Dr Paula Kilbane trained in London in public health medicine and subsequently held consultant posts there prior to returning to Northern Ireland in 1986. Following a post as Director of Public Health, she became a CEO in two of the Health Boards in Northern Ireland from 1993 to 2009.

Following relocation to Dublin in 2012, she served on a number of boards in the public, not-for-profit, and private sectors. Currently she is serving a second term as a board member of the HPRA (Health Products Regulatory Authority), where she chairs the Patient Forum. Prior to this she was a member of the Board of the HSE, the Centre for Effective Services (CES), and a member of the board of HIQA from 2015 to 2025, where she chaired the Regulatory Committee.

She has served on a number of all-island bodies and in other sectors including European funding and Higher Education.

Her professional interests include regulation, risk assessment, quality and patient safety, health information systems, health population analysis, and health technology.

A graduate of QUB, she is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) and Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine (UK and Ireland). She was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 2003 for services to health in Northern Ireland.