RREC for Midlands Area and Corporate Division (HSE Dublin & Midlands)

Patricia is Senior Research Officer in the Department of Public Health HSE Midlands. She is a trained health economist with over 12 years research experience. Her main expertise is estimating economic, social and health costs through the application of a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. In her current role, she works closely with a variation of healthcare professionals including nurses, surveillance scientists, Senior Medical Officers, Specialists in Public Health Medicine and administration staff.

Patricia's research to date focuses primarily on public health and ageing, dementia, social and healthcare policy. She lead a national study investigating the needs of family carers of people recently diagnosed with dementia for translation into policy and practice. In addition, she also designed and organised Ireland's first Carer's Assembly which helped determine key areas for investment by government to improve the lives of family carers and those they provide care to.

Patricia previously led the evaluation of The Atlantic Philanthropies' dementia investment in Ireland, determining how the investment impacted the landscape of care for persons with dementia and worked to change the policy approach to dementia in Ireland. Her Ph.D., titled "Economic Explorations of Equity Issues Across the Care Pathway in Breast Cancer," involved the application of a variety of econometric and quantitative techniques to large public and health data sets.

She also played a key role in a number of projects commissioned by UN Women and The World Bank examining the economic and social costs of violence against women and girls estimating the impact of violence on economic growth in developing countries. 

Specialties include: Research; project management; econometric modelling; measuring inequality; economic evaluation; mathematical modelling; health economics; microeconomics; public and patient involvement in research (PPI); stakeholder engagement; quantitative research.

Mary is Associate Professor at the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems. She is currently working with twelve universities across the EU, Russia, Vietnam and Uzbekistan on the development and implementation of an international curriculum to Improve Healthcare Outcomes in Chronic Disease as part of an Erasmus Plus Programme. Prior to this Mary was the Associate Dean for Taught Graduate and Continuous Professional Development Programmes.

Mary has more than 20 years of experience in nursing and health systems research. Her research activity is primarily focused on enhancing the contribution of nursing and health systems to patient care. Facilitating collaborative interdisciplinary approaches to identify areas for improvement in existing service provision, particularly in areas such as organisation development and change, implementation of clinical research to improve the quality and safety of services is the main focus of her research. She has considerable experience of educating nursing students, policy makers and managers and has supervised students undertaking both clinical and applied research in Irish healthcare. Her current research activity is on nursing and midwifery metrics, empowerment in midwifery, general practice nursing, advanced nursing and midwifery practice and the application of action research to health services research. She has published articles in leading nursing and midwifery journals as well as co-authored articles with medical and other colleagues in other healthcare journals. She has developed international research networks and led successful multi-institutional interdisciplinary bids to international funding agencies. She is a registered nurse, registered midwife and registered tutor with a background in critical care nursing, nursing education and hospital management as a Director of Nursing. She was responsible for initiating the development of the first MSc Med Science (Nursing) in Ireland. She obtained a PhD from the School of Business, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and is also a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School for Executive Education.

Edel is a practising clinical pharmacist and HRB Structure Population and Health Services Research Education (SPHeRE) PhD Scholar on the Health Research Board Collaborative Doctoral Programme in Chronic Disease Prevention (CDP-CDP) in University College Cork.

Edel has gained clinical and research experience across multiple sectors. She has worked in both community and hospital settings and on multiple research projects.

Edel’s research interests include chronic disease prevention, pre-hospital care, antimicrobial stewardship and medication management in the multimorbid ageing population. She has combined research and practice during her time in four Cork hospitals, which has informed her health-services research to date. Edel is also currently working with the National Ambulance Service Clinical Directorate.

Edel’s PhD study focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ambulance response times and emergency call volumes for stroke/TIA (mini-stroke). Edel is very interested in Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and general Stakeholder Involvement in her research and has multiple links with community organisations and healthcare providers.

Jane is a Social Worker working for over ten years in a variety of areas including, Child Protection and Welfare, Children in Care, and Children’s Disability Services. She currently works in the area of Obesity Management within the HSE.

Jane previously sat on this Research Ethics Committee as a Public Patient Representative up until August 2023 when she started to work for the HSE. She also has experience sitting on the REC of a disability service provider (2019-2021) as an expert member.

Janes continues to have a wide range of research interests and holds a passion around patient and public involvement in research and practitioner led research.

Niamh is an Associate Professor at the UCD School of Psychology and a HSE Principal Psychologist Manager and has also worked as a General Manger and Network manager within the HSE.

Niamh has more than 25 years of experience working as a psychologist in the HSE across primary care, disabilities, mental health and acute settings. As the clinical training coordinator for the Midlands, Niamh has worked closely with Clinical and Educational Psychology training programmes in UCD, UL and NUIG. She has published articles in leading psychology journals and has co-authored articles with psychology and other colleagues in other healthcare journals. She has considerable experience of educating psychologists, teachers and managers, and has supervised over 20 psychology doctoral trainees undertaking clinical research in Irish healthcare.

