Member Profiles

Mr. Michael Hayes is Chairman of the IMB. After qualifying in Civil Engineering at Glamorgan Polytechnic, he spent a number of years in the contracting industry working in various capacities on some of the major infrastructural projects in Ireland. In 1984, he set up his own consultancy specialising in the supply of pre-fabricated bridge structures and since then has worked not only in Ireland, but also on projects in several countries in the Middle East, Asia and Equatorial Africa. He has past experience of serving on the boards of state agencies such as the National Building Agency and Ordnance Survey Ireland.

Mr. Pat Brangan (MVB, MRCVS) is a Senior Superintending Veterinary Inspector in the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food. He qualified from Trinity College, Dublin in 1972 and spent fifteen years in general veterinary practice prior to joining the Department in 1987. Since his appointment to Agriculture House, Kildare Street in 1995 he has been involved in the veterinary medicines area in regard to policy, regulation and implementation of legislation. Mr Brangan is Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Veterinary Medicines of the IMB and is also a member of The Poisons Council.

Mr. Wilfrid J. Higgins (BE, MBA, MSc, CEng, FIEI) is CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation) Consultant for Medical Devices and was previously Principal Engineering Advisor in the HSE and formerly in the Department of Health (DoH). He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry as well as the consulting engineering and hospital sectors in the application and procurement of engineering systems, medical technology and the regulation of medical devices. Mr Higgins is Chairman of the IMB Scientific Advisory Committee for Medical Devices. He has represented the DoH at EU Council meetings and the EU Medical Devices Expert Group. He is Chairman of the National Standards Authority Ireland (NSAI) Health Care Standards Committee and member of the ETCI TC10 Committee. He an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Trinity College Dublin for medical device regulation, standards & risk analysis on the MSc in Bioengineering.

Ms. Ann Horan (MAFC, FCCA, FIB) is Chief Executive of the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship. Prior to this role, she was responsible for the set up and launch of the DCU Ryan Academy as its Interim CEO. Ms. Horan was previously the Managing Director of Bank of Ireland Finance and has extensive experience of all aspects of financial services, having worked in that industry for almost 30 years. Ms. Horan is an accountant with a Masters in Finance from DCU. She is a past Vice President of the Institute of Bankers, a member of the DCU Educational Trust and Honorary Treasurer of the International Women’s Forum Ireland. Ms. Horan also sits on the Executive Committee of ACCA Ireland and the Council of the South Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

Professor Mary Horgan (MD, FRCPI, FRCP) was appointed to the Board of the IMB by the Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly TD, on 8 November 2011. Professor Horgan is Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Graduate Entry Program, School of Medicine, UCC. She is also a Consultant Physician at Cork University Hospital. In addition, Professor Horgan is a Council Member and an Associate Dean for Basic Specialty Training at the Royal College of Physicians. She was a Board Member of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service from 2000 to 2006 and also served on the Executive Management Board of Cork University Hospital for the same period. Professor Horgan has been a member of the IMB’s Advisory Committee for Human Medicines (ACHM), and a member of the Pre-Clinical/Clinical Sub-Committee to the ACHM, since 2001.

Dr. Elizabeth Keane (MB., MPH, FFPHMI) was appointed to the Board of the IMB by the Minister for Health in November 2012. A consultant in Public Health Medicine, Dr. Keane is Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health in UCC. Dr. Keane worked in hospital medicine for 5 years prior to undertaking a Masters in Public Health in UCD and completed Higher Specialist Training in Public Health Medicine in 1989. She was appointed the first Director of Public Health for Cork and Kerry in 1995. Dr. Keane is a fellow and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the RCPI, a Convenor and Examiner of the Membership Examinations and Chair of the Education and Examinations Committee. She is a former Chair of both the National Cancer Registry Board and the Board of the National Disease Surveillance Centre (now HPSC). She has also served on the boards of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and the Interim Health Information and Quality Authority. Dr. Keane’s main areas of interest include health status epidemiology health protection the public health aspects of blood borne viruses and international health regulations.

Mr. Brendan McLaughlin has over forty years of experience as a suckler, sheep and tillage farmer following his graduation from Greenmount Agricultural College. He has won numerous farming awards for excellence including The National ASA Farm of the Year, the National Suckler Quality Assurance Award and the National REPS Farm of the Year. He spent five years as a Board Director of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Owners Association and was formerly the National Suckler Chairman. He is a strong advocate of quality assurance within the food industry and presently is the Chairman of the Donegal Quality Beef Producers Group. Mr McLaughlin has vast experience in animal health and has a particular interest in the regulation of animal medicines. He has been a REPS demonstration farmer for fifteen years educating other farmers in issues such as safety, environmental awareness and disease prevention. He is currently a member of the Donegal County Development Board, which has the objective of increasing land utilisation in Donegal. He is also a member of the Teagasc Stakeholders’ Committee.

Mr. Noel O’Donoghue graduated in veterinary medicine from UCD in 1966. He is a practising veterinary surgeon in Cavan and Fermanagh and prior to that he practised in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford. He was appointed to the Advisory Committee for Veterinary Medicines in 2010.

Professor Caitriona O’Driscoll (BSc Pharm., PhD, MPSI), first Professor of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy, University College Cork since 2003. Professor O’Driscoll served as Head of the School from 2003-09 and is currently Acting Head of the School. Professor O’Driscoll completed her PhD in Pharmaceutics at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland. She held the post of senior lecturer in Pharmaceutics at Trinity College until 2003. Professor O’Driscoll is a Council member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. Research interests include the design of drug delivery systems which exploit the physiological environment and utilise cell specific targeting to overcome the barriers to absorption. Candidate drugs include macromolecules, peptides/proteins, genes and poorly water-soluble compounds. Delivery systems of interest are: lipid-based vehicles and non-viral gene delivery systems employing modified cyclodextrins, nanoparticles and receptor-ligand mediated targeting.

The Irish Medicines Board - www.imb.ie

Member Profiles