Dr Paula Kilbane CBE trained in London in public health medicine and subsequently held two consultant posts there. On her return to Northern Ireland in 1986, she became a director of public health. Paula served as CEO of the Southern and then the Eastern Health and Social Services Board in Belfast from 1993 until her retirement in 2009.

Following her relocation to Dublin, Paula chaired the Corporate Risk Committee of the Health Service Executive (HSE) from 2011–2013. She is currently a member of the Boards of CES (Centre for Effective Services) and CMRF (Children’s Medical and Research Foundation). Paula is also a Director of Grafton Recruitment in Ireland and Europe.

Her professional interests include quality and patient safety, health information systems and health technology assessment, HIV and AIDS. In addition to her extensive UK experience in health and social care, Paula has served on a number of all-island bodies and in other sectors outside of healthcare, including European funding bodies and the Northern Ireland Higher Education Council. A graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, she is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health (UK and Ireland).