Mary Harney, Independent Director, Business Advisor, Minister for Health 2004-2011

Mary held several different Ministerial positions in the Irish Government for 18 years, including Environmental Protection, Industry, Trade, Research & Innovation and Health. 

Ever ready to challenge the status quo, Mary’s entire political life has been characterised by a passion for reform, innovation and enterprise. After 17 years in government, Mary had reached the height of her career. She served as Tánaiste for 9 years, became the first woman to lead a political party in Ireland and held many important ministerial portfolios. She was also notably the longest serving female Government minister and TD in the state’s history.

Retired from politics since 2011, Mary is now a business consultant. She is an independent director of several companies. She was appointed Chancellor of the University of Limerick in January 2018, having previously been Chair of Amber (Advanced Materials and Bio-engineering Research Centre) in Trinity College Dublin. Mary is a board member of the Irish Hospice Foundation and of the European Board of Vital Voices. She provides advisory services to companies mainly in the Pharma and Healthcare sectors and fulfils speaking engagements at international conferences.

Ian Yates AM, Acting Inspector General of Aged Care, Australian Government

Ian has been in his current role since October 2023. He was previously Chief Executive of Council on the Ageing (COTA) Australia, the national peak consumer body for older Australians, from October 2002 to December 2022, after being Chief Executive of COTA SA since 1989. He was also Chair of the Ageing and Aged Care Council of Elders, a member of the National Aged Care Advisory Council and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Advisory Council. and a member of the Aged Care Financing Authority.

Ian also represented older Australians on other key federal government and sector advisory bodies including the Australian Tax Office Superannuation Industry Stewardship Group; the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Consumer Advisory Panel; the Advisory Board of the Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR); and was a Director of Livable Housing Australia and the Aged Rights Advocacy Service.  He remains the Chair of the Management Committee of the Australasian Journal on Ageing.

Ian held senior governance positions in hospital and essential services in South Australia throughout the 2000’s and served on the Flinders University Council for 20 years including seven years as Deputy Chancellor. Flinders is a public research university based in Adelaide. Ian is Emeritus Deputy Chancellor and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the university. He was awarded Membership in the Order of Australia (AM) in June 2005.

George MacGinnis Healthy Ageing Challenge Director, UK Research and Innovation

George MacGinnis leads the UK’s £98 million Healthy Ageing Challenge, a research and innovation programme to enable people as they age to remain active, productive, independent and socially connected across the generations for longer. He is part of UK Research and Innovation, a UK Government Agency with an annual budget of over £8 billion to invest in research and business innovation. 

George’s background in health and care innovation includes previous work in the Republic of Ireland with the HSE Special Delivery Unit on improving patient flow in acute hospitals and with the Department of Health on the future capacity needs for a reformed health and social care system. In the UK he led a review of the NHS innovation funding for small businesses.  For several years led the user group for the Personal Connected Health Alliance, developing digital standards for consumer health services.

Anthony Staines (MB, MSc, PhD, FFPHMI), Professor of Health Systems, Centre for Integrated Care and School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, DCU

Anthony is a doctor, an academic, and a social activist.

He is an epidemiologist and a public health consultant whose research focusses on the uses of information in health care. He has a particular interest in child health and disability. Working closely with the Health Intelligence Unit in the Health Services Executive in Ireland, he has led several projects to deliver innovative health information approaches in Ireland and Europe. Anthony teaches on programmes in public health and health systems within DCU, and on digital health in an innovative national programme led by the HSE. He was formerly the chair of the Irish Blood Transfusion service, and now leads St. Michael’s House, one of the larger providers of services for people with intellectual disability in Ireland.

David Cullinane TD

David is a Sinn Féin TD for Waterford and has been the party’s spokesperson on Health since the 2020 General Election. He previously served as the party’s spokesperson on Climate Action, on Public Expenditure and Reform, and on Brexit. David was first elected to Waterford City Council in 2004, to the Seanad in 2011, and to the Dáil in 2016. 

David has long been a supporter and advocate for universal healthcare. He is particularly interested in the mechanics of delivering a National Health Service, in particular regionalisation, reform of capital planning, and long-term, evidence-based workforce planning involving healthcare and higher education stakeholders.

Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Health 

Robert Watt is Secretary General of the Department of Health in Ireland. He leads the Department of over 600 people in providing leadership and policy direction for the health sector.

Previously, Robert spent ten years as Secretary General in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. With the Department of Finance, he managed the budget and estimates process. During this period Robert was one of the principal advisers to the Government on economic, budgetary and financial policy issues. He was centrally involved in the management of the Troika Programme.

Robert is an economist and has experience in both the public and private sectors. He has worked in several roles within the Department of Finance as well as previously working as an Economic Consultant and a Lecturer. He has been a member of numerous boards including the board of the NTMA and the Economic Management Council. He is currently a Board member of the Football Association of Ireland.

Jos Creese, independent digital consultant and analyst, Non-Executive Director, Hampshire Hospitals Foundation Trust, former CIO, Hampshire County Council, UK

Jos is an independent digital consultant and analyst, providing advice to public and private sectors on IT and digital transformation strategies, business risk, marketing, and customer service. He also undertakes research for a range of universities and professional bodies in the UK and internationally, including on health and social care integration, ‘connected places’, digital identity, trends, and cyber risk. 

He started his career as a government statistician specialising in health informatics systems and policy and is a past president of the British Computer Society (BCS) and of the Society of Innovation, Technology and Management (Socitm). For over a decade he was CIO and CDO for Hampshire County Council, named by the Silicon50 survey as the ‘UKs most innovative and influential CIO’.  

Jos has been the chair of the Open University School of Computing Industrial Board and a NED for the Department of International Trade. He is currently an NED of Hampshire Hospitals Foundations Trust and is on the Board of Wessex Procurement Limited which serves several hospitals in the Hampshire region.