Niamh is passionate about developing universal psychological services, infant mental health, supervision and positive psychology. Her current research activity is developing a National Stress Control programme with fellow principal psychologist colleagues.

Niamh has been a member of the Midlands Regional Ethics Committee, a member of the Heads of Psychology Services Ireland (HPSI) and was the Minster for Children’s representative on the Board of Directors for Gaisce, the President’s award. She is a Charted Psychologist with the Psychological Society of Ireland and British Psychological Society, a registered clinical supervisor and a registered secondary school teacher. She obtained a PhD from the School of Psychology, University College Dublin (UCD) and is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) BA Hons MSc, HDip Ed , H Dip Management , Dip in Leadership and Quality in Healthcare (RCPI) .

Ciaran is a full-time consultant psychiatrist working in rehabilitation psychiatry in Longford/Westmeath. He graduated from University College Galway in 1995 with a degree in Medicine and, following the Mater/University College Dublin scheme in psychiatry, completed his higher training in the North East of England. He has been a consultant psychiatrist  in St Loman’s Hospital since 2008.

Ciaran's research work involved examining the efficacy of a new device, a vagus nerve stimulator, in treatment resistant depression. More recently he is an ESI Research Fellow and examining CBT in first episode schizophrenia as part of a Cochrane review with Dr Irene Bighelli of the Technical University of Munich.  He has also completed  a Masters in Digital health Transformation with University of Limerick in 2022.

Amanda qualified with a BSc Hons. Clinical Speech and Language studies from Trinity College and has worked in various settings such as community and hospital and across the different care groups of primary care, disability and elderly services.

Amanda has advanced skills in dysphagia management and video-fluoroscopy. She holds a PG Cert in Advanced Clinical Practice from Ulster University and is currently studying for a PG Diploma in Intermediary skills at the University of Limerick

Amanda is also graduate of the Leading Care 1 course from the Health Leadership Academy and holds a diplomas in Digital Health and Executive Health Care Leadership. In November 2023, Amanda was appointed as Clinical Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Midlands Louth Meath CHO Area 8 – Older Persons services.

Zeta is a Lecturer in HE at the School of Education and Lifelong learning (WIT). She is Programme Lead for the Certificate in Technology Enhanced Learning and lectures on the Masters in Education.

Zeta is research active and contributes to the CITO Erasmus + Basic Skills Checker, HEA funded Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and Hecat project (H2020) Disruptive Technologies Supporting Labour Market Decision Making projects. She has been awarded research grants to fund 3 PhD scholars that she supervises in the areas of Immersive Learning Environments, Critical Data Studies and the Influence of Education on Careers. Additionally, she has recently been awarded funding to build an Education Lab at SETU for mixed reality experience experimentation for adult learners (neurodiverse and neurotypical). She has also successfully supervised many Masters in Education student dissertations.

Zeta is a contributing member to SETU Academic council and sub-council for teaching and learning including specific initiatives in relation to micro-credentials, digital badges, online assessment and student centric teaching. She is a member of the School of Education and Lifelong Learning and Humanities Joint Research Board. Zeta is the mother of 4 children and has family experience with congenital heart disease, autism and childhood cancer.

Jane completed her medical degree in London in 2010 and worked in the NHS for 2 years. On returning to Ireland, she worked in Emergency Medicine and completed her GP training in 2017 and subsequently worked in general practice and community medicine.

Jane currently works as a senior medical officer in the SeroEpidemiology Unit at the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

Kathy is a Clinical Scientist at St. James’s Hospital Dublin (SJH) and a Clinical Senior Lecturer at TCD. She has >20 years experience in clinical research, biobanking and molecular diagnostics. Her translational research group focuses on the liquid biopsy, biomarker identification and drug discovery to advance precision medicine approaches to cancer treatment. Kathy supervises and mentors a team of trans-disciplinary research staff and students and her research is funded by Enterprise Ireland, HEA and industry collaborations.

She lectures both undergraduate & postgraduate students on Modules in Molecular Medicine and Translational Oncology at Trinity College Dublin. She established and co-manages the St. James’s Hospital lung biobank and co-founded the Target Lung Cancer initiative to raise public awareness of lung cancer. She is Senior Scientist (Translational Oncology) at Inflection Biosciences Ltd advising on their research program. Kathy sits on journal editorial boards and reviews grants for multiple funding agencies and joins the ethics committee with a view to supporting health research in Ireland.

