COVID-19 Response

Emma Farrell

MBA 2019

Comfort4Covid was set up by a team of Vascular Sales Specialist at PEI Surgical, Dubliners (three of whom are UCD alumni) fellow co-founder SUZANNE STEWART to raise funds to supply e-tablets to hospitals contributes to the Comfort4Covid team as a and long-term care facilities all over Ireland. medical devices specialist. Stewart also had Having originally hoped to fund 100 tablets, firsthand experience of Covid-19, during the they funded more than 1,000. The tablets hospitalisation of her partner, an ICU doctor, offered crucial comfort to patients and their with the virus. families, allowing for video conferencing and Co-founder EMMA FARRELL is an contact between family members from locked- entrepreneur who met Close and Stewart down hospitals and nursing homes. while all were studying for an MBA at UCD Co-founder of Comfort4Covid, CIARA Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. CLOSE is an electronic engineer and board CEO of EF Creative Studios Talent Agency, member of The Umbrella Foundation, a non- she lends her entrepreneurial flair and business profit NGO. acumen to the organisation.

Suzanne Stewart

MVB 2007, MBA 2019

Comfort4Covid was set up by a team of Vascular Sales Specialist at PEI Surgical, Dubliners (three of whom are UCD alumni) fellow co-founder SUZANNE STEWART to raise funds to supply e-tablets to hospitals contributes to the Comfort4Covid team as a and long-term care facilities all over Ireland. medical devices specialist. Stewart also had Having originally hoped to fund 100 tablets, firsthand experience of Covid-19, during the they funded more than 1,000. The tablets hospitalisation of her partner, an ICU doctor, offered crucial comfort to patients and their with the virus. families, allowing for video conferencing and Co-founder EMMA FARRELL is an contact between family members from locked- entrepreneur who met Close and Stewart down hospitals and nursing homes. while all were studying for an MBA at UCD Co-founder of Comfort4Covid, CIARA Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. CLOSE is an electronic engineer and board CEO of EF Creative Studios Talent Agency, member of The Umbrella Foundation, a non- she lends her entrepreneurial flair and business profit NGO. acumen to the organisation.

Ciara Close

BE Electronic Engineering 2004, PhD 2012, MBA 2019

Comfort4Covid was set up by a team of Vascular Sales Specialist at PEI Surgical, Dubliners (three of whom are UCD alumni) fellow co-founder SUZANNE STEWART to raise funds to supply e-tablets to hospitals contributes to the Comfort4Covid team as a and long-term care facilities all over Ireland. medical devices specialist. Stewart also had Having originally hoped to fund 100 tablets, firsthand experience of Covid-19, during the they funded more than 1,000. The tablets hospitalisation of her partner, an ICU doctor, offered crucial comfort to patients and their with the virus. families, allowing for video conferencing and Co-founder EMMA FARRELL is an contact between family members from locked- entrepreneur who met Close and Stewart down hospitals and nursing homes. while all were studying for an MBA at UCD Co-founder of Comfort4Covid, CIARA Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. CLOSE is an electronic engineer and board CEO of EF Creative Studios Talent Agency, member of The Umbrella Foundation, a non- she lends her entrepreneurial flair and business profit NGO. acumen to the organisation.

Colin Keogh, Irene Villafañe and Ross Lawless

BE 2011, ME 2012, PhD 2020, MSc 2017, Research Engineer, Conway Institute 2017-18

As the demand for PPE increased, manufacturers pivoted. Wicklow-based CALT Dynamics, founded by Ross Lawless, Colin Keogh and Irene Villafane developed a reusable face shield that can be produced rapidly using 3D printing. They continue to offer their services to the HSE and to business owners who require protective face shields for their staff.

John Ryan

MBA 2016

Founder and chief executive of Gigable John Ryan was a captain in the Irish army, then worked in fintech at Goodbody Stockbrokers before establishing the tech platform. During the pandemic, Gigable, became a useful global marketplace, facilitating freelancers to find work. Companies and gig workers, from delivery couriers to management consultants, were able to connect with users to do business and automate payments.

Patryk Szafranski

MSc Digital Innovation 2013

Co-founder and managing director of creative marketing agency, Kobba, Patryk Szafranski diversified his business, designing and selling protective screens and face shields for retail and health workers. Prior to this rethink of Kobba’s output, the creative agency offered services in branding, digital marketing, 3D design and production of marketing props, video production and event production. He was also named in the Irish Independent’s “30 Under 30” list.