Sheelah Connolly, Senior Research Officer, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Adjunct Associate Professor, Trinity College Dublin

Sheelah holds a PhD in Epidemiology from Queens University Belfast and a master’s in health economics from the University of York (England). Since joining the ESRI in 2014, she has led on a variety of research projects in health system reform. Her work has been instrumental in informing health policy development in Ireland in recent years. Sheelah has published more than sixty peer-reviewed publications in the areas of health system reform, the economics of ageing and the social and economic determinants of health.

Tony O’Brien, leadership, governance and strategy consultant, columnist, Chartered Director, NED, former Director General, the HSE

Tony has extensive experience providing healthcare and strategic counsel on several prominent boards. He is currently a columnist with The Business Post, specialising in health-related topics.

Tony lectures on Health Strategy with the School of Medicine, TCD and is currently a non-executive director for Evofem Biosciences; Council Member and Associate Faculty at the IMI; and Chairman of the Board of St. Paul’s Child and Family Centre.

Catherine McGuigan, Chief Officer, National Age Friendly Ireland, Meath County Council

The National Age Friendly Programme is a shared service hosted by Meath County Council on behalf of the local government sector. This municipality-led national programme is based on the World Health Organisations (WHO) Global Age Friendly Programme and is operational

across all 31 local authority areas in Ireland. The programme is focussed on ensuring Ireland is responsive to the increasing needs of older people and adopting effective local policy approaches to respond to demographic ageing. This process is based on multi stakeholder engagement and over the last 10 years significant progress has been made through this programme in implementing innovative practices that have responded to the needs of an ageing society. Catherine is a principal advisor at strategic level, engaging with key leaders across public, private and NGO sector and consulting democratically with citizens to reshape the way in which services are delivered. Her expertise lies in strategic
planning and promoting collaborative approaches to effective service reform.

Spanning a 25-year career, Catherine’s previous backgrounds involved working in the field of Telecare, Telehealth, Housing & Community and the provision of remote clinical and nonclinical care services to older people who wanted to live
independently. Catherine is a champion of integrated care services with a vision of promoting independent living and building sustainable environments. She has worked across the public, NGO and private sector with a variety of organisations in which she garnered extensive knowledge of the issues effecting older people and how we plan for demographic change.

Dr. Emer Ahern, National Clinical Advisor & Group Lead Older Persons, HSE

Emer is a Consultant Trauma and Ortho geriatrician in Cork University Hospital and was appointed NCAGL for Older Persons in May 2022. She qualified from UCC and completed her postgraduate and specialist training in Ireland and Merseyside respectively.

She is focused on the delivery of exceptional and safe healthcare to older adults, in age friendly environments and by age attuned staff, is informed by evidence and improved by data.

She developed and led the Irish Hip Fracture Database and is Chair of the global Fragility Fracture Network Hip Fracture Audit Group. Dr Ahern sponsors the rehabilitation workstream for the Major Trauma Program and led in pioneer NICPOP sites in Kilkenny and Cork.

Caroline Whelan, CEO, Blackrock Health

Blackrock Health is Ireland’s newest private hospital group, bringing together three of Ireland’s leading private hospitals, Blackrock Clinic, Galway Clinic and Hermitage Clinic and a diagnostic clinic in Limerick. Caroline heads up a team of more than 2,800 staff and more than 600 consultants across 50 specialist areas. Together, the clinics have a total of 450 inpatient beds including 28 ICU beds and 24 operating theatres, with expansion planned for the near future. 

In her capacity as Blackrock Health’s chief executive, Caroline has successfully overseen the group’s integration and launch, introduced a range of new services across all hospitals and signed an EU-first healthcare partnership agreement with the world renowned Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. John Cuddihy, National Director of Public Health, HSE

John has been involved in public health reform in Ireland from the Crowe Horwath review and report implementation to more recently leading the implementation of the public health reform programme. He has previously held positions as Director of Public Health, Director of HPSC and National Clinical Director of Health Protection in the HSE. 

Mervyn Taylor, CEO, Sage Advocacy, the national advocacy service for older people

Mervyn has been centrally involved in the development of a range of innovative projects, programmes and organisations in the voluntary, public and private sectors over many decades.  One such programme on end-of-life-care in acute hospitals, won the Taoiseach’s Award for Public Service Innovation.  He has at various times been Director of MS Ireland, CEO of the MS Care Foundation, Manager of Planning & Organisation with the National Social Service Board (now Citizens Information Board), Director of Pathfinder Projects, Programme Manager of the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme and has lectured on organisational behaviour and information society issues. He is a director of Safeguarding Ireland, is a registered tour guide and is involved with several heritage groups in his native Co. Wicklow.  He has studied at Trinity College Dublin, the Open University and Cranfield School of Management.

Kathy Maher, Pharmacy Owner, past president of the IPU

Kathy is a community pharmacist and owns a pharmacy in Duleek, Co. Meath. She is a former President of the Irish Pharmacy Union (2014-2016) and is the current Chair of the Pharmacy Contractors Committee of the IPU. Kathy has been involved in all recent developments in community pharmacy from seasonal flu vaccination service, emergency hormonal contraception without prescription, COVID-19 vaccination service and the free contraception scheme.

Kathy has post-graduate diplomas in Community Pharmacy (QUB), in Women’s Healthcare Management in Primary Care (PCTC, Bradford), Diabetes Management in Primary Care (PCTC, Bradford), Cardiology in Primary Care (PCTC, Bradford) and is currently enrolled in an MSc in Positive Health in RCSI, incorporating disciplines of lifestyle medicine and positive psychology. 

Kathy is keen to enhance the delivery of safe and effective healthcare in the community, delivering the right level of care at the appropriate setting, involving patients in shared decision-making about their health journey, with the aim of improving quality of life at every stage. Kathy believes that expanding pharmacy services, using pharmacists’ clinical skills, will deliver this for the benefit of the patient and the state. 

