Patrick Parfrey, OC (born 1950) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

physician, specialized as

nephrologist Nephrology (from Greek'' nephros'' "kidney", combined with the suffix ''-logy'', "the study of") is a specialty of adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function (r ...

and

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

. Parfrey is an internationally known scientist and clinical epidemiologist. In addition, he has provided leadership to the sport of

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

, coaching teams at the local ( Swilers RFC), provincial ( Newfoundland Rock) and national (

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

) levels and serving as president of

Rugby Canada Rugby Canada is the national Sport governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amate ...

Academics

Parfrey graduated from

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one ...

in 1975 with a first class honours degree in Medicine. He was awarded an ''MB BCh'' in 1980. After working in Cork,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, Parfrey and his family eventually settled at Memorial University of Newfoundland. In 1984 he was appointed assistant professor of Medicine. He became chief of the Division of Nephrology in 1987, chief of the division of Clinical Epidemiology and professor of Medicine in 1993. His research interests include the genetic and clinical epidemiology of inherited diseases, patient-related problems in nephrology and healthcare delivery research. He has published over 200 original articles and contributed to many books. Parfrey received the Canada Institute of Health Research Distinguished Scientist Award in 2000 and the Medal for Research Excellence from the Kidney Foundation of Canada in 2002. He was named an Officer to the Order of Canada in 2004.

Rugby Union

Parfrey started playing rugby at age 13 at the CBC in his native Cork. He played his club rugby for University College Cork R.F.C.,

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

, Montreal Irish and Swilers RFC. Between 1970-77 he played in all of Munster's games, including the game when

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

drew 3-3 with the New Zealand All-Blacks in 1973; he also won a cap for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

as a wing against them in 1974. He was the coach who led

to the club’s first ever Cup Final in 1980. He left London Irish in 1982 and moved to Montreal, where he coached Montreal Irish. He then become coach of the Canadian National side and led them to the 1999 Rugby World Cup. He also led Canada to victory in the Pacific Rim Rugby Championship in 1997 and 1998. He later became the President of the Canadian RFU, and is still a Director. More recently he coached the Newfoundland Rock team and won the

Rugby Canada Super League The Rugby Canada Super League (RCSL or Super League) was a national, semi-professional rugby union competition in Canada. The league represented the second level of domestic rugby union in Canada, and the highest level wholly indigenous to Canada ...

. His honours are Munster Cup with UCC (1976), County Championship with Middlesex, Canadian National Championships 2005, 2006 and 2008 with the Newfoundland Rock as coach. In order to improve Canadian Rugby Parfrey trained an under 19 team in 1987 and toured London. The team won 5 out of 6 games including the London Irish under 19 team.

External links

Order of Canada citation

Interview about rugby career
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parfrey, Patrick 1950 births Living people Alumni of University College Cork Canadian nephrologists Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian rugby union coaches Ireland international rugby union players Irish emigrants to Canada Irish rugby union players London Irish players Academic staff of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Munster Rugby players Officers of the Order of Canada Rugby union players from Cork (city) Sportspeople from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador University College Cork RFC players