Philip is a mental health nurse specialising in adolescent substance use. He has an MSc. in Nursing from the Royal College of Surgeon's in Ireland and an MSc. in Addiction Recovery from Trinity College Dublin. Previously he worked in adolescent substance use services in Dublin and Louth/Meath. In November 2023 he took up a position as an Assistant Professor in Mental Health Nursing in Trinity College Dublin. 

Currently Philip is undertaking a PhD. in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Trinity College Dublin, focusing on improving access and uptake of substance use services by teens. He has also been involved in a variety of peer reviewed research publications and authored numerous book chapters on adolescent substance use.

Charlotte is a Registered Dietitian currently working in the provision of Dietetic Service to Primary Care Paediatrics in the Midlands Region.  Charlotte has previously worked in the clinical setting in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and has also worked in the areas of Disabilities and Public Health.  She holds a BSc in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, (DIT / TCD); MSc in Food Science from University College Dublin and a PhD from DIT.

Charlotte has a keen interest in research in the paediatric population, being actively involved in a number of Public Health Nutrition projects throughout her career.  Her current interests include Paediatric Nutrition and Health Promotion; prevention of Chronic Disease through lifestyle modification, and dietetic treatment of a variety of infant and childhood nutrition related issues.

Siobhán is the National Ambulance Service Lead for Clinical Strategy & Evaluation and is a member of the National Ambulance Service Research Committee. She is an Honorary Senior Research Lecturer with the National University of Ireland Galway, where she manages a study investigating community first response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Siobhán originally worked as a Community Dietitian in Co. Donegal before joining the Department of Public Health Medicine where she worked on implementation of a diabetes management system and the introduction of the North West Diabetic Retinopathy Screening System.

While on secondment to NUI Galway, Siobhán implemented and then managed the Irish OHCA registry (OHCAR) for eight years before completing a PhD in OHCA epidemiology. She is a Study Management Team member with the European Registry of Cardiac Arrest (EuReCa) – a project of the European Resuscitation Council. Siobhán has recently joined the International Liaison Committee Basic Life Support Taskforce as an expert member. She regularly peer reviews for a variety of journals including Resuscitation, Resuscitation Plus and BMJ Open.

Brenda qualified from UUJ as a physiotherapist in 1995 and since then has completed a higher diploma in Health Sciences in UEA, an MSc in Advanced Practice of Physiotherapy in UUJ, and following successful achievement of a clinical fellowship from the HRB a PhD in UCD.

She has been employed as a Clinical Specialist physiotherapist in the HSE for 15 years and has developed an innovative role as a clinical physiotherapist blending research and clinical innovation. All research projects have been clinically based and focused on multi-disciplinary clinical teams. Many have focused on audit and clinical effectiveness.

Elizabeth is a Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin working at Trinity Centre for Practice and Healthcare Innovation (TCPHI) in the School of Nursing & Midwifery. She's a researcher on the project to evaluate implementation of National Clinical Guideline No. 21 `Improving appropriate prescribing of psychotropic drugs for the non-cognitive symptoms of dementia'. Elizabeth previously worked as a Research Officer at HIQA in Dublin, and as a regulatory researcher in Health and Social Care in Ireland. She has recently been awarded a PhD in Mental Health from the Division of Health Research, Lancaster University.

Elizabeth's doctoral research study explored how care home staff in Ireland support residents with responsive behaviours, such as agitation and aggression. Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) with collaborators from the Irish Dementia Working Group informed the research design to ensure that the findings would be impactful in improving care for people with dementia. The research findings identified the barriers and facilitators to reducing inappropriate prescribing of psychotropic drugs to manage responsive behaviours in people with dementia. Elizabeth also developed recommendations to assist the development of dementia guidelines, policy and practice, to promote taking a non-pharmacological approach to support care home residents. She has presented the findings of the research at many national and international conferences including the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC, 2021) and Alzheimer Europe Conference (2021) and the European Geriatric Medicine Society International Congress (EuGMS, 2020 and 2021). In 2021, Elizabeth was awarded the Sterling Prize Award at the British Society of Gerontology 50th Annual Conference (BSG). She has recently published a paper in the International Journal of Nursing Studies entitled ‘Strategies used by care home staff to manage behaviour that challenges in dementia: a systematic review of qualitative studies.’

Mary currently works in University College Dublin as a Research Scientist and Project Manager on TechChild, a European Research Council funded research project. The overarching aim of this body of research is to investigate influences on the decision to initiate life sustaining technological dependence for chronically critically ill children.

Prior to this role, Mary worked as a Research Lead with the Trinity Centre for Practice and Healthcare Innovation (TCPHI) at Trinity College Dublin and was responsible for the development of collaborative research partnerships between Tallaght University Hospital/CHI at Tallaght clinical staff and TCD academic staff.

Mary holds a PhD. in Psychology from Maynooth University, an MA in Forensic Psychology from University College Cork and a BA (Hons) from Maynooth University.