Anne is a Clinical Specialist Speech and Language Therapist in Stroke in Cork University Hospital. Her work includes the assessment, treatment and management of dysphagia, motor speech difficulties and aphasia with people post Stroke, Her interests include supporting clinical education using simulation, enabling people with aphasia and communication disability to be involved in their healthcare decisions and discussions. Anne is a guest lecturer on the BSc SLT course in UCC and has co-developed and supported a number of clinical and student research projects at undergraduate and post graduate level.

Dr Barter is currently a Regional Anaesthesia and Acute Pain Fellow at Cork University Hospital and trained in anaesthesia in Manchester, London and South Africa. I have a Masters in Critical Care and his interests include major trauma, regional anaesthesia, acute pain and major incident planning.

Louise is the Head of Audit Management in the National Office of Clinical Audit and has led the development and management of the Irish Hip Fracture Database and Major Trauma Audit in Ireland. Clinically she worked as an orthopaedic nurse specialist and has a MSc in Nursing. She is currently undertaking a PhD in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Louise is a member of the Irish Orthopaedic Nursing Society, an ambassador for the International Collaboration of Orthopaedic Nursing (ICON) and is currently the co-chair of the Global Fragility Fracture Network Hip Fracture Audit Special Interest Group.

Dr Ruairi Connolly is a Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine at Cork University Hospital, Ireland. He leads multidisciplinary rehabilitation services for patients with complex neurological conditions and has a particular interest in integrating musculoskeletal ultrasound to enhance outcomes for trauma patients. Internationally, Dr Connolly serves as Lead Investigator on FIFA-supported research examining the acute effects of heading and concussion assessment in football. His work bridges clinical neuroscience, sports medicine, and evidence-based policy to improve athlete safety and brain-injury rehabilitation worldwide. He has contributed to several international collaborations developing sport-specific assessment tools and rehabilitation frameworks for neurological recovery

Conor is the Professor of Emergency Medicine, University College Cork and Clinical Director, Emergency and Acute Care working at Cork University Hospital (CUH).

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Conor completed his higher specialist training program in Emergency Medicine in Ireland before moving to Australia where he worked as a Consultant in Emergency Medicine at the Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre, Melbourne. While there he completed a PhD at the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University in collaboration with Ambulance Victoria. To date Conor has published across the domains of patient safety, quality of care, systems of care, procedural sedation, trauma care as well as out of hospital cardiac arrest.

Dr Paudie Delaney is an anaesthetic specialist. As an anaesthetic specialist, Dr Delaney possesses a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of anaesthesia and its applications in various medical procedures. Their expertise ensures patients receive safe and effective pain management during surgical interventions. Patients can feel confident knowing that their well-being and comfort are prioritised throughout their medical journey.

Professor James Harty, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, began his involvement with the team having seen first hand the current challenges in tibial nailing. His contributions have included co-authoring the body of peer-reviewed literature on the background technology and carrying out the cadaver and preclinical surgical procedures.

James has been a practicing orthopaedic surgeon for over 17 years and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. James currently serves as Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics at Cork University Hospital and on the faculty of the Department of Surgery in University College Cork. James has also served on the board of the Irish Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery (IITOS).

Dr Margot Lodge is a consultant geriatrician and early career researcher. Margot works clinically at The Alfred, where she is the Traumageriatric Service clinical lead and Perioperative Medicine Service geriatrician lead. Margot is an Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University and her postdoctoral work utilises implementation science and mixed methods research in the perioperative and acute trauma settings. Margot is Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine Perioperative Care Special Interest Group. Her policy and professional contributions extend to committees from the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and Victorian Perioperative Consultative Council.

Dr Loh currently a NELA Fellow, where I have been co-leading the set-up and delivery of the NoLap audit in collaboration with the NELA team. Alongside this role, she is undertaking an MD in research focused on shared decision-making and advance care planning in high-risk patients requiring emergency laparotomy. Her work aims to improve the process and consistency of decision-making for patients requiring high-risk emergency surgery.

