Nursing and Midwifery

I am a Senior Post-doctoral Researcher at the Centre for Health Evaluation, Research Methodology and Evidence Synthesis (CHEMRES). CHEMRES is an exciting and vibrant research centre that runs a number of innovative research projects and is home to Evidence Synthesis Ireland, Cochrane Ireland and the HRB-Trials Methodology Research Network (HRB-TMRN).

My post involves the evaluation and improvement of an infodemic management project called iHealthFacts.ie. The aim of this project is to help people to make informed, evidence-based decisions about their health in the context of the large and ever-increasing amount of information that is now available through multiple channels. Some of this information is unreliable and can lead to poorly informed choices, under- or over-use of health interventions (or treatments) and avoidable waste and human suffering.

I previously worked with the Centre for Primary Care Research in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and with the Health Technology Assessment Directorate of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). During my time with HIQA I developed a new method for `justifying¿ new practices in medical exposure to ionising radiation. I also undertook rapid reviews of the evidence on a wide-range of topics to inform the National Public Health Emergency Team during the Covid-19 pandemic.

I completed my PhD as a SPHeRE scholar based in NUIG in 2019. My thesis focused on the use of statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. In particular, statins were examined in the context `medicalisation' and the drivers thereof. I am interested in communicating uncertainty in scientific evidence, the overuse of medicine, the expansion of disease definitions and clinical thresholds used to define healthy and unhealthy states, the concepts of choice, informed decision-making  and the delineation of low-value care.