Joseph Musgrave, CEO, Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI)

Joseph has led HCCI since 2018, bringing an essential mix of leadership and partnership to home care in Ireland.  Joseph passionately believes in an individual’s right to quality, regulated home care and that ‘There is no Place Like Home’. 

Over the last five years as CEO Joseph has led an important public discussion about home care by highlighting the challenges the sector faces whilst putting a spotlight on the great work its’ member organisations, and their 12,000 carers, do for their 20,000 clients every day.  HCCI is acutely aware of the significant and important role care in the home will continue to play in the lives of older and more vulnerable people for decades to come. On behalf of HCCI, Joseph has publicly said that Ireland is at a critical juncture when it comes to care of older people. Giving everyone a legal right to home care will mean that we will have to reimagine our home care service so that it can deliver for all those who need it – and all of us who will need it in the future.  We must have a constructive and considered national conversation about this.  HCCI will continue to advocate for an ambitious reform agenda, engaging with all parties to make meaningful progress.  

Prior to leading HCCI, Joseph held several roles at a leading public relations firm and previously campaigned successfully for marriage equality in the UK.  He remains committed to diversity and inclusion.

Robert Forde, eHealth Director & CIO, Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, HSE

Robert joined the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group as the first eHealth Director in July 2023. 

He specialises in the delivery of advanced technology capabilities into hospital, community and mental health healthcare settings. He has worked for over 20 years for the largest suppliers of electronic patient record technologies and for the NHS, implementing complex enterprise solutions across Europe. Robert has delivered Global Digital Exemplar status in the NHS, with numerous other public and private healthcare deployments. He has managed large international teams with challenging objectives, and multi-million-euro budgets. 

Being an ex-pharmacist, Robert wants to improve the safety, effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare using well designed and implemented technologies. He previously worked at the University of Limerick Hospital Group for 18 months where he reshaped the eHealth team to focus on their core capabilities, delivered a number of innovative digital projects and developed an ambitious strategy and roadmap to enhance the organisation’s overall digital maturity.

 Robert is currently strategically leading the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group to new levels of digital collaboration and delivery that are focused on the clinician and the patient.

Martina Queally, Regional Executive Officer (REO), HSE Dublin and South East

Martina has over 30 years’ health service leadership experience with particular expertise in strategic change management in public services and integrated service delivery. Since 2015, as Chief Officer in HSE Community Healthcare East, she has led the planning and delivery of all community health services in the area (South Dublin and Wicklow), a range of national programmes with a combined HSE and voluntary workforce of nearly 4000 staff.

She has led a range of change, crisis and service transformation programmes, including the Area Crisis Management Team through the COVID-19 pandemic response and vaccination programme. In 2011 as Integrated Services Area Manager for Dublin South East Wicklow, she amalgamated three community health services and an acute hospital network In 2005 she led the establishment of the Local Health Office structure in Kildare and West Wicklow.

Martina trained as a Registered General Nurse before qualifying as a Midwife and Public Health Nurse. She graduated with an M.Sc. in Heath Services Management from Trinity College Dublin in 2002. Her graduate work focused on the development of strategic, integrated approaches to health promotion within the health system. Martina has completed further study in areas of quality and service improvement and is a qualified executive coach and mentor.

She commenced her role as REO in HSE Dublin and South East in January 2024. HSE Dublin and South East will serve the people of Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, East Wicklow and parts of South Dublin.

Dr Thorsten Giesecke, General Manager, Commercial Business, Janssen Sciences Ireland UC

Thorsten joined Janssen in Sept ’21 from the company’s headquarters in New Jersey where he worked as Director of Global Commercial Strategy for early assets in oncology and prior to that as lead of the EMEA regional haematology strategy for multiple myeloma.

Thorsten, who has relocated to Ireland from the US, is a performance and purpose-driven leader with an impressive track record of building and leading high performing teams, together with solid experience in global/regional strategic leadership roles. In these roles, he has spearheaded several strategic projects including ensuring a transformational pipeline in prostate cancer through earlier and better commercial input, improving the global patient advocacy interaction, assessing the dynamic impact of new market entrants on cancer epidemiology, and developing biomarker strategies. He has also driven the digital agenda in EMEA, introducing and implementing a digital customer experience at scientific conferences across the region. 

Thorsten first joined Janssen Germany in 2006 as Medical Development Manager and assumed roles of increasing responsibility before being appointed as Business Unit Director for therapy areas including neuroscience and metabolics. Originally from Germany, Thorsten began his career as an anaesthesiologist and scientist at University Hospitals in Germany and the US. He is a board-certified anaesthesiologist and pain therapist and holds an MD and a PhD from the University of Cologne.

With a passion for putting patients first, Thorsten brings his vast international experience to support the teams at Janssen working to address some of Ireland’s most pressing health challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic and tackling cancer with precision medicines and cutting-edge technologies in cell and gene therapy.

Janssen is part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies in Ireland which employs over 5,000 people at 10 sites in Ireland across manufacturing, R&D and business operations, representing all three sectors of the company – Pharmaceutical, Medical Devices and Consumer Health. Many of Janssen’s innovative medicines are manufactured for global export from Irish sites.

Professor Mark White (PhD, MSc, MBS, Dip HE, FFNMRCSI, FCIPD, RGN), Executive Dean of the Faculty of Nursing & Midwifery, RCSI University of Medicine & Health Sciences 

Mark has responsibility for overseeing the direction and ongoing development of professional education and research in the faculty. The role has responsibility for creating and strengthening strategic professional education and research partnerships with national and international nursing or healthcare organisations, academic institutions, national and EU research sponsors and government agencies. He was recently appointed as the Irish representative to the EU COST Action CA22152 – supporting the emerging care economy, empowering caregivers to provide safe care at home (BETTERCARE) which was established to ensure error-free care environments at home.  The action will re-think national, and international deinstitutionalised policies, assuring the same care safety at home as the one received in residential facilities.  The action will focus on assessing the available resources required to meet the qualification threshold and modify the supports available for the management of risk of caregiving and dispensing medications at home.

