Board of the Health Information and Quality Authority

Pat McGrath, Chairperson

Pat McGrath is Deputy Chairman – International Development of PM Group which employs over 1,600 personnel in 25 countries around the world including Ireland, UK, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, India, China and the USA. PM Group provides project management, architectural and engineering design and construction management services in the private and public sectors, with a particular focus on the biopharmaceutical, medical technology, food & nutritionals, healthcare, education and technology sectors, and on large infrastructure projects. Pat has extensive experience in the areas of corporate and commercial management.

Pat holds Bachelor and Masters degrees in Engineering from UCD, a Diploma in Business Leadership and Corporate Direction from the Institute of Directors and UCC, and an MBA from the Open University.

Pat is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland and a member of The Irish Academy of Engineers.  He is a member of the Board of the Irish Management Institute and he is a former member of the Governing Body of Cork Institute of Technology.

He was appointed Chairperson of the interim Health Information and Quality Authority in September 2004 and subsequently Chairperson of the Health Information and Quality Authority in May 2007.

Dolores Quinn, Vice Chairperson

Dolores Quinn is Marketing and Communications Manager for the Diagnostics Division of Abbott Laboratories. She has over 20 years experience in the Commercial Management of Medical Diagnostics in the Irish Healthcare Market.

She trained as a Laboratory Technician, is a Graduate of the Marketing Institute of Ireland, and holds an MBA in Healthcare Management from UCD.

She was appointed to the Board of the interim Health Information and Quality Authority in September 2004 and subsequently to the Board of the Health Information and Quality Authority in May 2007 and is currently Vice Chairperson of the Board of the Authority.

Bryan Barry

Bryan Barry is the Assistant General Secretary of the Irish Farmers’ Association, which is one of the largest representative organisations in the country with 85,000 members. He is responsible for policy development and implementation, involving representation and negotiation with Government, the European Commission, state agencies and the wide range of businesses impacting on the agri-food sector, and also for the Association’s communications strategy.

Born and educated in Dublin, Bryan graduated in Politics and History at UCD and gained broad experience of national and EU decision-making processes as a civil servant, before joining IFA.

Bryan is also Company Secretary of Farmer Business Developments plc, which is a non-quoted investment holding company with net assets of €200 million. The company has 4,500 shareholders and holds a diversified portfolio of assets as well as a 25% stake in the quoted insurance company, FBD Holdings plc.

He joined the board of the Authority in May 2007.

Philip Caffrey

Philip Caffrey is Former Director with United Drug PLC and former Director with the Irish Aviation Authority.

He was appointed to the Board of the Health Information and Quality Authority in May 2010.

Angela Kerins

Angela Kerins is Chief Executive of the Rehab Group which employs approximately 3,500 people and provides health, social care, employment and training services to over 56,000 adults and children with disabilities, older people and other marginalised groups in over 230 locations throughout Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands and Poland.

Previous appointments include Chairperson of the National Disability Authority and Chairperson of the Equality Authority. Angela has also been Vice Chairperson of the National Disability Strategy Stakeholders Monitoring Group established to monitor implementation of the National Disability Strategy, a member of the IBEC National Executive, a member of the Board of PostBank, and a member of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI). Angela chairs a number of Rehab Group subsidiary companies in Ireland. In addition Angela is also Chairperson of Momentum Scotland and the Chaseley Trust in England and a member of the board of the European Platform for Rehabilitation in Brussels.

She was appointed to the Board of the Authority in May 2007

Professor Geraldine McCarthy

Geraldine McCarthy is Professor of Nursing at the Catherine McAuley School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health, University College Cork.

Previous appointments include Research and Development Manager at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin and a variety of nursing posts in the USA, Canada and the UK. She has led national developments in Nursing through membership of Commission of Nursing and Nurse Education Forum. Geraldine has held membership of many other Committees including Review of Acute Hospitals in HSE South; Task Force on Undergraduate Medical Education and the Southern Health Board and has published and presented widely on a variety of topics related to clinical and management topics.

She was appointed to the Board of the Authority in May 2007

Professor Samuel J. McConkey

Professor Samuel J. McConkey is Head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at RCSI and leads the clinical Infectious Disease and Tropical Medicine service at Beaumont Hospital.

In the past, he worked as Head of Viral Disease Research Section in MRC Laboratories in The Gambia and previous to that in Oxford University and in Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests are in vaccine development, HIV2, hepatitis B, HIV1, HTLV1, malaria and tuberculosis.

He was appointed to the Board of the Health Information and Quality Authority in May 2010.

Professor Damien McLoughlin

Damien is a Professor of Marketing at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business. He is a member of the Irish Medical Council. Previously, he was visiting Professor at Indian School of Business and visiting Professor at S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University.

He was appointed to the Board of the Health Information and Quality Authority in May 2010.

Sheila O’Connor

Sheila O’Connor is a founding member of Patient Focus, a national patient advocacy charity. Patient Focus is an Irish organisation which aims to preserve and enhance patient rights in all healthcare settings. They offer voluntary support to hundreds of patients annually. Advice on patients’ rights issues is also given to the Government and others.

Sheila holds Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Social Science and Sociology from UCD, as well as a Bachelors Degree in Civil Law, also from UCD. She holds a Certificate in Counselling Skills from Maynooth University.

She was appointed to the Board of the Authority in May 2007.

Gráinne Tuke

Gráinne Tuke is a solicitor by profession. She has been in legal practice in both rural and urban areas in Ireland for 25 years, and has substantial experience in negotiating contracts and contract work, in a wide range of areas including construction and engineering, corporate, employment, technology and intellectual property, telecommunications, media and entertainment, medical, fisheries and forestry projects, transport, retail and regulatory and commercial matters.

During the past 15 years she has specialised and been involved in projects relating to existing and new hospital centres in Louth, Dublin and Galway and advising and providing legal services to hospital operators and promoters on an ongoing basis.

Gráinne holds a law degree from University College, Dublin and is a practising member of the Law Society.

She was appointed to the Board of the Authority in May 2009.

Cillian Twomey

Cillian Twomey is a recently retired consultant physician in geriatric medicine at Cork University Hospital and St. Finbarr’s Hospitals, Cork since 1979. In his earlier career, he practiced and trained in Cork, London and Liverpool.

He is the Chairperson of the Irish Hospice Foundation.

He was Chairman of the Ninth and final Comhairle na nOspidéal Board from February 2001 to December 2005. He was a member of the Steering Group of the National Task Force for Medical Staffing (Hanly) that reviewed the organisation and staffing of Ireland’s acute hospital sector. He was President of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) from 1999 to 2002, the first Irish person to hold this position, and is a former President of the Irish Medical Organisation and former Chairman of its Consultant Committee.

He was appointed to the Board of the Health Information and Quality Authority in May 2010.