The board members of ASH Ireland, Council of the Irish Heart Foundation serve on a voluntary basis. The current Board Members are:
Prof Emmet O’Brien (Chairperson)
Prof Emmet O’Brien is a Consultant Respiratory Physician and an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in Medicine at RCSI. Dr O’Brien graduated in Medicine from University College Cork and was awarded a PhD from RCSI for his work in translational respiratory medicine. He completed his fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, USA. He has a specialist clinical interest in lung cancer and lung nodule evaluation at Beaumont Hospital. Prof O’Brien’s research has explored pulmonary disease phenotypes in current and former smokers and understanding tobacco smoke susceptibility in those with COPD and emphysema.
Prof Shane Allwright
Shane Allwright is recently retired from Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, where she was Professor in Epidemiology in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, and latterly, College Registrar. She is a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and an Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Her research interests include health effects of active and passive smoking and of alcohol misuse; evaluation of tobacco and alcohol control policies; and prisoner health.
Professor Allwright was the lead investigator on a study of the impact of the ‘smoking ban’ on the respiratory health of bar workers. She chaired the report to the Minister for Health and Children entitled “Report on the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in the workplace” that was critical to the introduction of the Irish smoke-free workplace legislation. She has served in various capacities on a variety of national and European public bodies, including the Board of the Office of Tobacco Control.
Dr Angie Brown
Dr Angie Brown is a Consultant Cardiologist and Medical Director of the Irish Heart Foundation. She obtained her medical degree from Cambridge University and her Cardiology training in Kings College Hospital. After completing an MD from Cambridge University she moved to Ireland and has worked as a Consultant Cardiologist in Beaumont Hospital and St James’s Hospital before becoming Medical Director of the Irish Heart Foundation. Dr Brown has previously been Chairperson of ASH Ireland. She is a General Cardiologist with a specialist interest in imaging and set up the Irish Cardiac Echo and Imaging group (I.C.E). She also has a strong interest in prevention in particularly tobacco control.
Mr Chris Macey
Chris Macey is Director of Advocacy and Patient Support in the Irish Heart Foundation, A journalism graduate, Chris worked as a senior journalist with the Irish Press Group for 12 years, specialising in politics, health and social issues before being appointed as a Special Adviser in the Departments of the Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs in 1995. He later worked for the Sunday Independent and established a stable of quality local newspapers and magazines after working for the Rehab Group as Head of Communications. Chris has considerable experience in political strategy and policy development and in addition to his role with the Irish Heart Foundation is chairman of the Volunteer Stroke Scheme, treasurer of the Stroke Alliance for Europe which represents stroke patient organisations from over 30 countries and is a former chairman of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland.
Prof Catherine B Hayes
Professor Catherine Hayes (MD, MPH, MRCGP, FFPHMI, FRCPI, FTCD), Professor in Public Health at Trinity College Dublin until October 2024, current Fellow Emeritus. Professor Hayes is a highly experienced leader of population health research to address lifestyle factors in the prevention of chronic diseases and has specialist training and expertise in implementation science. She is a current board member of ASH Ireland as an advocate to address all forms of tobacco-related harm. She was formerly Principal Investigator of population health trials including a randomised controlled trial to evaluate a behavioural cessation intervention in disadvantaged women smokers (We Can Quit2). She has authored almost 1500 publications. in a joint academic-service post (2011-2024) she provided academic consultancy principally to the Health Intelligence function of the Health Service Executive and in the translation of health evidence into policy and practice.
Prof Hayes is a former Member of the National Research Ethics Committee (2020-2024) and the Board of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians. Internationally she was President of the UK and Ireland Society for Social Medicine and Population Health (2022-2023), and Member of International Scientific Advisory Committee of the European Public Health Association (2023-2025).
Ms Mary Hough
Mary Hough is a Solicitor and Partner in Hayes Solicitors. She represents and advises medical professionals on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious medical legal issues. She specialises in representing medical professionals in clinical negligence claims. Mary is a CEDR accredited mediator and a Partner in the Healthcare Department of Hayes Solicitors.
