Bernard Gloster took up the post of Chief Executive Officer of the HSE in March 2023. He has worked in health and social services for over 34 years, and rejoined the HSE from the state Child and Family Agency Tusla where he served as Chief Executive Officer from September 2019. Prior to that he held several senior management positions within the HSE including Chief Officer of HSE Mid West Community Healthcare, and he worked in and managed in both community and acute hospital operations. He is a social care worker by profession, holds an MBA from Oxford Brookes University and an MSc in Management Practice from UCC.

Adjunct Senior Clinical Lecturer, UCC CEO, DN, MSc, BA (hons), Diploma healthcare leadership, Registered Nurse (General)

Dr McCloskey is a leader in the field of Specialist Palliative Care and older persons care. She has more than 30 years of experience in the clinical areas of oncology, haematology, older person care and palliative care. She is a registered nurse, has a BA (hons) Social Policy (Health and Welfare), MSc Nursing, Diploma in Quality and Leadership in Healthcare and holds a Doctorate in Nursing from UCC.

Dr McCloskey is currently Chief Executive Officer of Marymount University Hospital and Hospice, Cork, leading a complex services working with a vast multidisciplinary team of varying professions. She currently manages, along with her management team, a workforce of 400 personnel and leads clinical, HR, finance, fundraising, facilities and other supporting departments. She currently leads services including daycare, in patient services, acute hospitals and across a community of 600,000 people. She has been at the helm of numerous change management initiatives including the expansion of services, the redevelopment of quality, safety and risk management, cost containment, strategy development and developing a new model for fundraising.

Dr McCloskey has a National leadership role in palliative care. She makes a significant contribution through her strategic role through the following:

• On site registered provider (HIQA) Company secretary (2014- present)
• Member of the AIIHPC (2014- present)
• Chairperson of the National working group for review of out of hours services as per National framework palliative care- core costs (current)
• CEO Representative on National Clinical Programme working group (2017-2018)
• Member of the Voluntary Hospice Group (2014- present)
• Member of the national network of Hospice providers (2014- current)
• Chairperson of national fundraising group- Together for hospice (from 2023)
• Member of the Association of Hospital Chief Executives (2014- present)
• Dr McCloskey leads a team that achieved 100% compliance with HIQA regulations and standards (2017 and 2018).
• Liaising with new hospices internationally in respect of building, operating, planning and developing hospice services including UK, New Zealand (2010- present).

Dr McCloskey liaised with the multi-disciplinary team, the design team and the contractors and wrote the operational plan for the relocation of the hospice in 2011. She has recently contributed to the publication, ‘Modern Hospice Design’ The architecture of palliative and social care by Ken Worpole (2023)

Dr McCloskey has presented and written on a variety of topics including policy and practice (UCC); risk management (UCC); role of the CEO/ leadership (UCC); mission/ ethos (Marymount); spiritual Well-being; competence in nursing; governance; fundraising and Specialist Palliative care.

Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Clinical Director Massachusetts General Hospital, USA

Dr Joanne Droney is a consultant and research lead in the Symptom Control and Palliative Care Team at the Royal Marsden Hospital, London. She is the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network South London Palliative Care Specialty Research Lead. 

She was awarded a PhD from Imperial College London in 2012 for her translational research on the pharmacogenetics of opioids for cancer pain. She is an associate editor for the Palliative Care Formulary.  

Her current interests include developing models for the delivery of early palliative care, advance care planning, the use of outcome measures in service development and the use of routinely collected data in palliative care research. 

Donnacha is the Project Lead on the National End of Life Survey, Ireland’s first national survey of care provided at end of life. The survey is carried out by the National Care Experience Programme where Donnacha has worked since its inception in 2016, manging the programme’s information governance framework and compliance with data protection legislation.

Donnacha has an MSc. in Equality Studies and is completing an additional MSc. in Healthcare Ethics and Law.

Prof. Karen Ryan was the inaugural Clinical Lead of the National Clinical Programme in Palliative Care from 2010-2018. She maintains active research interests, with a particular focus on health services research and the provision of palliative care for the ageing population and for people with intellectual disabilities. Keen to bridge the gap between research, policy and practice, Prof. Ryan acted as Chair of the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee from 2017-2021 and Chair of the Steering Group for the development of the National Adult Palliative Care Policy from 2022-2023. 

Dr Creedon has practiced as a consultant palliative medicine physician for 14 years in the south east of Ireland (University Hospital Waterford). Dr Creedon is a Senior Lecturer (RCSI & UCC) and previously was in a tenured role as Senior Fellow in Palliative Medicine (TCD & UCD). This fellowship focused on the development, with colleagues, of patient outcome measurement in palliative care. Dr Creedon believes that this approach will allow our health care system to evolve around the needs of patients (and their families). He continues to advocate for the use national clinical audit, clinical audit and quality improvement in healthcare to create an improvement culture for patients, families, students, trainees and staff. He has previously served in various leadership roles in healthcare including National Clinical Lead for Palliative Care, chair of the Irish Palliative Medicine Consultants Association and chairman of the board of directors of the Solas Cancer Support Centre.  

