Speaker Biographies
Prof Deirdre Heenan
Deirdre Heenan is Professor of Social Policy at Ulster University and a member of the Institute for Research in Social Sciences. Her research interests include the integration of health and social care, devolution and mental health. She has published widely on politics and healthcare and is a Senior Research Associate with the Nuffield Trust and a Senior Research Fellow at Pivotal, Northern Ireland’s public policy forum. Deirdre is a regular political commentator for the BBC, RTE and UTV on both television and radio, as well being a regular columnist for the Sunday Business Post. A Distinguished Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Authority, Prof Heenan is Course Director for Social Policy at Ulster University. She is part of the newly established ARINS Project (Analysis and Research on Ireland, North and South) seeking to establish an authoritative, independent and non-partisan reference point for those looking for research and analysis about future constitutional, institutional and policy options for the island of Ireland. She has been appointed to serve on a number of boards including the British Irish Association and the 30% Club. A co-founder and former co-director of the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, Deirdre acted as an advisor to the government as part of the expert panel for Transforming Your Care in 2012. Prof Heenan is a former PVC and Provost and Ulster University and served on the Irish Council of State from 2012 to 2019.
Dr Niall Herity
Dr Niall Herity is a consultant cardiologist and former clinical director of cardiology at the Belfast Trust.
He graduated from University College Dublin and undertook cardiology training in Dublin, Belfast and Stanford, California
He has provided clinical leadership to several important clinical service developments including the Northern Ireland primary PCI service and the scoping and development of a Day Procedure Centre network for Northern Ireland.
He has been appointed co-chair of the “No More Silos” Programme which aims to re-design urgent and emergency care for Northern Ireland and has also piloted new outpatient models of care for patients with diabetes and cardiorenal disease.
Sir Michael McBride
Sir Michael was appointed to the post of Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in September 2006.
Prior to joining the department he had been Medical Director at the Royal Group of Hospitals from August 2002. Sir Michael graduated with Distinction from Queen’s University Belfast in 1986 and completed his undergraduate and postgraduate training in Northern Ireland. In 1991 he attained a Research Fellowship at St Mary’s Medical School and Imperial College London, where he carried out research into new drug treatments for HIV.
Sir Michael has been a Consultant in the Health Service since 1994 when he was appointed Consultant Physician in HIV medicine at the Royal Group of Hospitals and has more than 10 years health service management experience. He has a longstanding interest in continuing medical education and was Postgraduate Clinical Tutor in the Royal Group of Hospitals between 1996 and 2000 and Director of Education in the Royal Hospitals from 2000.
As Medical Director at the Royal Hospitals, he contributed to strategic change at trust, regional and national level. As the Trust lead for clinical and social care governance, he had responsibilities for all aspects of clinical quality and patient safety. Sir Michael took up the post of Chief Medical Officer during a time of significant change for Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland with responsibilities for Policy and Strategy in relation to Public Health, Quality and Safety and Research and Development. He also provides strategic advice to Minister and other Government departments on health related matters. He has been closely involved in the development of the new Health and Social Care structures, post Review of Public Administration, including the establishment of the Public Health Agency and also in developing a range of Service Frameworks across Northern Ireland.
At the request of the Health Minister Sir Michael took up the post of Chief Executive of Belfast Health and Social Services Trust from 2014 to 2017. He combined his role with Chief Medical Officer. As Chief Executive Sir Michael was head of an integrated health and social care Trust which is a corporate parent to more than 700 looked after children and which provides hospital-based and social care services to the population of Belfast, as well as most of Northern Ireland’s regional specialist services. He had responsibility for key Ministerial priorities, corporate responsibility for the Trust’s 20,000 employees, and oversees the Trust’s annual budget of almost £1.3bn.
