Research Foundation Board
Chair: Dr Ruth Barrington
Company Secretary: Ciaran Cuddihy
Dr Ruth Barrington
Dr Ruth Barrington is the Chair of the Saint John of God Research Foundation. She is a member of the Press Council of Ireland and she chairs TREOIR, the federation of services for unmarried parents, and the National Children’s Research Centre. She is a director of the Mater Misericordiae and Children’s University Hospital, Cancer Trials Ireland and the Daniel O’Connell Summer School.
Dr Barrington was chief executive of Molecular Medicine Ireland from 2007-2012 and of the Health Research Board from 1998 to 2007. She previously served as an Assistant Secretary in the Department of Health.
From 2002 to 2012 she was a governor of The Irish Times Trust, serving as Chair of the Trust from 2010 to 2012. She was a director of the Board of Irish Times Ltd. from 2008-2012. She was a director of the Voluntary Health Insurance Board from 2012 to 2018.
Professor John Waddington
John Waddington is Emeritus Professor of Neuroscience at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (now RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences). For over 35 years he has taught medical students on the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders and conducted research on the epidemiology and pathobiology of psychotic illness. His work has been widely published in medical and scientific journals, including numerous collaborations with colleagues at St. John of God Hospital and associated services. He was an inaugural awardee of the Schizophrenia International Research Society and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy. John is pleased to bring this background and experience to bear on helping the St. John of God Research Foundation in achieving its objectives.
Prof Patricia Noonan Walsh
Patricia Noonan Walsh is a native New Yorker who attended college in Massachusetts (BA Newton College, later merged with Boston College) and attained an MEd in Special Education from Tufts University. In Dublin she pursued an MSc by research from Trinity College Dublin before qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist. Patricia worked as a clinician in a service for people with intellectual disabilities before taking up the role of Head of Research at St Michael’s House. After completing a PhD at Trinity College Dublin, she joined UCD, first as Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, and subsequently as the first Professor of Disability Studies in Ireland, holding an endowed Chair.
Her research activity has focused on the community living, health and aging of persons with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, notably as PI of an EU-funded project Pomona which engaged experts from 14 European countries in the development of an evidence-based set of health indicators for people with intellectual disabilities.
Patricia served as a Governor of the Rotunda Hospital for many years, most recently as Chairman of the Hospital Board. She has consulted with the WHO, the EU and other international bodies and is an elected Fellow of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Currently Patricia is Chair of the Research Grants Committee and sits on the Board of the Saint John of God Research Foundation.
Dr Rory Shelley
Rory Shelley is a retired consultant Psychiatrist since 2016.
From 1988 to 2014 he was a Consultant Psychiatrist at Saint John of God Hospital, Stillorgan, Dublin specialising in General Adult Psychiatry, with special interest in Psychopharmacology. In addition, he was also a Clinical Lecturer for the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences at Trinity College Dublin and a tutor to trainees of Psychiatry at Saint John of God Hospital, Dublin. He was a co-ordinator for the training rotation in Saint John of God Hospital and Saint Vincent’s University Hospital. He was also an examiner and exam organiser Part 2, MRC Psych (London).
From 2014 to 2016 he was lead and Professor of the Dept. of Psychiatry in a new Medical School jointly between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Perdana University, KL, Malaysia.
In 2016 he retired from full time clinical activity but still supports tribunals and second opinions for the Mental Health Commission. He locums as Consultant Psychiatrist with the HSE and SVUH. He is currently on the Board of Saint John of God Hospital clg and Saint John of God Research Foundation clg.
Dr Jacinta Kelly
Jacinta Kelly joined the SJOG Research Foundation Board in December 2022. Jacinta has a BA (Mod) and a PhD in Immunology from TCD, and an MA in Management. Since 2015 she has been Chief Executive of the NCRC, having joined the organisation in 2009 as its Deputy Director of Research. Her role in NCRC has been in the strategic development and management of the Centre. This included the development of processes for the competitive disbursement of a multi-million euro annual budget in research funding, and the implementation of international best practice in running research grant calls, ensuring impartiality, transparency and fairness and monitoring. She was for many years a member of the ethics committee of the Faculty of Health Science, TCD.
Jacinta has experience as an Editor in international scientific publishing with Elsevier and with Hogrefe and Huber Publishers, and she also has extensive experience of third level teaching and biomedical research.
She is currently a Board Member of the Medical Research Charities Group and a member of their Staff and Finance committee and is a member of the steering group of the Irish Health Research Forum. She was previously a Board member, and Chair, of Amnesty International Ireland.
Prof Pamela Gallagher
Prof Pamela Gallagher, PhD, C. Psychol. Ps.S.I., is a Full Professor of Psychology and founding Head of the new School of Psychology, Dublin City University. She is a respected international leader and widely published in her research field of living well with illness, disability and technology. She has been a Fulbright Visiting Scholar to Johns Hopkins University, an editorial board member of a number of international peer reviewed journals and was a member of the Irish Cancer Society Research Advisory Committee. She is currently a member of the Central Remedial Clinical Research Advisory Committee. She chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of the ESPRC Funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Prosthetics and Orthotics across the University of Salford, Imperial College London, the University of Strathclyde ad University of Southampton. She is very much looking forward to contributing meaningfully to the workings of the SJOG Research Foundation Board.