Prior to his appointment in 2023, Mark held a variety of senior positions in academia and the health services including;  Vice President of Research, Innovation and Graduate Studies at Ireland’s newest university, South East Technological University – SETU – where he had responsibility for growing and developing the research, innovation and postgraduate support programmes at the university; Programme Manager on the Programme for Health Service Improvement, Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in University of Galway and he was the Area Director of Nursing and Midwifery Planning and Development in the HSE where he managed a number of national nursing and midwifery projects with the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Director (ONMSD) whilst overseeing the commissioning of post-graduate education, professional development, research and leadership for all nurses and midwives in the southern region. 

Averil Power, CEO, Irish Cancer Society

The Irish Cancer Society is Ireland’s largest cancer charity. The Society is a community of patients, survivors, volunteers, supporters, health and social care professionals and researchers, working for a future where no one dies from cancer. The Society directly provides information, services and supports to people affected by cancer; funds life-saving and life-changing research; and drives improvements in public services to advocacy and campaigning.

As CEO, Averil leads the Society’s new 5-year strategy. It sets out an ambitious vision that by 2025, three out of four Irish cancer patients will survive their diagnosis, and everyone affected by the disease will have access to world class treatment, care and support. To achieve this vison and drive forward the strategy, Averil is leading transformational change within the Society and the wider cancer environment.

Averil has almost 20 years’ experience of policy-making, strategic leadership and campaigning as a charity leader, Senator and Government Advisor. She has a degree in Business, including not-for-profit management, from Trinity College and is a qualified barrister. Averil is respected in the public space as an advocate and change-maker and was a recipient of a Woman of the Year award for her work on marriage equality.

Leo Kearns, Chief Executive Officer, the Medical Council

Leo was appointed in late December 2021 to chair the Sláintecare Regional Health Areas Advisory Group by the Minister for Health. Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer of VHI Health & Wellbeing DAC from 2019 to 2021.

Leo was Chief Executive of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) from 2006 to 2018 and National Lead for Transformation and Change for the Health Service Executive (HSE) from 2013 to 2015.

He was heavily involved in the development of the National Clinical Programmes and played a key role in the development of Clinical Directors within the Irish health sector. He played a major part in the introduction of Professional Competence Schemes for doctors, and was instrumental in founding the Forum of Irish Postgraduate Medical Training Bodies.

Leo holds a master’s degree in Organisational Behaviour from Trinity College, Dublin.

Caitriona Heffernan, HSE Innovation Lead at HSE Spark Innovation Programme

Before focussing her work in the healthcare innovation space, Caitriona worked for over 15 years as a Speech and Language Therapist in the UK and Ireland. 

In both her national and directorate role, Caitriona’s remit is to drive innovation activity at the front line by providing funding, support and mentorship to the many ‘intrapreneurs’ and entrepreneurs working across the Irish healthcare system. She is personally driven to enhance the pipeline of innovation activity for talented healthcare workers in Ireland through the Spark Innovation Programme and in partnership with the Health Innovation Hub Ireland. 

Caitriona is a graduate of both the Quality Improvement and Leadership Programme at Royal College of Physicians Ireland and the Post Graduate Diploma in Healthcare innovation at Trinity College Dublin. She draws heavily on both the theories of QI and Innovation in her work. She has a special interest in Design and Design Thinking as an effective approach to healthcare service development and delivery and is dedicated to enacting the recently published ‘Design Principles for Government’ in Ireland.  She is currently undertaking research exploring the barriers and enablers for healthcare staff who engage in innovation activity in the Irish healthcare system. 

Professor Patricia Maguire, Director, Institute for Discovery & Professor of Biochemistry, UCD

Patricia has an extensive background spanning over 25 years in biomedical science. Her primary research focus lies at the intersection of platelet biology and artificial intelligence (AI).

Her research centres on the diagnosis and understanding of various inflammatory diseases, including preeclampsia, multiple sclerosis, venous thromboembolism, and COVID-19. Notably, she has successfully merged her expertise in biomedical science with cutting-edge AI methodologies to develop a ground-breaking prototype risk stratification tool, AI PREMie, specifically designed for preeclampsia. AI PREMie is currently undergoing a pilot phase in the 3 principal maternity hospitals in Ireland, collectively responsible for 50% of all Irish births—the National Maternity Hospital, Rotunda Hospital, and Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital, and it has won multiple accolades including the AI Innovation of the Year Award at the Public Sector Digital Transformation Awards 2023.

In addition to her groundbreaking research, Patricia leads the UCD AI Healthcare Hub, an innovative accelerator for data projects established in collaboration with SAS Institute and Microsoft. The hub’s mission is to democratise artificial intelligence and augmented intelligence technologies, making them accessible to non-coding researchers. This initiative accelerates data-driven decision-making across diverse research projects. With her dual roles as Director of UCD Institute for Discovery and leader in platelet biology and AI research, Patricia is driving transformative advancements at the forefront of biomedical science and artificial intelligence in healthcare.

Mairéad McCaul, Managing Director, MSD Ireland

Mairéad has bee MD of MSD’s human health business in Ireland since early 2020. Having first joined MSD Ireland in 2007, Mairéad has held a number of roles in pharmaceutical and diagnostic sales as well as marketing and commercial operations, and has extensive experience as a business unit director across a broad range of therapy areas. Originally from County Monaghan, Mairéad started her career as a midwife in the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital before joining the pharmaceutical industry.

Mairéad is Head of the MSD Ireland Country Leadership Team and is also currently an active board member for the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) and Guaranteed Irish. 

