Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram
Nuthana has been Vice President of the Medical Women’s Federation since April 2021, the first non-Consultant doctor to hold this Office in the organisation’s history.
For MWF’s 105th Birthday in February 2022, Nuthana launched The Medical Women Podcast and has hosted and produced over 70 episodes.
Nuthana was a paediatric registrar for several years but is now embarking on Public Health as she is passionate about empowering people to be healthy and to focus on tackling the links between climate change and health.
In her ‘spare’ time, Nuthana is a dancer and currently training to be an embodiment coach – feel free to ask her what that means!
Prof Louise Crowley
Professor Louise Crowley of the School of Law, UCC, is a national voice on intimate partner violence having published widely on the adequacy of legal responses to the challenges of gender-based violence.
Louise developed the campus wide UCC Bystander Intervention programme which educates and empowers staff and students to challenge the normalisation of sexual abuse and to recognise their role as active bystanders to effect change and bring about a new normal of safety and respect.
In 2022, funded by the Irish Research Council, Louise developed a bespoke second level programme, piloted in 50 secondary schools nationwide. Louise has just completed a 9 month partnership with the Irish Defence Forces, where she delivered workshops on Sexual Ethics and Respect Relationships to members of the Army, the Air Corp and the Navy, reaching 3,000 personnel.
Dr Niamh Humphries
Dr Niamh Humphries is a Senior Lecturer and the Head of Research at the RCSI Graduate School of Healthcare Management. She holds a PhD in Sociology and has been researching health workforce issues in the Irish health system for the past 18 years.
Niamh holds a HRB Emerging Investigator Award for the Hospital Doctor Retention and Motivation (HDRM) project. She also leads a HRB-funded project on GP Retention and recently completed a case study on health worker migration for WHO (Europe).
Her presentation at #WiMINBelfast24 will draw on findings from the HDRM project. Niamh also sat on the National Taskforce on the NCHD Workforce in 2023-24.
Dr Clodagh Corrigan
Dr Clodagh Corrigan graduated in 2011 from Universities of Exeter and Plymouth. She works as a Specialty Doctor in Emergency Medicine in Daisy Hill Hospitql where she has been based since 2016.
Dr Corrigan is the Deputy Chair of BMA NI SAS Committee, Chair of Southern Trust Local Negotiating Committee and sits on BMA NI Council and UK SAS Committee. She is a vocal disability advocate and is passionate about equality and inclusivity.
Dr Corrigan has brought forward disability positive practices within the BMA. Through her activism, she has successfully campaigned for the introduction of a formal Disability Advocate role within her Trust and been appointed to this post.
Mr Kieran Ryan
Kieran Ryan was appointed as Managing Director of Surgical Affairs at RCSI in August 2016. He is responsible for the development and implementation of the strategic direction for the Department of Surgical Affairs. Core to this brief is the delivery of the National Surgical Training Programmes, engagement with Fellows and Members and specialty groups, promoting RCSI as a world leader in surgical training and medical education and provision of greater support and input to surgical practice. Kieran, as a member of the Senior Management Team, also supports the postgraduate faculties in delivering their remit and strategic objectives.
Prior to joining RCSI, Kieran was Chief Executive Officer of the Irish College of General Practitioners, a post he held since 2011. Prior to this, Kieran worked with the RCSI Department of Surgical Affairs as Research Manager and then Associate Director.
Kieran holds a BSc (applied) from Kevin Street DIT and TCD, an MSc in Healthcare Ethics and Law, and MSc in Healthcare Leadership and Management Development.
Dr Anna McKeever
Anna Mckeever is a Belfast-based artist with a rapidly growing international reputation. Predominantly a palette knife painter, Anna’s work is powerful and unapologetic. She seamlessly blends ancient mythological themes and landscape with contemporary colour and texture. The result is a fascinating hybrid of ancient and modern.
Prior to working as a full time professional artist, Anna worked as a Medical Doctor over 10 years. She completed her undergraduate medical training at the University of Glasgow and subsequently spent two years working in the West of Scotland.
Anna worked in Dublin before moving to New Zealand where she began Core Psychiatry training. After several years Anna moved to Melbourne to continue her psychiatric training in a busy inner city Crisis service. During this time she became increasingly interested in preventative medicine and completed a diploma with the National Institute of Integrative Medicine in Melbourne.
Anna moved back to Northern Ireland in 2017 and began training in Public Health Medicine. She completed her Masters with distinction at Queen’s University. In 2019 she travelled to Austria after being awarded a Scholarship with the European Health Forum Gastein. The majority of Anna’s training was focused around population level interventions to improve wellbeing. She worked closely with the Dept of Health and the Dept of Education to develop an Emotional Health and Wellbeing framework for Children and Young People. Anna completed her 5 years Public health training in 2023.