Dr Paul Kavanagh
Paul is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine, with over 15 years’ experience leading and managing national-level projects and programmes across the health system to improve health services and to protect and improve the public’s health. He currently provide public health leadership to the HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme. He has championed a health inequalities focus in stop smoking services, improving the reach of tobacco control mass media across gender and ethnic group, building partnerships pilot smoke-free environments in the Irish Prison service and open dialogue to represent the needs of the LGBT+ Community in tobacco policy, and he is co-lead on a HRB funded applied research partnership focused on the implementation of financial incentives to stop smoking in 19 most deprived communities in Ireland.
Paul has led research on public attitudes to tobacco endgame and published widely in the area of tobacco control. He has contributed to tobacco control internationally as an appointed Member of the World Health Organization’s Guideline Development Group, advising on the its first “Clinical Treatment Guideline for Tobacco Cessation in Adults”. Paul is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin, Honorary Secretary of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine in Ireland, and is a Board Member of the Institute of Public Health in Ireland.
Ms Martina Mullen
Health Promotion Officer and Co-Chair of the Healthy Trinity Initiative, Trinity College Dublin
Martina specialises in behaviour change at an individual, organisational and systemic level. As health promotion officer in Trinity College Dublin, she was part of the team who achieved an 83% reduction in smoking on campus through the Tobacco Free Trinity initiative. She is the co-chair of the Healthy Trinity initiative, a cross-university initiative with over 100 partners and nine working groups, each led by an academic and operational partner. In 2010, Martina designed and implemented FitLine, a peer-to-peer telephone support programme for physical activity based on the smokers quitline and now a HSE and Sport Ireland funded national programme. Before completing her Masters in Health Promotion in NUI Galway, she worked as a software engineer and although she finds human relationships central to change, is always interested in how technology can assist in designing environments and systems that support health.
Mr Mark Murphy
Mark Murphy is the Senior Policy Manager for the Irish Heart Foundation, specialising in the area of tobacco control and climate & health. In his work, Mark coordinates the work of the ASH Council with the chairperson. Mark graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a bachelors degree in Business and Economics before completing a masters in International Public Policy and Diplomacy from University College Cork.
He has worked in the area of European Affairs in both Brussels and Dublin before joining the Irish Heart Foundation in October 2018.
Mr Wally Young
Public Relations Consultant and Media Trainer
Wally Young is the founder and head of Young Communications, Dublin. He provides a mix of Public Relations Consultancy, Advocacy and Media Interview Training to a select range of clients. He specialises in crisis media planning and execution. He is the former head of Defence Forces Media Relations, retiring in 1996 to establish Young Communications.
He was engaged as Communications Adviser to ASH Ireland for 20 years up to 2017.He was engaged as a Media Adviser (part time) to President Michael D. Higgins, having held a similar appointment with President Mary McAleese, whom he advised in the 1997 election campaign.
Ms Norma Cronin
Norma Cronin is a Tobacco Control Consultant with a particular interest in smoking cessation and training, and with over 20 years’ experience in this area. She qualified as a general nurse and midwife in Ireland and holds a Higher Diploma in Public Health. She is the former Health Promotion Manager at the Irish Cancer Society and had overall responsibility for cancer prevention and tobacco control.
In collaboration with the relevant agencies, she played a key role in ensuring the effective implementation of Ireland’s Smoke Free at Work legislation and has presented nationally and internationally on this ground-breaking initiative. Norma established and managed Ireland’s National Smokers’ Quitline which is an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society in partnership with the Health Service Executive. Norma serves on a number of national and international committees and is an Advisory Board Member of the International Network of Women against Tobacco (INWAT Europe) and regent representative for European Network for Smoking Prevention (ENSP). She is also the former Chairperson of the Board of Office of Tobacco Control (OTC).
Ms. Nicki Morley
Nicki Morley has a background in health promotion, training and education, and project management and has worked in the areas of cancer screening, promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors, and promoting mental health and wellbeing.
As a mother of two young children, she is passionate about the promotion and protection of the health and wellbeing of our younger generations, particularly when it comes to supporting policy initiatives that aim to create a tobacco free Ireland, including the prevention of vaping and use of e-cigarettes. She currently works as a Healthcare Business Analyst in the area of eHealth technologies.
ASH Ireland 