Cian Farrell and Nev Flynn

BComm International 2017 and BE Mechanical Engineering 2017

Cian Farrell and Nev Flynn developed the app Vouch For, which allowed consumers to purchase digital gift vouchers from bars, cafés and restaurants which had to close temporarily. The vouchers kept small businesses afloat during lockdown and were redeemed in stores when they reopened. The pair’s original enterprise, tech company Recroot, provides hiring services to the hospitality sector.

Ronan Quinlan and Dermot O’Shea

BComm 1997 and BSc Physics and Mathematics 1996

Quinlan and O’Shea are co-founders of Irish company Taoglas, whose platform, Crowd Insights monitors social distancing using wifi hotspot data to track people congregating in certain areas. The company made the technology available to healthcare providers to monitor the number, flow and dwell times of people in public areas. It sets an alarm if intervention is necessary.

Niall McGrath

BBLS 1998, MSc Marketing Practice 1999

Famous for its heathy food products, Cali Cali Foods was co-founded by alumnus Niall McGrath who also co-founded Fulfil Nutrition, before exiting the company last year. McGrath and his business partner Tom Gannon recognised there was a way the company could support time-pressed frontline workers during Covid-19, by helping #FuelTheFrontline with deliveries of their healthy crisps to staff in hospitals.

Colin Barry

MBA 2011

As the owner of Galway- based Brite Mobility, an electric bike and scooter company, Colin Barry recognised the concerns of essential healthcare workers about sharing vehicles with family and using public transport when travelling to work in hospitals and nursing homes. He provided free bikes and scooters to Galway’s health workers and has set up a GoFundMe page to continue the scheme for as long as possible.

Seán Mac Fhearraigh

 PhD 2011

One of the first Covid-19 testing kits to provide results in just 15 minutes was the Reagent Assay Genie test, created by co-founder and chief technology officer of Assay Genie, Seán Mac Fhearraigh. The innovative test uses colloidal gold immunochromatography, using just one drop of blood. MacFhearraigh was a PhD student at UCD, where he carried out cancer research, focusing on the dissection of molecular signalling pathways.

Siobhán Killeen

 BSc Radiography 2016

Former soccer international Siobhán Killeen is at the frontline in her work as a radiographer at the Mater Hospital. She tested positive for the virus and her willingness to speak openly about how it affected a young, fit athlete, was an important turning point for public awareness. Killeen was a member of the Irish team who were UEFA Women’s Under-17 Championship runners-up, and FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup quarter-finalists, in 2010.

Ann-Marie Jennings

 BSc 2003, PhD 2008

Covid-19 laboratory manager and Head of Clinical Laboratory Services at Randox in Northern Ireland, Dr Ann-Marie Jennings led the development of multiple Covid-19 related products. Randox recently announced a £30m investment into a Covid-19 testing laboratory. Dr Jennings earned a PhD in biochemistry at the Conway Institute at UCD after her BSc in Science in 2003. She also completed a certificate in Business Management.

Karina Butler- O’Connell

MB BCh BAO 1978

When NPHET was first established in March 2020, Professor Butler-O’Connell, UCD Professor of Clinical Paediatrics & Infectious Disease, was elected chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee as part of the Expert Advisory Group. Professor Butler-O’Connell had received the inaugural Kathleen Lynn medal from the Royal College of Physicians Ireland in 2018 for her work on HIV and immunisation in children and congenital infection.

Oliver O’Connor

BA Philosophy and History 1982

Oliver O’Connor,  chief executive of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association (IPHA) since 2015, and a former special advisor to the Government, has led the IPHA through a time of great change, including  preparing for the continuity of supply of essential medicines to Ireland throughout the Brexit process. The IPHA is supporting the Irish pharmaceutical industry to meet demand for medicines, as well as global efforts to discover vaccines and treatments for Covid-19.

Cecily Kelleher

 MB BCh BAO 1980, MSc Public Health 1986

Professor Cecily Kelleher, Principal of UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences, is one of Ireland’s most eminent and influential public health researchers. Professor Kelleher chairs the NPHET Covid-19 nursing home panel and during her career has made significant contributions to the development of national public health policy. She was elected to the Royal Irish Academy, in a virtual ceremony, in May 2020.

Gary Brown

 BA Economics and Computer Science 2004

Former Leinster Rugby player Gary Brown co-founded Impact Gumshields in 2013. The company has responded to the threat of Covid-19 by utilising its 3D printers – originally designed to create gumshields – to produce hands-free door openers for GP surgeries, pharmacies, nursing homes and other healthcare settings. Brown’s approach demonstrated how an agile company can challenge itself to pivot and present practical solutions in a time of crisis.

