Doctor Anne Dee is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine in the Mid-West Region and President of the Irish Medical Organisation (2024-2025). Anne is the 6^th female doctor to hold the position of IMO President, following in the footsteps of Doctor Kate Ganter, Dr Paula Gilvarry, Dr Christine O’Malley, Dr Ann Hogan  and Dr Ina Kelly . She is a member of IMO Public and Community Health Committee and was a member of negotiating team that secured consultant status for the specialty of public health. 

Born in Listowel, Co Kerry, Anne  grew up on a farm near Abbeymore, where her parents Chris and Peter Dee instilled in her a sense of duty of care and respect for others.

Anne studied medicine in Cork and interned in University Hospital Limerick.  In the early years of her career Anne focussed on Emergency Medicine and spent time in Tralee,  then Belfast, before returning to Limerick as EM Registrar and then to Liverpool and London for further training.

Anne then went to Nepal to work in a Leprosy Hospital for two years where she met and married her husband  Mike. With the birth of their first child, Sarah they returned to Ireland and for the next 10 years Anne worked part time, mainly in General Practice, and eventually as an Area Medical Officer (AMO).

While working as an AMO, Anne learnt of the possibility of training in public health medicine as a specialty, which closely aligned it was with her personal interests and passions in caring for the health needs of the general population and particularly of those on the margins. Anne was accepted onto the PHM HST scheme in 2006.

As a trainee in Public Health Medicine Anne became increasingly vexed with a system where medical specialists who wanted to progress to consultant posts in Public Health Medicine could only do so if they left the country.

Anne has a personal and professional interest in tackling health inequalities and believes that the biggest challenge to health in Ireland is poverty and inequality. Working with the office of the Mayor and many other stakeholders, Anne is leading on the establishment a Health Equity Region, with the goal to improve the health outcomes for those from some of the most deprived communities in the area.

Professor Diarmuid O’Donovan is Director of National Health Improvement with HSE Public Health. His team focuses on addressing health inequalities and developing partnerships for a Health in All Policies approach to improving population health.

He trained in general practice and public health and worked in several countries in Africa. From 2019-2023 he was Professor of Global Health at Queen’s University Belfast. Before that he was Director of Public Health in HSE West and Senior Lecturer in Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Galway.

His research and teaching interests focus on health equity and sustainability, locally and globally.

Tanya Ward has been the Chief Executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance (CRA) since 2012 and was recently appointed Independent Chair of the Tusla’s Child Wellbeing check during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

. She is currently President of Eurochild and a former Chair of the National Advisory Council for Children and Young People. She is currently a member of the Programme Board on Senior Cycle Reform and the Just Transition Committee and has served on the Boards of Mental Health Reform, the Law Centre for Children/Young People and Stand Up for Children. She has previously served as an Expert on HIQA’s investigation on the management of child abuse allegations by Tusla and a member of the Governance Oversight Group for HIQA’s independent review of governance at Children’s Health Ireland in the use of implantable devices. Ward is a former Deputy Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and has an LLM from Queens University Belfast.

Dr Mai Mannix is Regional Director of Public Health Mid-West and is on the Executive Management Team for the HSE Mid West Region.

She trained  as a GP in Ireland and the UK  and subsequently completed Higher Specialist Training in Public Health Medicine

She has worked as a Specialist in Public Health Medicine and has been working as Regional Director of Public Health Mid-West since 2022

Her areas of interest include environmental Public Health, chronic diseases and health inequalities. She led the Public Health Response for the Covid 19 Pandemic for the Mid-West Region

The work she led on Public Health guidelines for Ireland to Covid in Meat Processing Plants was recognised and complimented by the World Health Organisation  and was the first guidelines for Covid in Meat Processing Plants in Europe.

She currently chairs the Limerick Health Equity Region Oversight Group whose aim is to become the first Health Equity Region in Ireland.

Lynn Ruane is an independent Irish politician, who has served as a Senator and the deputy leader of the Civil Engagement Group in Seanad Éireann since 2016. Lynn is from Tallaght - an historically underserved and neglected community in Dublin. A long-time community and drugs worker, Lynn now champions the causes most close to her heart and community in Ireland’s parliament.

An ardent legislator, Lynn tables progressive bills which respond to the lived experiences of those on the margins of society. To date, that has included pursuing harm reduction in drug policy, meaningful rehabilitation in criminal justice, a fairer child maintenance system for lone-parents, and the cessation of the misuse of non-disclosure agreements.

Lynn also regularly seeks to amend Government legislation, to ensure it reflects the principles of human rights, social justice, equality, inclusion, and the empowerment of the marginalised. In addition to her legislative work, Lynn serves as an active member of the parliamentary Committees on Justice, Migration and Home Affairs, Drugs Use, and Artificial Intelligence.

Outside of her work in the Oireachtas, Lynn is a mother to two daughters, a published author, writer and screenwriter, a frequent contributor in print and online media, the creator of the award-winning podcast ‘Conversations on the Margins’, and the co-presenter of the RTÉ documentary ‘Lady Gregory – Ireland’s First Social Influencer’ with Miriam Margolyes. Her first feature length film, titled ‘Ready or Not’, premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival in 2025.

Dr Patrick O’Donnell is a General Practitioner who specialises in inclusion health, and he is also an Associate Professor in General Practice at the University of Limerick School of Medicine. Dr O’Donnell is the Academic Lead for Deep End Ireland, a group which represents GPs working in areas of deprivation around Ireland. He has completed his PhD and an associated body of research on social exclusion and health, and this work has incorporated the needs and voices of people affected by multiple forms of exclusion. He is involved in the education and training of undergraduate and postgraduate students in the healthcare professions on topics relating to inclusion health.

Dr Siobhán Neville is a Consultant Paediatrician with special interest in Paediatric Inclusion Health at University Hospital Limerick, and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at University of Limerick School of Medicine. Her Paediatric training was completed through the Royal College of Physicians, Ireland, and included a six month placement working in capacity building for neonatal and paediatric care in rural Tanzania. She has a Masters in Quality and Safety in Healthcare Management from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland and completed a clinical fellowship in Paediatric Hospital Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. Her clinical and research interests are in Inclusion Health and the impact of the social determinants of health on child health and well-being.

She is currently leading the implementation of the Inclusion Health service at University of Limerick Hospitals Group, and runs Paediatric Inclusion Health clinics across the Mid West.