The Health Research Board (HRB) was formed by the amalgamation of the Medico-Social Research Board and the Medical Research Council of Ireland.

The HRB was established under the Health (Corporate Bodies) Act 1961 by S.I. No. 279/1986 - The Health Research Board (Establishment) Order, 1986. 

There were minor modifications to this founding statutory instrument with S.I. No. 452/1986 - The Health Research Board (Establishment) Order, 1986 (Amendment) Order, 1986.

In June 2007, S.I. No. 305/2007 - The Health Research Board (Establishment) (Amendment) (No. 3) Order 2007 came into effect and this amended the Board composition, reducing it from a 16 member Board to a ten member one.

From 1986 to July 2014 the HRB headquarters were at 73 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2. In July 2014, the HRB moved to a new location, Grattan House, 67-72 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2.

Chairs of the Health Research Board

• Dr WA Watts 1987 - 1989
• Professor MX FitzGerald 1990 - 1997
• Professor MB Murphy 1997 - 2002
• Professor H Brady 2002 - 2003
• Professor D Fitzgerald 2003 - 2007
• Mr Reg Shaw 2007 - 2012
• Dr Declan Bedford 2012 - 2017
• Professor Jane Grimson 2018 - 2021
• Professor Bernadette Hannigan 2021 - present

Chief Executives of the Health Research Board

• Lt Comdr EJ Furness and Mr J O'Gorman 1987 - 1988 (Jointly in caretaker roles)
• Dr JV O'Gorman 1988 - 1998
• Dr R Barrington 1998 - 2007
• Dr Hamish Sinclair (Acting) 2007 - 2008
• Mr Enda Connolly 2008 - 2014
• Dr Graham Love 2014 - 2017
• Dr Mairead O'Driscoll (Acting) 2017 - 2018
• Dr Darrin Morrissey 2018 - 2020
• Dr Mairead O'Driscoll 2020 - present