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 has extensive experience in all areas of general and colorectal surgery as well as endoscopy. 
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). Her work as Chair of the Colorectal Cancer Guidelines and Clinical Leads groups of the Irish National Cancer Control Programme (2011-2024) lead to the publication of the first National Clinical Guidelines for colon and rectal cancer, endorsed by the Minister for Health as national policy. 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 served as Co-Lead of the National Clinical Programme for Surgery (2017-2024), leading large-scale healthcare improvement programmes in areas such as patient safety, operating theatre efficiency, surgical care pathways and models of care for surgical specialties. She has published more than 250 peer-reviewed research papers and has received national and international distinctions including the 
Patey Prize of the Surgical Research Society, the AWS Olga Jonasson Award, the Millin Lecture and Honorary Fellowships from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the American College of Surgeons.

Iain Moppett is Professor of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at the University of Nottingham, a consultant anaesthetist at Nottingham University Hospitals, and Director of the Centre for Research and Improvement at the Royal College of Anaesthetists.He has a long-standing interest in improving care for people with hip fracture through research, audit and quality improvement. His research includes the Nottingham Hip Fracture Score and clinical trials of goal-directed fluid therapy, femoral nerve blocks, intravenous iron, intravenous lidocaine and dexamethasone. He has co-authored guidelines for perioperative management of people with hip fracture for the Fragility Fracture Network and the Association of Anaesthetists. Iain’s role at the Centre for Research and Improvement encompasses audits such as NELA, National Audit Projects, using ‘big data’ to help understand how healthcare delivery affects perioperative outcomes, and helping clinicians use data to improve patient care. He is Chief Investigator for the 3rd Sprint National Audit Project (SNAP3) investigating the associations between frailty, multimorbidity and outcomes after surgery in older people.He has a long-standing interest in safety around the time of surgery and is chair of the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC) working group revising the National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures.

Clinical Director for Perioperative & Pain Medicine, Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Operating Theatres at CUH. 
Director of Regional Anaesthesia Fellowship Programme CUH.
Clinical Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine UCC.
NAP 8 Clinical Lead for Ireland.

Liam Plant MB BSc FRCPI FRCPE

Liam graduated in Physiology (1982) and Medicine (1985) from University College Cork.
 
Following General Professional Training in Medicine in Cork he entered Higher Specialist Training in Nephrology in Scotland. In 1996 he was appointed Consultant Renal Physician at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Medicine at Edinburgh University Medical School. Between 2001 and 2024 he was Consultant Renal Physician at Cork University Hospital and Clinical Professor in Renal Medicine at University College Cork Medical School.

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A former National Specialty Director for Nephrology Training in Ireland (2002-2005), he chaired the Irish National Renal Strategy Review (2003-09) and was the first National Clinical Director of the HSE National Renal Office (2009-18). He has authored or co-authored over 75 medical publications and is a frequent invited contributor to regional, national and international Healthcare conferences.

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Liam is a past President of the Irish Nephrology Society and is currently Chair of its Board. He is a former Council Member and Censor of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and is now a member of its Academic Board. He recently retired from Clinical Practice but remains active in many domains relating to Healthcare, particularly those relating to Undergraduate and Postgraduate Medical Education & Training. 

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www.linkedin.com/in/liam-plant-59a1503a/ 

Dave Saunders is a Consultant Anaesthetist at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, with subspecialist interests in perioperative medicine clinical research, emergency abdominal surgery and in anaesthesia for oesophagogastric cancer resection. He is the current Anaesthetic Clinical Lead for the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) based at the Royal College of Anaesthetists. 

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Trained in the North East, with research fellowship in Newcastle and Perth, Western Australia, he has worked as a consultant anaesthetist since 2006. He was one of the co-founders of the UK Emergency Laparotomy Network in 2009, a council member of the Age Anaesthesia Association, and has held local and regional NELA-related improvement roles. He has also contributed to NICE guidance on avoidance of surgical site infections, the 2010 NCEPOD report on standards of care for elderly patients undergoing elective and emergency surgery, and holds a number of principal investigator research roles alongside clinical work.

