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.

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.

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

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.