She is a passionate advocate of diversity and inclusion and has led many programmes of activities to support this area, previously co-leading the MSD Women’s Network in Europe and currently actively supporting several non-profit organisations including Teen Turn, The Big Idea, and most recently acting as an ambassador for MSD’s 2023 Neighbour of Choice partnership with Voice Ireland.

Niall Conroy, Acting Chief Economist and Head of Secretariat, Irish Fiscal Advisory Council

Niall has worked at the Fiscal Advisory Council since November 2015, focusing on assessing budgetary forecasts. He previously worked at the Economic and Social Research Institute, where his work focused on macroeconomic modelling and forecasting. Niall holds first class honours degrees in M.A. (Economics) and B.A. (Economics and Mathematical Studies) from UCD.

Alastair has 15 years of healthcare leadership experience in the strategy, design and delivery of large-scale, transformative healthcare products and services.
Passionate about leveraging data and technology to improve healthcare outcomes and with nearly 10 years’ experience as a Chief Technology Officer, Alastair has helped large, diverse and distributed teams deliver successful outcomes within highly competitive, technically challenging, and fast-paced environments.
Prior to joining EY, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Alastair supported the UK’s response through his work on COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and vaccinations. As CTO of a major health technology vendor, he led the technical delivery of a Shared Care Planning Service across London’s five Integrated Care Systems covering a population of approximately 10m people. He was also a founding member of a leading electronic medical record platform.
Alastair is currently a board member of openEHR UK, an organisation focused on improving interoperability in healthcare.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Partner and Health Sector Lead, EY Ireland

Ronan is a physiotherapist and medical doctor and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Prior to joining EY, Ronan worked as Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health in Ireland and was a member of the team tasked with leading the national
response to COVID-19 and was Acting Chief Medical Officer for six months of the pandemic.

Niall Griffiths, Head of Business – Public Sector, OpenSky Data Systems

A Digital Transformation Business Developer specialising in the Public Sector & Commercial Sectors, Niall helps government agencies & commercial clients to navigate the intricacies of modern technology landscapes. With over 25 years of experience, Niall has a deep understanding of the complex and unique challenges and opportunities that organisations face in their digital transformations such as the intricate regulatory and security requirements that often shape technology adoption.

Dr. Paul Carroll, GP, Churchtown Medical, media commentator & columnist 

Paul is a family doctor with a special interest in preventative medicine and skin cancer screening. He is an accomplished and experienced media commentator (TV, Radio and print), columnist and public speaker on health issues. Paul graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1992 and worked in Australia and the UK until he arrived in Ireland in 2001. He holds membership of the Irish College of General Practitioners and has special interests in paediatrics, skin cancer, cardiology, preventative medicine and travel medicine.

Professor Thomas O’Dowd, GP, Public Health & Primary Care, TCD

Following vocational training in general practice in Ireland, Tom joined the University of Wales College of Medicine (1980 – 86) as a lecturer and subsequently the University of Nottingham (1986 – 1993 as a senior lecturer and was a partner in local general practices. He was appointed to the Chair of General Practice in Trinity College in 1993 and has lectured at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and been involved in curriculum change and design and postgraduate research supervision. He was Chairman of the Education Committee of the Medical Council that led to the current professionalisation of medical education in Ireland. He is a practising GP in West Tallaght with a GMS list and practice from a health centre that was built on foot of research by both himself and his colleagues.

Clare Harney, Principal Consultant, Santegic

CIO of the Year 2023 recipient (non profit) and Fellow of the Irish Computer Society, (ICS), Clare is currently Principal Consultant with Santegic following acquisition of her company, HD Health. Clare provides digital health, compliance and Go to Market strategy services, specialising in digital health transformation, business development, healthcare process optimisation, intelligent automation and AI and digital medical device software compliance. As part of this she lectures on Leading Digital Health Transformation and the Internet of Health Things (IoHT) at RCSI. Prior to this, Clare has worked in various senior digital health and governance roles across industry and the health service, in the Department of Health, HIQA, and the HSE as National Programme Manager for the Acute Medicine Programme. Clare holds an MSc in Health Informatics and Bachelor of Information Systems.

Deb Mangone, Country Manager, Pfizer Healthcare Ireland

In September 2022, Deb was appointed as County Manage, Pfizer Healthcare Ireland. In this role, Deb is responsible for Pfizer’s commercial business in Ireland, and is working to deliver breakthroughs that change patients’ lives. 

Prior to this, Deb was Vice President, Pfizer Hospital, EU2 Cluster Lead. In this capacity, Deb led a diverse team of approximately 200 colleagues, and was responsible for Pfizer’s Hospital business across Germany, Italy, Russia, Belarus, Turkey, Poland, Greece, Cyprus and Malta. During her time working in Pfizer Hospital, Deb focused on delivering treatment options and breakthroughs for some of the most pressing health issues, including AMR and COVID-19. 

Prior to this role, Deb was Pfizer Finland Country Manager. Deb led Pfizer Finland for nearly 2 years, all during the COVID-19 pandemic.  During this time, Deb was a Board member of the industry association and led the conversation for Pfizer Finland both internally and externally.

Deb joined Pfizer in 2001 and has held several enabling function positions of increasing responsibility and scope including Vice President, Executive Operations, NYHQ Site Lead and Chief of Staff to CEO Albert Bourla. Preceding Pfizer, Deb worked for Kozmo.com, Ernst & Young and Tompkins Associates, Inc. as an engineer and general consultant. She holds BS and MS degrees in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University and an MBA from Columbia University.  She lives in Dublin, with her husband, son, and daughter. In her free time, she loves being with her family and enjoys cooking and baking. She also finds time for yoga and exercise, reading and travel.

Dr. Fiona Graham, Programme Director, ScotGEM

A GP, she has special interests in oncology and palliative care and, most recently, has worked in orthogeriatrics sitting on the Scottish Hip Fracture Standards Advisory Committee.