Dr. Breffni Hannon is a graduate of University College Cork. She completed training in general practice followed by specialty training in palliative medicine in Ireland before moving to Toronto, Canada.

She now leads the palliative care program at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. She is an associate professor and research lead in the Division of Palliative Medicine, and was recently appointed as the Rose Family Chair in Palliative Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Her research interests include expanding access to palliative care for patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers; and innovation in the monitoring and management of cancer-related symptoms.

David joined CUH Group as CEO in August 2022, after a 27 year career working in the UK. He has held board level positions in government, strategic health authorities, acute hospitals and ambulance services in England and was the Director of Secondary Care for the largest Health Board in Wales. He has 4 degrees, including an Executive MBA from Warwick Business School and is a graduate of the NHS Leadership Academy and UCL Senior Leaders Programme. He is a clinician by background, and has been a Clinical Director for Acute & Emergency Medicine in a large teaching hospital in the UK. He is originally from Limerick, and is married to Nuala.

Prof. Seamus O’Reilly BSc MD PhD FRCPI- is consultant medical oncologist at Cork-Mercy and South Infirmary Victoria University Hospitals. A graduate of University College Galway he completed medical oncology training at John Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD where he was subsequently Assistant Professor in Medical Oncology. During fellowship training there he completed a PhD in Clinical Investigation and focused on Cancer Pharmacology in his research. He a founding trustee and co Chairperson Cork ARC Cancer Support House and was National Specialty Director in Medical Oncology at the Royal College of Physicians from 2013-2021. He is Vice Clinical Lead at Cancer Trials Ireland where he founded the National Green Cancer Clinical Trials Initiative and is a member of the Executive Board of the Breast International Group.

Clodagh Butler is a Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology at University College Cork. She received her PhD from the University of Limerick and is a chartered Work and Organisational Psychologist (C.Psychol., Ps.S.I) . Her research interests relate to occupational well-being within high-performance/high-stress environments that focus on stress, resilience, coping, self-regulation and well-being. She is also an accredited psychologist with Sport Ireland Institute.

Professor of Medicine, University of Texas; Medial Director, MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, USA

Dr. Feargal Twomey is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine working at Milford Hospice, Limerick and the UL Hospitals Group, Limerick, an Adjunct Senior Clinical Lecturer at the UL Graduate Entry Medical School and National Clinical Lead for Palliative Care in Ireland. A University College Cork Medical School Graduate, Dr Twomey undertook Specialist Training within the Mersey Deanery, worked as a Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Central Manchester University Hospital & St Ann’s Hospice and returned to his current post in 2010.

Dr Twomey’s special interests include the management of complex pain and other symptoms, the use of outcome measures to drive quality improvement in palliative care, clinical ethics, mental capacity, Advance Healthcare Decision-making and DNACPR.

Professor Roisin Connolly was appointed as the Professor Gerald O’Sullivan Chair in Cancer Research at University College Cork (UCC) and Cork University Hospital in September 2019, and is the Director of Cancer Research @UCC. Prior to same, Roisin was an Associate Professor of Oncology (Breast and Ovarian Cancer Program) and Co-Director of the Developmental Therapeutics Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center (SKCCC) at Johns Hopkins, US and continues to hold an adjunct position. She graduated with a 1st class honors medical degree from Trinity College, Dublin in 2001 and completed medical oncology fellowship training in both Ireland and at Johns Hopkins.

Professor Connolly is a medical oncologist and clinical investigator with expertise in the development of biomarkers of response to anti-cancer therapies, and the design and conduct of clinical trials that test investigational new drugs in the treatment of patients with both early- and late-stage cancers. She has led numerous multicenter clinical trials in collaboration with the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC), and the Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group (ECOG)-ACRIN in the US. Professor Connolly was Study Chair for the international phase III ECOG-ACRIN study (E2112) investigating the epigenetic agent entinostat in combination with hormonal therapy in patients with metastatic breast cancer, and is the Co-Chair for the EA1211/DIRECT trial activated in summer 2023 investigating the role of imaging as a predictor of response to HER2-directed therapies. She has received the prestigious ECOG-ACRIN Young Investigator Award 2019 for excellence in clinical investigation.

Roisin has been awarded a 2.37M HRB grant (4.2M with co-funding) to support the UCC Cancer Trials Group, which encompasses the active Oncology Clinical Trials Units in both Cork and Waterford. This will lead to expansion of the portfolio of innovative clinical trials available to patients in the South/Southwest, and investigator-led clinical projects. The award has a dedicated focus on training the next-generation of cancer researchers and research staff, and she has received co-funding from Breakthrough Cancer Research for a Clinical Research Fellowship which commences June 2022. Roisin is also Co-Director of and a Principal Investigator with Cancer Trials Cork at CUH. She held the role of Co-Chair of the Cancer Trials Ireland Breast Disease Specific Group from 2020-2023 and is a member of the AICRI Steering Committee

Roisin has received an Irish Cancer Society grant to support a Women’s Cancer Survivorship Clinic in Cork, which she is leading with Professor Josephine Hegarty (School of Nursing) and multiple collaborators across the region. Her goal is to improve outcomes for patients with cancer through innovative clinical and translational research, in collaboration with UCC, national and international researchers.

