James Deeny  James Andrew Donnelly Deeny (7 November 1906 - 3 April 1994) was Chief Medical Adviser of the Republic of Ireland and a senior administrator in the World Health Organization. Deeny was born in Lurgan, the son of a Catholic doctor. He was educated at Clongowes College and graduated as a doctor from Queen's University, Belfast at the age of 21. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin. In 1930 he went to Vienna where he worked in The State Service Institute under the auspices of the American Medical Association, specializing in the technology of tuberculosis. In 1931 he joined his father's practice in Lurgan. He first came to prominence in the 1930s after publishing a study on the nutritional deficiencies of male factory workers in Lurgan in the "Journal of the Ulster Medical Society". He also conducted an infant mortality survey of Belfast. He conducted a study of the spread of tuberculosis in Lurgan and showed that the main factor in the spread of the disease was the residence of adolescents in near proximity to a case who had died. This demonstrated how important it was to isolate infectious cases. Treating two Lurgan "blue men", he discovered the use of ascorbic acid in the treatment of familial idiopathic methemoglobinemia. He became an expert on pellagra and diagnosed it among his patients. It had not been reported in Ireland before. There was a strong discrimination against Catholics in the Northern Ireland of the time and Deeny judged that his career would advance better in the Republic of Ireland. In 1944 Deeny was appointed Chief Medical Adviser for Ireland. The two main problems confronting him were tuberculosis, where Ireland had the worst problem in Western Europe, and a high infant and maternal mortality rate. Deeny and his colleagues prepared a plan which led to the Tuberculosis (Establishment of Sanatoria) Act 1945. This allowed the department to acquire land compulsorily for the building of sanatoria. A White Paper "Tuberculosis" was published in 1946. A battle against tuberculosis began. Deeny's original appointment was to the Department of Local Government and Public Health but it was felt that health required a separate department. Deeny chaired the Committee on the Health Services which led to the establishment of the new department in early 1947. He was heavily involved in the preparation of the Health Act of 1947 which included the Mother and Child Scheme. In 1948 Noel Browne became Minister for Health. He and Deeny did not see eye to eye on aspects of policy and in 1950 Deeny temporarily left the Department to carry out a national survey of tuberculosis in Ireland for the Medical Research Council of Ireland..