She is interested in the place of the generalist in the care of the increasingly frail and elderly population and in how generalism can be nurtured and valued.

Ian Binks, Business Development Director – Digital Care Record, Orion Health

Ian Binks joined Orion Health in August 2022, following six years at Ascom responsible for clinical software in high acuity care and remote monitoring in a global business development capacity. He has 15 years’ experience in healthcare across sales, product management and partner management, and is passionate about matching problems to the right technological solutions. At Orion Health, Ian is responsible for our Amadeus Digital Care Record across the UK and Ireland.

Lana Kane, Director, Medforce Healthcare Recruitment

Lana Kane, Director of Medforce Healthcare Recruitment, stands at the forefront of healthcare recruitment in Ireland. Her more than 20 years of experience, combined with her deep understanding of both private and public healthcare management, positions her as an essential voice in the discourse surrounding healthcare in the country.

In her current role, Lana is responsible for the strategic growth and commercial development of Medforce, a key player in fulfilling diverse staffing needs across Ireland. Medforce specialise in end-to-end service provision of permanent, contract and temporary healthcare staffing solutions across EMEA.

Previously, Lana has held pivotal roles, including Director of Operations and various managerial positions in healthcare services, where she managed extensive teams and implemented crucial strategies for business growth and service improvement. Her approach to healthcare recruitment has been characterised by a focus on strategic change management, operational excellence, and commitment to quality care.

At the Summit, Lana’s insights will be particularly valuable as we explore the future challenges facing Ireland’s healthcare system, such as workforce shortages and the evolution towards a prevention-first approach. Her experience and leadership in healthcare recruitment are crucial in addressing these challenges, making her an esteemed participant in this milestone event.

Colin MacHale, experienced EMEA Sales Director

Colin is an expert in building and leading multinational, culturally attuned sales teams deployed across EMEA. In his current role he is responsible for Distribution, Independent Software Vendor’s, System Integrators and Partner Programs in EMEA territory. He and his teams have sold cutting-edge solutions to customers in a myriad of industry verticals. He has experience of selling into the Health, Life Sciences, Education, Government, Enterprise, Telco, Financial Services, and SME verticals. He has teamed with ISVs, OEMs, SIs, and ODMs to provide industry-wide eco-system solutions to customers. He has C-level leadership experience based on his role as Chief of Staff to the EMEA General Manager. Colin is a trained and experienced spokesperson and influencer to and for the industry to the media, government and industry bodies.

Robbie Cline, Joint Chief Information Officer, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust and The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK

 Robbie led the implementation of Imperial’s electronic health record system in 2014 across three large hospital sites in North West London – St Mary’s, the Hammersmith Hospital and Charing Cross. In 2018 he extended this instance of the EHR to a second hospital outside the group, the West Middlesex Hospital and then in 2019 to Chelsea and Westminster hospital. Since 2020, Robbie has been CIO at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust and at The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In 2023 these two Trusts, also in North West London, joined that shared instance of the Cerner EHR system.

Dr Grainne O’Kane, Consultant Oncologist and Director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Unit, Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute.   

Grainne specialises in pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancer malignancies. She completed her GI/thoracic oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Canada where she then joined faculty as a Clinician Investigator and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She is PI on a number of early phase clinical trials and her translational research focuses on biomarker driven clinical trial design and integrative molecular profiling of tumours. Grainne has recently returned to Ireland and has been newly appointed to the Trinity St James’s Cancer Institute, Dublin. She continues to have an associate role at Princess Margaret and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.

Rodd Bond, Principal, Rodd Bond Architecture & Service Innovation

Rodd founded and directed the Netwell Centre, within the School of Health and Science at DkIT until 2019. He graduated in architecture from Oxford Brookes University in 1982 launching a career that spanned hospital master planning in the USA and Pakistan, to ageing-and-place research and innovation in Europe. Rodd’s core interest is ‘design as systematics’, and the relationship between environmental structure and peoples’ health and wellbeing.  

Rodd supported the formative stages of the WHO’s age-friendly cities movement and is committed to human development through place-making, and technology for social innovation. Rodd supported the European Commission in the development of the first Action Plan for Innovations in Age-Friendly Buildings, Cities and Environments, within the European Innovation Partnership on Active & Healthy Ageing. Since 2019, Rodd has been working independently across design practice, policy and research in the public, private and NGO sectors.

Padraig Duff, Commercial Director, TCP Group

Padraig is a Science graduate of UCD with 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. He is a founder member of TCP Homecare and co-developed the first homecare company specialising in the total turnkey solution for hospital care in the home.

Padraig successfully developed the first electronic patient management system for the scheduling of nursing visits and digitalised reports back to the treating physicians. He works closely with client companies developing patient-centric services; looking at new ways of engaging with patients to offer the highest quality of nursing care and ensuring on-going support to maximise the patient compliance/adherence to treatment. This includes the development of new novel IT / digital solutions which enhances the patients’ experience. TCP Homecare’s key focus is building services around the patient and ensuring the best possible patient experience whilst being managed by any of TCP Homecare’s services.

Damien McCallion, HSE Chief Operations Officer

Damien is currently the Chief Operations Officer in the HSE responsible for oversight of day-to-day operations within the HSE and over 100,000 staff. The HSE is responsible for the delivery of Health and Social care in Ireland.

He recently took on a lead role in the COVID pandemic response as the head of the successful Vaccination and Test &Trace programmes. These were a key part of the nation’s public health response to the pandemic.

He has held a variety of roles prior to this including leading the HSE’s response to the screening crisis and re-establishing trust in the states cervical screening programme. He also was Head of the National Ambulance Service, Head of ICT in the HSE, National Director for Emergency Management and Special Delivery Unit, led the establishment of regions in the HSE as part of a major reform programme and was Area Manager for Health Services in the North West. Prior to this, he worked in the airline industry for ten years.