Anna worked part time as an artist and a Public Health Doctor before pursuing a path as a full time creative in 2023. She remains very interested in interventions to enhance wellbeing - including the role of the arts and creativity in medicine.
Professor Deborah McNamara
Professor Deborah McNamara is President of RCSI and Consultant General & Colorectal Surgeon at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. She qualified from Trinity College Dublin and completed surgical training in Ireland and France,specializing in surgical management of colorectal cancer.
She was Programme Director of the National Higher Surgical Training Programme in General Surgery (2010-2013) and Clinical Director for Surgery at Beaumont Hospital (2014-2017).
In 2017, she chaired the group that published the RCSI PROGRESS report, setting out an ambitious strategy to improve gender equality in surgery in Ireland.
She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and has received a number of national and international distinctions including the Patey Prize of the Surgical Research Society, the AWS Olga Jonasson Award, the Millin Lecture and Honorary Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr Cathy Cullen
Dr. Cathy Cullen is the National Clinical Director of General Practice Training, since Feb 2024.
Cathy graduated from UCD in 1988 and trained on the Dublin Vocational GP training scheme, straight after internship. She worked as a GP in Goatstown, Dublin 14 in a three-doctor practice for 18 years before joining Safetynet Primary Care as a GP and medical director in 2018.
She has a long career in education, starting as a Continuous Medical Education tutor for the Merrion faculty in 2000, for fifteen years. She became an Assistant Scheme Director in North Dublin City GP training programme in 2011, then a co Scheme Director where she worked until 2021. This GP training programme has a special focus on self care and working in areas of deprivation.
Cathy spent two+ years in Penang, Malaysia from 2021,expanding and implementing the Malaysia Ireland Family Medicine training programme (MInTFM) and oversaw the first batch of graduates there in late 2023, all of whom have received MICGP.
She is passionate about General Practice as a speciality and a strong advocate for quality, professionalism and equity in training.
Dr Mary Davoren
Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Central Mental Hospital Portrane Dublin; Clinical Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland; Visiting Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Italy.
Dr Mary Davoren is Vice-President of the Medical Council of Ireland.
Prior to taking up her current role, Dr Davoren was a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist on Personality Disorder pathway Broadmoor High Secure Hospital England. She was the High Secure Research lead at Broadmoor Hospital, a maximum-security hospital serving London and the South of England.
Dr Davoren previously completed an Academic Clinical Fellowship at the Violence Prevention Research Unit of Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), one of the member units of the Violence Prevention Alliance of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Dr Davoren is the current Academic Secretary of the Forensic Faculty of the RCPsych, London.
She completed her medical degree at the National University of Ireland and anMD higher degree in research in Forensic Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin. She has published book chapters and research papers in the area of prisoner health care needs, recovery in forensic settings and the impact of covid-19 in forensic settings. Dr Davoren is the editor of Seminars in Forensic Psychiatry 2nd Edition, Royal College of Psychiatrists and Cambridge University Press.
Dr Emer Kelly
Dr Emer Kelly is a consultant in respiratory medicine in St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. She trained in respiratory, critical care and general internal medicine in Ireland and in Boston, USA, completing the Harvard Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship.
She has a clinical and research interest in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and has a keen interest in medical education delivery and research, gaining a Diploma in Medical Education from the University of Dundee.
She has previously served as an elected fellow on Council of the Royal College of Physicians’ of Ireland (RCPI), Clinical Lead for Digital Strategy and Innovation, National Specialty Director for Respiratory and is the current Director of Training and Education in the Institute of Medicine, RCPI.
She is also the Director of Learning Resources with the European Respiratory Society.
Dr Rachel McNamara
Dr Rachel McNamara is the first female Chairperson of the Irish Medical Organisation’s National NCHD Committee, a specialist registrar in Public Health Medicine and a former National Fellow for Innovation with the HSE’s Spark Innovation Programme.
Having been a member of the Irish Medical Organisation since intern year, Rachel was elected to the IMO National NCHD Committee in 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shortly thereafter, she went on to Chair the first IMO NCHD Women in Medicine Working Group; leading a group of excellent doctors in tackling issues related to gender-based bullying and harassment, biases in medical roles and non-family-friendly policies. She was instrumental as a spokesperson in the 2022 #StandingUp4NCHDs industrial relations campaign; brokering the IMO-HSE December 2022 Agreement, which secured compensatory rest after consecutive working days, additional training supports and guaranteed access to study leave for NCHDs for the first time. Now as chairperson, she will shortly lead negotiations on the new HSE NCHD Contract.
In 2021 she was awarded the Spark Innovation Fellowship and selected for the role of National Innovation Fellow within the HSE. After joining the programme, it experienced exponential growth, in part owing to her contributions to programme strategy and her targeted communications campaigns.