a family and work as a surgeon,and additionally she used to faint at the sight of blood.[3] During three months spent working in Nepal she realised she no longer fainted,and was able to train as a paediatric surgeon at Green Lane Hospital.[4]
Career
Finucane was Chief Surgeon of the Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Service at Starship Hospital in Auckland for almost 20 years,retiring in 2024.[5][2][4] She performed over 7500 surgeries in the course of her career.[6] During her tenure,the hospital's "heart library",a collection of stored hearts used for training and research,was found to have hearts that had been obtained without proper parental consent.[7] Finucane attributed the problem to both changes in public expectations around consent since the collection began,and to under resourced medical staff working under pressure.[7][8]
Finucane helped establish the Hearts 4 Kids Trust in 2015. The trust coordinates and funds annual team visits to Fiji to provide heart surgery for babies and children from Samoa,Vanuatu,Fiji,Tuvalu,and Kiribati.[5] The medical staff are volunteers who spend a week of their leave to the scheme.[9][6]
Honours and awards
In the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours,Finucane was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to medicine,in particular paediatric heart surgery.[10]
In the 2021 New Year Honours Finucane was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to health,particularly paediatric heart surgery.[5] In 2023 Finucane was awarded the Distinguished Alumna Award by the University of Auckland.
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