New HRB Board appointments

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly has appointed Dr Tracy Cunningham as Chairperson Designate at the Health Research Board (HRB).  He has also appointed two new Board members, Professor Mark Lawler and Professor Peter Doran.

Dr Cunningham retired as the Chief Medical Officer at Amryt Pharma, a biopharmaceutical rare and orphan diseases company where she was responsible for regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance/drug safety, quality, and clinical/preclinical development functions. She brings many years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry across clinical development, research and medical affairs.

Welcoming the appointment of the Chair Dr Mairéad O’Driscoll, Chief Executive of the HRB, said;

‘We are delighted that Tracy will take up the position of Chairperson Designate. She has been a valuable Board member and interim Chair and has demonstrated progressive leadership and commitment to the HRB.’

Professor Doran is Director of the UCD Clinical Research Centre and Professor of Clinical Trials at the UCD School of Medicine. He is leading multisite-clinical research and has established a significant patient focused research programme as well as establishing and leading the graduate taught programme in clinical and translational research.

Professor Mark Lawler is Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Digital Health Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast. He brings extensive experience in digital health, precision medicine and inequalities research, co-leading two all island initiatives in digital health and precision medicine.

Dr O’Driscoll concludes ‘I believe Tracy, Peter and Mark’s diverse experience and strategic outlook will provide excellent direction as we navigate new advances in health research and embark on the development of our next strategy.’

Ends.

See Department of Health press release Appointments to the Health Research Board

Bionotes

Dr Tracy Cunningham was the Chief Medical Officer at Amryt Pharma, a biopharmaceutical rare and orphan diseases company, which she joined in 2020. She was responsible for regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance/drug safety, quality, and clinical/preclinical development functions. Filsuvez approval for patients with epidermolysis bullosa in Europe has been the most important achievement of the company in June 2022.
Prior to this, she was in AstraZeneca as Clinical Head, Oncology R&D leading the clinical development of several new medicines, including the successful approval of Koselugo (selumetinib) for the treatment of paediatric patients with NF1 plexiform neurofibromas. She has over 20 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry predominantly in clinical development and medical affairs.
A 1988 graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, she specialised in pharmaceutical medicine. She has worked at a senior level in Ireland, at a European level and for the last 10 years at global level in multinational pharmaceutical companies (including Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis) who invest in their respective pipelines of medicines.
She was appointed by the Minister of Health to the Board of the Health Research Board (HRB), Ireland in 2019. She is a member of the HST Pharmaceutical Medicine Specialist training Committee.

Professor Mark Lawler brings significant expertise and international standing to the board in digital health, precision medicine and inequalities research. He leads a number of major international initiatives including Health Data Research UK’s Big Data for Complex Disease Driver Programme, the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership and the Lancet Oncology European Groundshot. Mark also co-leads two all island initiatives in precision medicine and digital health and currently serves on the board of the National Cancer Registry of Ireland.

Professor Peter Doran earned his BSc. from Dublin City University in 1998 and his PhD from University College Dublin in 2001. He is the Director of the UCD Clinical Research Centre and Professor of Clinical Trials at the UCD School of Medicine. He leads UCD’s multisite-clinical research and directs its major investigator initiated trials programme. He has a significant track record in the leadership of clinical research and has established a significant patient focused research programme.

He leads a major research programme in trial methodology including novel trial designs, predictive modelling and better trial outcomes. He has a strong interest in biomarkers as endpoints in clinical studies and leads a research high throughput biomarker validation laboratory, which is contributing to major national and international end organ damage biomarker studies.

In addition to his research and leadership roles, he established and led the graduate taught programme in clinical and translational research. He was previously Associate Dean for Research at the UCD School of Medicine, Vice Principal for Research, Innovation and Impact at the UCD College of Health and Agricultural Science and Director of the Institute for Clinical Trials at the University of Galway.