I qualified in 1997 as a Social Care leader and worked in HSE residential services with children in care, moved then to voluntary sector working with Barnardos in the area of early years education, supporting the development of services in disadvantaged areas. I returned to education and qualified as a social worker in 2006 and began my career in palliative care in Marymount, establishing a social work service with the West Cork Palliative care team. I contribute to the Marymount and UCC Masters programme in Palliative Care in the areas of family and social work in rural palliative care. I have a particular interest in bereavement care and run a monthly bereavement support group for the parents of young children who have lost their spouse or partner.

Tony O’Brien is Clinical Professor of Palliative Medicine at University College Cork and Consultant Physician in Palliative Medicine at the Bon Secours Hospital, Cork. He previously held the post of consultant physician in palliative medicine at Marymount University Hospital & Hospice / Cork University Hospital from 1991 - 2021.

I have been working as an Occupational Therapist since I qualified from University College Cork in 2007. I have had a broad range of experience in my career to date, working in both the acute and primary care sectors within Cork City and now as Occupational Therapy Manager in Marymount Hospital and Hospice.

Julie Ling has been CEO of the European Association for Palliative Care since January 2015. The EAPC is the leading palliative care organisation in Europe representing 57 member associations from thirty countries across Europe and with individual members from 52 countries globally. The EAPC is currently a partner in thirteen European Union funded research projects.

Originally a nurse, Julie has worked in palliative care for thirty-five years in both adult and children’s palliative care. She has held a variety of posts in clinical care; management; research; policy and the voluntary sector. As a former Health Research Board Research Fellow, she successfully completed a PhD by research. Julie also has an MBA from Trinity College Dublin.

Julie is also Chair of the World Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance, a global palliative care organisation that lobbies and advocates for the provision of palliative care as part of universal health coverage.

Since July 2021 Julie has been a Consultant Technical Officer for the World Health Organization European region. In this role she pprovides technical support to member states on the development and strengthening of palliative care.

Dr Steve Marshall is a social worker in the palliative care team at King’s College Hospital and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College London.  

Steve combines research and teaching with clinical practice and has a particular interest in supporting children and young people. Steve was co-PI and lead researcher on a recent Marie Curie funded project which involved interviewing 32 children and young people about their experience of living with a parent with a life-limiting illness. This research has provided the basis of evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals working with patients with a life-limiting illness who have dependent children.  

Steve is a Churchill Fellow and has recently returned from Norway and Sweden where he explored the concept of children as next-of-kin.

Graduated from UCC in 2012. Consultant Geriatrician working in CUH and the South Lee ICPOP Clinical Lead.

Mary qualified from University College Cork in 1988. Mary trained and worked in palliative medicine in Ireland, Sweden and the UK and has been a consultant in palliative medicine in Oxford since 1998.  

Mary has a strong interest in education; completing a Diploma in Learning and Teaching at Oxford University 2005, was Training Programme Director and Regional Specialty Advisor (2002 – 2008) and has led the Oxford Advanced Courses in Pain and Symptom Management since 2005. Since its inception 2017, Mary and the team at OxCERPC have focused on building an exciting portfolio of courses, building research readiness and reaching out to practitioners across the globe. Mary is an elected member of the Education Committee of the Association of Palliative Medicine and lead of the postgraduate education special interest forum.  

Mary was appointed as Clinical Lead for NACEL In January 2023. This exciting role is providing a new learning curve. 

Tony is Professor of General Practice in UCC and works as a GP in Kinsale. He is a GP Trainer and is Convener of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) clinical skills examination.

His interests include dementia care and interprofessional education. He has led the development of a dementia e-learning programme and dementia care guidelines for the ICGP. His recent research and interdisciplinary collaborations have focused on the area of dementia palliative care.

Tony has led funded dementia care research and service delivery projects supporting GPs and allied healthcare professionals in their delivery of integrated dementia care in the community. 

Ciara Heavin is Professor of Business Information Systems at Cork University Business School, University College Cork, Ireland. Her research focuses on opportunities for using information systems (IS) in the global healthcare ecosystem and in digital transformation.

Ciara Heavin has directed funded research in the investigation, development, and implementation of innovative technology solutions in the health/healthcare domain. She has published articles in several top international IS journals and conference proceedings.

Ciara has coauthored three books with Daniel J. Power: Decision Support, Analytics, and Business Intelligence, Data-Based Decision Making and Digital Transformation, and Becoming Agile.