Knut Moe

 MBA 2019

General practitioner and co-founder of UCD Smurfit Healthcare Leadership Network, Dr Knut Moe, a Dublin GP, developed Screening Form, an online Covid-19 checklist that can be sent to a patient with suspected Covid-19 symptoms. The form is said to cut the time spent on phone consultations in half and allows GPs to quickly assess the patient’s condition and potential need for testing. Dr Moe completed an MBA at UCD Smurfit Graduate School of Business in 2019.

Brendan Loftus

 PhD 1996, ProfDip 2014, ProfDip 2018

A team at the UCD Conway Institute Genomics Core worked in collaboration with the NVRL at UCD to obtain the genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from the first Covid-19 patient samples in Ireland. The team, which included Alison Murphy and Caitriona Moss, was led by Professor Loftus, director of UCD Conway Genomics Core, Fellow at UCD Conway Institute and Professor of Comparative Genomics at UCD School of Medicine.

Rita Doyle

MB BCh BAO 1973, DipCH 1976

Dr Rita Doyle is the first female, and the first full-time GP, to be elected President of the Medical Council of Ireland. Early in the Covid-19 crisis, she wrote to doctors to express the Council’s support and appreciation. With her remit to ensure high standards of professional conduct and professional education and competence among doctors, she also established a committee to support doctors with mental or physical health problems.

George Lee

BA Politics and Economics 1985

Journalist, television and radio presenter and former Fine Gael politician, George Lee has been at the forefront of RTÉ’s reporting on the Covid-19 outbreak, reporting from the Department of Health. Lee has worked for RTÉ since 1992. After a brief political career hiatus he returned to RTÉ in 2014 and was appointed Agriculture and Environment correspondent. In 2019, he became Environment and Science Correspondent.

Niamh Donnelly

MSc Computer Science 2018

Niamh Donnelly co- founded the AI start-up Akara Robotics which uses robotics and ultra-violet light to clean hospital wards, in February 2019. A graduate of the MSc in Computer Science, Donnelly won the “Best Application of AI in a Student Project” at the Irish 2018 AI Awards. Akara is an example of how computer science graduates use deep technical expertise to assist in combating challenging social issues like Covid-19.

Alistair Nichol

PhD Medicine 2008

Professor Alistair Nichol is chair and Professor of Critical Care Medicine at UCD and director of the Irish Critical Care Clinical Trials Network. He led the Irish contribution to an international clinical trial with Covid-19 patients in intensive care, as part of a global research effort. Professor Nichol is Honorary Visiting Fellow in Tropical Medicine at Oxford University and Honorary Intensivist at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

Teresa Lambe

BSc 1997

Dr Teresa Lambe, a pharmacology graduate, is a member of the small team of scientists at the Jenner Institute at Oxford University who have created the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, now in phase three trials. The team began tracking the virus in late December and by early January had received its genetic sequence, the starting point for designing the vaccine. The European front-runner in the race to bring a vaccine to market, Oxford has partnered with Astra Zeneca on global production: the company has committed to making two billion doses in twelve months.

Ciarán Devane

BE Chemical Engineering 1984

Sir Ciarán Devane, chief executive, British Council and chair of the HSE, is a graduate of biochemical engineering. He began his career as an engineer, then became a management consultant and expert in complex change programmes. He has a Doctor of Science honoris causa from UCD, and a masters in International Policy and Practice. A transforming chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support from 2007- 2014, the expectation is that his governing role at the HSE will be effective and visionary.

Killian Mac Donald

BBLS 1997, MSc Marketing Practice 1999

Killian MacDonald is director of commercial operations at Gilead Sciences, the biopharmaceutical company responsible for the antiviral medication Remdesivir. MacDonald has worked for more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, in Ireland and internationally. Gilead’s €9.5m facility in Carrigtwohill manufactures drugs for the treatment of HIV and hepatitis B and C, the first company to launch a single-tablet regimen for HIV treatment, transforming the quality of life of those with the condition. The EU signed a deal with Gilead to ensure treatment doses of Remdesivir for 30,000 patients.

Yvonne Doyle

MB BCh BAO 1981, Dip Child Health 1983, MPH 1985, MD 2008

Familiar to those who watched daily Covid-19 briefings on UK television, Professor Doyle appeared alongside Matt Hancock, Britain’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and was praised for her clear communication style. She became Medical Director and Director of Health Protection for Public Health England in May 2019. Professor Doyle was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 2016 for services to public health in the UK. She provides support on European Healthy Cities to the WHO and advises the World Economic Forum, the EU and the World Bank on public health and ageing.

