Primary Care CTNI Team
Core Team
Prof Andrew Murphy
Director
Professor Andrew Murphy is the Director of the HRB Primary Care CTNI. Andrew is the Professor of General Practice at University of Galway and a GP in Turloughmore Medical Centre, a few miles outside of Galway city. Prof Murphy has a distinguished research career, including leading a clinical trial on the provision of secondary cardiac care in the community which was, at the time, the largest academic-lead trial ever conducted on the island of Ireland. Andrew’s research, largely quantitative and always collaborative, addresses chronic disease management and professional practice in the community. In leading this Network, he builds on previous collaborations with partners in RSCI, QUB and the ICGP. With significant input from the public/patient guiding the research, Andrew has a vision that this Network will break new ground to answer common problems in primary care, that will improve individual patient health and healthcare.
Prof Susan Smith
Associate Director
Professor Susan Smith is the Associate Director of the HRB Primary Care CTNI as of February 2019. She will take a shared leadership role for the development and activities of the Network with a focus on a number of key strategic objectives. Professor Smith joined the Department of General Practice at RCSI in 2011. She also works as a general practitioner in Inchicore Family Doctors, Dublin. Her main research interests include chronic disease management . She has been the Principal Investigator (PI) on five HRB funded clinical trials of interventions to improve outcomes for patients with chronic conditions. She leads the HRB Centre for Primary Care’s multimorbidity research programme and is also engaged in research on polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate prescribing, computerised decision support systems and clinical prediction rules. Susan currently leads one of the Network trials – SPPiRE. Professor Smith is an active contributor and editor within the Cochrane Collaboration and is on the editorial board of the Acute Respiratory Infections Cochrane Review Group. She is also a co-editor of the Journal of Comorbidity and is on the editorial boards of the journals Family Practice and BMC Family Practice.
Laura O’Connor
Research lead, Acting Network Manager
Laura O’Connor joined the HRB Primary Care CTNI as Primary Care Researcher in October 2021. Previously, Laura worked in the Department of Psychology in University of Galway as a researcher, beginning her research career with the Centre for Pain Research in 2014. Since then, she has worked on a number of research projects focusing on chronic pain and other chronic health conditions, multimorbidity, and psychological wellbeing, often with a focus on the integration of technology into healthcare. She holds a BA in psychological studies and IT and a masters in IT from University of Galway, and her research interests include the management of chronic conditions, ehealth, and qualitative health research.
Breda Kelleher
Administrator
Breda Kelleher joined the School of Medicine, University of Galway in 2005 as a research administrator in General Practice. This role was expanded in 2011 to include general administrator in Obstetrics & Gynaecology. In 2015 she joined the HRB Primary Care Clinical Trials Network Ireland as administrator on a half time basis, while continuing to work within the School of Medicine. Her role includes supporting the Director, Associate Director, Development Officer and Postdoctoral Researcher within the Network, organising training and PPI events, procurement and managing budgets. Breda is also driving the development of an active social media presence for the Network and draws on her experience in industry prior to joining the University of Galway.
Executive Management Committee
Dr Aileen Barrett
Irish College of General Practitioners
Prof. Molly Byrne
Health Behaviour Change Research Group, University of Galway
Prof. Peter Bower
Centre for Primary Care, University of Manchester
Prof. Declan Devane
HRB Trials Methodology Research Network
Prof. Paddy Gillespie
Health Economics & Policy Analysis Centre, University Of Galway
Prof. Nigel Hart
School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast
Dr Aisling Jennings
Deptartment of General Practice, University College Cork
Prof. Patricia Kearney
School of Public Health, University College Cork
Prof. Sheena McHugh
School of Public Health, University College Cork
Prof. John Newell
School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Galway
Prof. Derek Stewart OBE
Patient advocate, Honorary professor University of Galway
Prof. Emma Wallace
General Practice, University College Cork
Affiliated Institutions