Selected publications:
NELA Project Team. Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Patient Reports of the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit. Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) London 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Saunders DI, Sinclair RCF, Griffiths B, Pugh E, Harji D, Salas B, Reed H, Scott C. Emergency Laparotomy Follow-Up Study (ELFUS): prospective feasibility investigation into postoperative complications and quality of life using patient-reported outcome measures up to a year after emergency laparotomy. Perioper Med (Lond). 2021 Jul 26;10(1):22. 

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Ng Cheong Chung J, Kamarajah SK, Mohammed AA, Sinclair RCF, Saunders D, Navidi M, Immanuel A, Phillips AW. Comparison of multimodal analgesia with thoracic epidural after transthoracic oesophagectomy. Br J Surg. 2021 Jan 27;108(1):58-65.

Professor Sheehan is a physiotherapist and Deputy Director of Bone & Joint Health at Queen Mary University of London. Her research group focuses on improving equity in access to- and delivery of- evidence based rehabilitation to optimise outcomes for people with bone and joint illness/injury. Professor Sheehan has a strong track record in applied health research to meet this focus having published over 75 peer-reviewed publications and awarded grant funding from UKRI, NIHR, and charities for her research.  
 
Professor Sheehan’s teams research on early mobility and access to physiotherapy after hip fracture surgery has informed improved access to rehabilitation both nationally and internationally. Her subsequent work led to the development of the ‘Stratify-Hip’ algorithm to risk stratify patients after hip fracture. This algorithm is now being used to inform a stratified approach to rehabilitation within the UK’s National Health Service. All her research is underpinned by a strong patient voice through collaboration with  TROOP (Trauma Rehabilitation (orthopaedic) for Older People), a Public and Patient Involvement Group established with funding awarded to Prof Sheehan. 

Professor Sheehan is the Regional Research Delivery Network Speciality Lead for Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal, and Chairs both the Scientific Committee of the Global Fragility Fracture Network and of the National Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme. She is a member of the NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research funding panel, the Royal Osteoporosis Society’s Research and Innovations Grant panel, and the first physiotherapist nominated to both the UK Young Academy and the Young Academy of Europe.

Prof. Suzanne Timmons qualified from UCC and trained in Ireland, the UK and the US. She is a geriatrician and works 50% clinically, in the acute hospital setting and in rehabilitation. She was the first Clinical Lead for Dementia for the Republic of Ireland, from 2017 to 2021. In UCC, she is the Interim Head of the Centre for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine. Her academic commitments include being Programme Director for the MSc in Older Person Rehabilitation, since 2011, and the new MSc in Dementia, since 2018, as well as the supervision of research MSc and doctoral students. She has a keen interest in postgraduate interdisciplinary education and research. Her research interests focus on neurodegenerative disease in older people, particularly dementia and PD, spanning basic science translation, diagnostic tool validation, health service research (especially models of care), clinical trials, technology in rehab, exercise and risk reduction

Mary Walsh joined Ireland's National Office of Clinical Audit in July 2025 as Audit Programme Manager for Trauma & Surgery. As part of her current role, she manages the Irish Hip Fracture Database as well as leading a study to inform the development of an Irish National Audit of Rehabilitation.

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She previously held a Health Research Board funded postdoctoral fellowship (2021-2024) entitled Hip Fracture Outcome Recording and Geographic Equality (HipFORGE), which supported the implementation of long-term outcome recording within the Irish Hip Fracture Database and evaluated the evidence for statistical risk adjustment methods.

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Mary, a physiotherapist by training, completed her PhD in RCSI in 2016. She has over 40 peer-reviewed publications on the topics of falls, fractures, healthcare variation, prescribing practices and recovery after illness and injury.

Dr. Marcia Ward is a Principal Specialist Clinical Neuropsychologist in the acute stroke service at Cork University Hospital. Marcia’s interests are in functional neuroanatomy and the relationships with cognition, emotion and behaviour. Her clinical work involves neuropsychological assessment and intervention integrated into a wider interdisciplinary approach to supporting people’s post stroke rehabilitation. Marcia teaches on number of university courses and has published research in the area of neuropsychology and adjustment to stroke and acquired brain injury.