Ronan Cahill

MB BCh BAO 1997

Professor of Surgery at UCD and the Mater Hospital, Professor Cahill was made director of the Digital Surgery Unit at the Mater in July 2019, a position that would become central to the continuation of vital surgeries during Ireland’s experience of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Professor Cahill was also instrumental in the conduct of research into the physics of the behaviour of the virus, creating a video using Schlieren technology, a physics principle which uses light to show the density of fluids and gases, to illustrate how air moves when people breathe, cough and sneeze, emphasising the importance of social distancing.

Ronan Glynn

BSc Physiotherapy 2002, MPH 2015

Dr Ronan Glynn graduated from UCD with a Bachelor of Science in Physiotherapy, then qualified as a doctor, later receiving a PhD in surgical oncology. In 2015, Dr Glynn completed his masters in Public Health at UCD. As Deputy CMO at the Department of Health, he participated in the Covid-19 press briefings alongside CMO Dr Tony Holohan until July of this year when, as Acting CMO, he stepped into Dr Holohan’s role. Dr Glynn also took over the role of chair of the national Public Health Emergency team (NPHET). He has garnered praise for his concise explanations of the rationale behind recent NPHET recommendations, clarifying the key features and calling for solidarity: “We are all on this journey together.”

Colm Henry

MB BCh BAO 1988

Consultant geriatrician at Mercy University Hospital Cork and Chief Clinical Officer at the HSE, Dr Colm Henry has been a key figure in NPHET, and a familiar face in the media, as the public awaited updates on the nation’s response to the pandemic. Key to many of his briefings were the number of tests being carried out. In the early stages of lockdown, Dr Henry led the conversation on the possible catastrophic impact of the coronavirus on acute hospitals and explained how Ireland was following WHO advice to “test, test, test”, deemed best practice, alongside physical distancing and contact tracing, for dealing with the virus.

Michael Ryan

MPH 1992

Former trauma surgeon and epidemiologist, Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, World Health Organization Emergencies (WHO), leads the team responsible for the international containment and treatment of Covid-19. At the forefront of managing acute risks to global health for nearly 25 years, he has also worked to fight epidemics in many conflict-hit countries.

In 1990, Dr Ryan moved to Iraq with his girlfriend, later his wife, to train Iraqi doctors. After the invasion of Kuwait, he worked under captivity for a time. He then moved into the field of public health.

Dr Ryan joined WHO in 1996 when it established a unit to respond to emerging epidemic disease threats. He led response teams to Ebola, meningitis, cholera, measles, bacillary dysentery, Crimean- Congo haemorrhagic fever, Rift Valley fever and relapsing fever. From November 2014 to February 2015, he was Senior Adviser to UNMEER in West Africa, spending most of his mission in the field in the three worst affected countries (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea).

He was a Senior Adviser on Polio Eradication for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative from 2013 to 2017, deploying to countries in the Middle East including Syria and Iraq. With technical partners such as WHO, UNICEF, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and others, the response reached 25 million children. This was achieved in the context of terrible conflict that collapsed health infrastructures and drove millions from their homes. He served as Assistant Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response in WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme from 2017 to 2019.

Dr Ryan completed medical training at NUI Galway, and took a masters in Public Health at UCD, as well as specialist training in communicable disease control.

Tony Holohan

MB BCh BAO 1991, Dip Child Health 1993, MPH 1996

Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Tony Holohan was the Government’s key adviser in spearheading the battle against Covid-19, until he stepped aside in early July for family reasons. His outstanding leadership during the pandemic, with daily televised briefings that were measured and reassuring, convinced the nation that if public health guidelines were followed and advice taken, the curve would be flattened and challenges overcome. Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid tribute to Dr Holohan’s work during the public health emergency. “As a country we owe him and his family a great debt of gratitude.” Dr Holohan is a 1991 medical graduate of UCD. He trained initially in general practice and subsequently in public health medicine. Appointed as Deputy CMO at the Department of Health and Children in Ireland in 2001, he was appointed CMO in 2008.

Dr Holohan’s responsibilities include the provision of strategic leadership, evidence- based analysis and expert medical advice as well as the development of policy and legislation with regard to patient safety and quality in healthcare. Dr Holohan also leads the development and coordination of health and wellbeing policy, including policy to address communicable diseases such as Covid-19, rare diseases, non-communicable diseases, obesity, smoking, alcohol misuse and bioethical issues.

The announcement that Dr Holohan was stepping aside from his job to spend time with his wife Emer, who was in palliative care, and their two children, brought an outpouring of praise and sympathy.

As the baton was passed to Acting CMO and fellow UCD alumnus, Dr Ronan Glynn, Dr Holohan said: “A plan has been put in train for others to take over responsibility for my role.”