John Edward Francis Coolican was a consultant surgeon at Mercer's Hospital, Dublin and the City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital. He studied medicine at Trinity College, Dublin, and qualified in 1948. He was a house surgeon at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in London, and then a resident surgical officer at the General Hospital, Leicester. He subsequently became a thoracic surgical registrar at Harefield Hospital. He was then appointed to his consultant posts in Dublin. In addition, he was a lecturer in surgery. Coolican died on 9 March 2012.