I co-lead the palliative care program for Northern Ireland, which aims to improve quality of life for those with palliative and end of life care needs and for those important to them. I have been appointed as a Senior  Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at The Global Brain Institute (GBHI), Trinity College, Dublin. GBHI works to reduce the scale and impact of dementia around the world by training and supporting a new generation of leaders to translate research evidence into effective policy and practice.
During my Fellowship I am exploring how a palliative care approach can improve quality of life for people with dementia and those important to them.
I began my career in nutrition and dietetics and I have published a peer reviewed clinical guideline on Nutritional Management of Cancer (and Palliative Care) Patients.
I now works as an Allied Health Professions Consultant in Public Health. This role involves influencing and implementing health and social care policy, translating research into practice, and commissioning health and social care services across all sectors. More recently, I began leading an element of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing under Horizon 2020, which is the European Union’s framework program for research and innovation.
I am also an advocate for the global movement called Project ECHO. Project ECHO is a lifelong learning and guided practice model that revolutionises health education and exponentially increases workforce capacity to provide best-practice speciality care and reduce health disparities. In 2014 and 2015 and I completed Project ECHO Training at the University of New Mexico, USA. Subsequently I have led a number of Project ECHO networks in Northern Ireland, including a network for people in an “informal”carer role.