He has also had a strong interest in cross border co-operation and served as chairperson and Director General of the organisation responsible for cross border health programmes, CAWT. He is also currently the Deputy Chairperson of Safefood, which is an all-island body set up under the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999 to promote awareness and knowledge of food safety and nutrition on the island of Ireland.

Damien originally qualified from Letterkenny IT in computing and subsequently completed an MSC in Innovation Management between University of Ulster and Letterkenny IT.

Prof. Desmond O’Neill, geriatrician and stroke physician

As a medical undergraduate of TCD, Desmond spent a year in Marseilles as a volunteer with a NGO working with older people. He subsequently trained as a geriatrician in St James’s Hospital and the University of Bristol. Following an appointment as consultant geriatrician in Birmingham, he returned to Dublin and currently is the senior academic in Medical Gerontology at the TCD campus at Tallaght Hospital. His focus of research is rooted in gerontology and the neurosciences, with a strong emphasis on liaison with the humanities. 

He has pioneered a number of initiatives, including first Medical Director of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland; founder-Chair of Council on Stroke of Irish Heart Foundation; co-PI on first Irish longitudinal study on ageing (HESSOP-2);, PI on Irish National Audits of Stroke and Dementia Care; founder-editor of first Irish gerontology journal ‘Irish Ageing Studies Review’; chair of Irish government Working Group on Elder Abuse, producing blueprint ‘Protecting Our Future’; co-founder National Centre for Arts and Health; member of team that developed the European Masters in Gerontology; co-PI on first Irish Cochrane Review on ageing; and founder member and subsequent president of the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society. He has subsequently led on the Irish Traffic Medicine Programme, which has developed innovative Certificates in Traffic Medicine and Road Safety with the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. He has been honoured as the first Irish gerontologist to be awarded Fellowship of the Gerontological Society of America, and first Irish geriatrician to be awarded Fellowship of the American Geriatrics Society.

Dr. Shona D’Arcy, Entrepreneurship Lead EIT Health Ireland-UK, Founder Kids Speech Labs

Shona has been working in the health technology sector for over 15 years. An electronic engineer with a Ph.D. in speech recognition, she founded Kids Speech Labs in 2018, aiming to tackle the escalating issue of waiting lists for children’s speech and language therapy within national health services. One of her other standout projects was leading the design and execution of the world’s largest multisite trial for a neuromodulation device aimed at tinnitus treatment, a pioneering digital-first clinical trial based in St. James Hospital. 

With a research background in speech recognition technology and medical devices, Shona has worked at all stages of innovation from ideation and prototyping to clinical validation. As a founder in the health tech space Shona understands the challenges of introducing innovation to health systems. 

As Entrepreneurship Lead for EIT Health Ireland-UK, Shona’s role is to bridge the gap between start-ups delivering innovation and health care systems. Shona supports early-stage start-ups to grow, and help showcase Irish and UK companies on the European stage.

Matthew Cooke, former A&E physician, former National Director, NHS 111, UK

Matthew was formerly the urgent and emergency care ‘tsar’ for the UK Government, most known for his introduction of the four-hour target. He is also an experienced A&E physician, featuring twice on HSJ’s annual “top 100 clinical leaders”. His leadership roles have included National Director for NHS 111 and Chief Clinical Officer at Capgemini.

Graham Armitage, Managing Director, EIT Health Ireland-UK

An accomplished director and senior leader, Graham has held diverse roles across the private and public sectors. He is currently the Managing Director at EIT Health Ireland-UK, a Co-location Centre of EIT Health, which is part of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, a body of the European Union. 

With a strong interest in improving patient outcomes, Graham plays a key role as the Founding Director of Innovo Insights Ltd, a consulting firm focused on innovation in health and aging. He also served as a Trustee and Board Member at PTSD Resolution Ltd and led business and innovation activity for Newcastle University’s world-class ageing research. With a global perspective, Graham drives initiatives that enhance patient care and advance healthcare innovation.

Recently, Graham was appointed as an Honorary Visiting Professor at the College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Brunel University, London, to guide its innovation and public involvement activities.

At EIT Health, Graham has held several key positions such as Deputy Managing Director, Innovation Manager, and Collaboration Lead. With a career spanning military service, industry strategy, and academic engagement, he has built expertise in programme management, innovation, and quality leadership.

Georgina Cruise, National Manager, the Patient Advocacy Service  

Georgina has over 21 years’ experience of working in citizens’ rights and entitlements with a particular interest in advocacy and social policy. 

A graduate with an Advanced Diploma in Advocacy Practice Provision, a Level 7 Certificate in Patient Safety Complaints Advocacy and an Advanced Diploma in Human Resources, Georgina previously worked as Acting Service Manager and Advocacy Team Lead, having joined the Service in November 2019. 

Georgina has frontline experience of direct advocacy provision having previously worked with the Citizens Information Service for 12 years as an advocate and development manager.

Dr. Mary Hughes, Associate Professor in Children’s Nursing and researcher in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, TCD

Mary is a Registered Children’s Nurse and Registered General Nurse with extensive clinical and academic experience. From February 2020-June 2023, Mary was Director of Teaching and Learning Postgraduate in the Trinity School of Nursing and Midwifery. During her term, she was the school lead for the HCI Microcredentials (MC) Pilot Project; the school is the most successful school in TCD. She leads out on NU9MC1 Nurse Authority to Refer for Radiological Procedures, now in its third year of the MC pilot.

Mary is currently engaged in funded research projects centred on child safeguarding in community care, in the development of innovative digital health services in Advanced Nursing Practice in Children’s Healthcare in Ireland (CHI/NMPD Dublin North), Gravitate Digital Information Provision for Medication Safety (IMI/EU), and Digital Health Provision in the new Regional Health Areas (HSE). She is also supervising PhD students on programmes of research related to child health. 

