Jim Dornan

James Connor Dornan (born 5 February 1948) is a Northern Irish obstetrician and gynecologist, who is also a professor and frequently lectures both nationally and internationally, holding the Chair in Fetal Medicine at Queens University Belfastand that in Health & Life Sciences at the Ulster University.

Dornan was born in Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. His father, also Jim, was an accountant who served as the General Manager of the Northern Ireland Institute for the Disabled (formerly the ‘Incorporated Cripples Institutes’). His mother, Clare, was the first Occupational Therapist in Northern Ireland.

Dornan attended Bangor Grammar Schooland from there went on to study medicine at Queen’s University Belfast where he was mentored by Harith Lamki, Buster Holland and Ken Houston.

Qualifying in 1973, he did his Houseman's year in the Belfast City Hospital before training in his chosen career. In 1976 he was seconded to Queens University in Kingston, Canada as a perinatal resident. On returning to Northern Ireland, he rotated around the province to complete his training and obtain an Honours MD from Queens in 1981 for his research into Fetal Breathing. In 1986, he was appointed as a consultant Senior Lecturer and subsequently Reader, before he followed Professor Graham Harley at the Royal Maternity Hospital. Dornan continued his research interests while a full-time NHS consultant, a post he retained until his retirement from that service in 2012. He published widely in peer reviewed Journals on the subject of assessment of fetal wellbeing.

In 2004 Dornan was elected Senior Vice President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London, having been on its Council as a Fellow for the previous five years. This was issued with the particular responsibility for developing Global Health initiatives. Amongst these were the establishment of an Emergency Obstetric ourselves providing Life Saving Skills for medics, midwives and nurses in under resourced countries, while working closely with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

Dornan has recently embarked on a project of non-clinical writing with his book, An Everyday Miracle to be published in September 2013 byBlackstaff Press.

Jim has three children, Liesa, Jessica and Jamie from his marriage to his first wife, Lorna, who died following a battle with cancer. Jim now lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and is married to his second wife Samina who is also a gynaecologist and obstetrician and a strong supporter of legalising abortion in Northern Ireland. She appeared in the BBC Three documentary, 'Abortion: Ireland's Guilty Secret?'.