From 1977 to 1981, he worked at the St. Peter's Hospitals and the Institute of Urology in London, where he watched emerging robotic surgery and the then new minimally invasive surgical techniques.

[1][2] His early childhood was spent in Ballsbridge, Dublin, and he was educated at Gonzaga College where he learnt history and literature from Jesuits.

[1][3] Before going to University College Dublin, Fitzpatrick travelled with a teenage friend to Egypt, Jordan and Syria and at the age of 19 visited Czechoslovakia, just before the Prague Spring of 1968.

[4][5] From 1977 to 1981, he worked in the field of interventional radiology, men's health and urodynamics at the St. Peter's Hospitals and the Institute of Urology in London, interrupted by a brief research placement in Mainz, Germany.

[2] Fitzpatrick was emeritus professor of surgery at the University College Dublin School of Medicine & Medical Science and Head of Research at the Irish Cancer Society.