Mary is a recognised national academic leader in Children’s Health, Advanced Practice and Digital Health. She has strong interprofessional networks nationally and internationally and is a member of key committees and groups in relation to these fields. She is an influential contributor to the national discourse on developments in Nursing and Midwifery, representing the school, college and IUA Heads on these matters.

Andy Bleaden, Communities Director, ECHAlliance 

Andy has developed and built a large network of over 75+ global digital health ecosystems, 12 thematic innovation ecosystems and grown a membership community of over 1000 health organisations.

He has had a long career in both health and social care as well as funding going back over 30 years, starting in the mental health field working with mentally disordered offenders, homeless young people, regeneration and economic development and then later in the field of social care, dementia and robotics.

Andy has been an External Expert for the European Commission since 2013 assessing proposals and reviewing projects. He has worked for the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) on both health and manufacturing programmes. He has assessed proposals and reviewed projects for other funds such as Urban Innovation Actions, Urbact and Innovative Medicines Initiative. Andy brings a wealth of experience and skills in securing and management of strategic external funding, procurement, innovation funding and forming and development large and complex partnerships across Europe.

Neil O’Hare, Group CIO, Children’s Health Ireland

Neil is also Professor of Health Informatics in UCD.   

A Physicist by background he completed his PhD in Medical Physics from DCU in 1991. He was previously Chief Physicist in St. James’s Hospital, but has had a strong emphasis on health informatics throughout his career including heading up many large implementation projects around clinical information systems, acting as advisor to the Department of Health and project management of a range of medical equipping projects. He led the one of the first EHR projects in Ireland, implementing Cerner into St. James’s in 2006 and initially led the major expansion of this system in 2018. In 2007 he took up the role as Programme Lead on the National Integrated Medical Imaging System (NIMIS) Project for the Health Services Executive, Ireland. This is one of the largest single PACS / RIS system implementations in the world. In recognition of this, the Faculty of Radiology (RCSI) in 2019 awarded Prof. O’Hare an Honorary Fellowship of the Faculty – one of only two non-Radiologists to receive this award in its 60-year history.

Neil has served on many committees at HSE and Department of Health level and in 2020 was appointed to the Irish Government’s Open Data Governance Board. He was previous Chair of the Association of Physical Scientists in Medicine and is current Chair of the Health Informatics Society of Ireland. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and is a current Fellow of the Irish Computer Society.

He was previously the CIO for the Ireland East Hospital Group (2018-2020), and Dir of Informatics at St. James’s Hospital (2012 – 2018). Neil was the first medical physicist in Ireland to achieve Chartered Engineer and Charted Physicist status. He was also the first Irish Healthcare CIO to achieve the international Certified Health CIO award from CHIME.

Previously Neil has previously held academic appointments in Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin with research interests in health informatics, imaging and UV phototherapy dosimetry; supervised over 50 postgraduate students at MSc and PhD level, and is currently the course Director for the Graduate Diploma & MSc in Healthcare Informatics in UCD.

Roseanne Killeen, HR Director, Ireland East Hospital Group, HSE

Roseanne has 25 years’ experience working in human resources both private and public sectors. She completed an MSc is Talent , Leadership & Strategic HRM in 2022 and has a passion for lean improvement and applying it to HR practices to streamline processes and enhance patient, candidate and staff experiences with HR processes within her organisation.

Dr Elizabeth Aitken, Consultant Physician in General & Elderly Medicine, Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust

Liz trained at King’s College Hospital, University of London. Her clinical interests include orthogeriatrics, falls, and more recently her focus has been on addressing inequalities and population health management.

Previously Chief Medical Officer and Responsible Officer at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, Elizabeth is now working in the SEL ICB as quality clinical lead in addition to leading the Lewisham elective recovery and population health project. She has been working with colleagues on addressing the challenges and inequalities of the elective recovery programme across Southeast London.

Eoin O’Reilly, Chief Executive Officer ,Allview Healthcare

Eoin O’Reilly is the CEO and a Board Member of AllView Healthcare a leading Irish innovative care provider dedicated to giving patients rapid access to medical care and early diagnosis through medical services and technology.

Eoin has a passion for improving patient outcomes and a deep understanding of the complex regulatory environment in which medical companies operate.

An avid tech enthusiast Eoin has a proven track record of success and a deep understanding of the technology landscape with over 25 years experience as a CEO and business manager within Medtech, ICT and Retail industries. Eoin also has extensive knowledge in people, customer and change management in large organisations.

Eoin is deeply committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace. He is also a strong advocate for increasing tech representation within the healthcare industry.

Tadhg Daly, Chief Executive, Nursing Homes Ireland

Tadhg Daly is Chief Executive of Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI), the representative organization for the private and voluntary nursing homes sector.

Tadhg was formerly CEO of the Irish Nursing Homes Organisation (INHO) and was one of the key figures that led to the establishment of Nursing Homes Ireland in January 2008.

Prior to joining INHO in 2005 Tadhg worked with the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in a number of senior management positions.

NHI is a lead representative organisation within the Irish health sector and its Members play a key role in healthcare provision.  Over 400 private and voluntary nursing homes deliver specialist healthcare to 25,000+ persons and account for 90% of all long term care beds in the country, employing more than 35,000 staff. A strong and sustainable nursing home sector is a vital part of Ireland’s health and social care system. To sustain this, NHI will continue to advocate on behalf and be responsive to the needs of our members, nursing home residents and the sector.

Tadhg has led NHI and its members through a very difficult and challenging period of Covid 19 with his main focus on the protection of residents and the staff of nursing homes.  

Tadhg is a passionate advocate in care of the older person, outlining that as a Society we need to celebrate the fact that people are living longer, develop a continuum of care and ambitious policy for our the care of ageing demographic.

Nursing Homes Ireland is committed to providing leadership, supporting members and promoting excellence.