PHA board
Our board of directors is made up of a Non-Executive Chair, the Chief Executive, seven Non-Executive Directors, and three Executive Directors. Executive Directors are employees of the PHA.
Register of interests
The PHA board Register of interests is available here.
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Prof. Nichola Rooney |
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Aidan Dawson |
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Nichola is a consultant clinical psychologist and former Head of Psychological Services at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. She is senior professional adviser in psychology to the RQIA and associate consultant to the HSC Leadership Centre. Nichola is a former member of the judicial appointments Commission for Northern Ireland and currently chairs the Board of the Children’s Heartbeat Trust. The current chair of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology NI, she holds the position of honorary professor at Queen's University in Belfast, School of Psychology. |
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Aidan was appointed Chief Executive of the Public Health Agency on 1 July 2021. He comes with a career spanning over 30 years working in the Health Service and 3rd sector. In 2016 Aidan was appointed as the Director of Specialist Hospitals & Women's Health in Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. He was responsible for a diverse range of services including Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick children, Maternity Services, Gynaecology Services, ENT, Trauma and Orthopaedics, Neuro Rehabilitation, Sexual and Reproductive health, Regional Disablement Services and the Dental Hospital. In April 2019 he also assumed responsibility for Mental Health Services for adults and children across the Trust on an interim basis. In 2020 the Mental Health role expanded to include the Mental Health Capacity Act Compliance. Prior to this role Aidan was the Co-Director in the Trust for Trauma, Orthopaedics, and Rehabilitation Services. His career has included roles working with The British Red Cross and Disability Action. |
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Dr. Joanne McClean |
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Heather Reid |
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Dr Joanne McClean took up post as Director of Public Health on 1 September 2022. Joanne graduated from Queen’s University in Medicine with Honours in 1999. After graduation Joanne worked in junior doctor hospital training posts before completing specialist training in public health medicine. Joanne has a Masters in Population Health and is a member of the Faculty of Public Health and of the Royal College of Physicians. Joanne was appointed as a Consultant in Public Health in the Public Health Agency in January 2012. In her consultant post Joanne had a particular interest in health service public health and in child health. Between June 2021 and August 2022 Joanne was seconded to the Department of Health as Associate Deputy Chief Medical Officer to work on the COVID response. Joanne was made an Honorary Professor of Public Health Practice by Queen’s University in February 2023. |
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Heather Reid took up post as Interim Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals on 1st May 2023. Heather qualified as a nurse in September 1989 and worked as a staff nurse a number of posts including a short period in a neuro-rehabilitation unit in Bavaria. Heather joined the Graduate Management training programme in 1994 during which she completed a Masters in Health Service Management. Heather joined the Public Health Department in the Eastern Health and Social Services Board in 1996 as a project manager for evidence-based commissioning and during this time worked towards specialist practitioner registration with the UK Public Health Register. She was then seconded to the Department of Health in 2008-09 to support the establishment of the Public Health Agency. Heather was appointed as a Public Health Consultant in the Public Health Agency in January 2012. She worked in health service public health on a range of areas and has a specific interest in maternal, child and perinatal mortality surveillance and improvement. |
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Stephen Wilson |
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Dr. Aideen Keaney |
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Stephen Wilson was appointed as Interim Director of Operations in December 2020 having previously worked since 2009 as Assistant Director (Operations) with responsibility for leading Communications and Health Intelligence. Stephen has extensive experience across a wide range of disciplines including strategic planning, operational management, communications, policy development and project management. His qualifications include a B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc (Management) and post-grad in Corporate Governance. Following graduation Stephen worked in local government in Scotland leading on competitive tendering programmes before returning to Northern Ireland to work with the Sports Council for Northern Ireland and more recently the Health Promotion Agency where he worked as Senior Planning Manager and subsequently as Interim Director of Corporate Services until transferring in 2009 to the PHA under RPA.
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Aideen took up post as Director of Quality Improvement (QI) in the PHA in September 2019. Aideen is a Scottish Patient Safety Programme Fellow, a Health Foundation Generation Q Fellow and has a Masters in Leadership and Quality Improvement. Aideen is also a member of the Health Foundation Q Community and a member of the Q Community Board. Aideen is a graduate of Queens University Belfast Medical School and is a Fellow of the College of Anaesthetists (RCSI) Dublin. Prior to taking up her post in the PHA Aideen worked as a Consultant in Paediatric Anaesthesia and Paediatric Intensive Care for many years. During this time Aideen also held a number of Medical Leadership roles. Aideen has always been a strong advocate for patient safety and has a track record of leading improvement initiatives in the clinical care setting. As Director of QI, Aideen leads the on-going design and development of the new HSC Quality Improvement and Innovation Network (HSCQI). The focus of HSCQI is to share learning and support system-wide scale and spread of best practice. Aideen has led the development of a 3-year HSCQI Strategy “Moving Forward Shaping the Journey” and ensures that the workplan of HSCQI is aligned with this strategy and with regional priorities. |
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Craig Blaney |
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John Patrick Clayton |
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Craig Blaney was appointed to the Board of the PHA in August 2022. He has a strong track record working with some of the most exciting and innovative brands in the UK. He specialises in brand creation and development and has worked with businesses across Northern Ireland, Ireland, the UK and Europe to bring their marketing strategies to life. He sits as a member of Ards and North Down borough Council and has held several positions of authority including Vice Chair of the Regeneration Committee, Member of the Corporate Committee and Member of the Council Audit Committee. He is the current Deputy Mayor of Ards and North Down and serves on the board of the Northern Community Leisure Trust and the YMCA Bangor. |
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John Patrick is Policy Officer of the trade union, Unison Northern Ireland. He was appointed to the trade union member position on the PHA Board in 2018. He is a qualified barrister who has previously practised both at the Northern Ireland Bar and at the Bar in the Republic of Ireland. John Patrick is a member of the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. He is a part-time Associate Lecturer in Law with the Open University. He has previously been a member of the Executive of the voluntary organisation NIACRO. |
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Anne Henderson OBE |
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Robert Irvine |
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Anne is the Non-Executive Finance Director of the PHA. She is a qualified chartered accountant whose experience in KPMG and BDO Stoy Hayward, accountants in Belfast, included audit, insolvency and management consulting. She was a senior manager for three years in the audit and management consulting of the international media company Time Warner Inc, based in London, Los Angeles and New York. |
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Mr. Robert Irvine lives in County Fermanagh and has been a partner in R.J. Irvine, a quantity surveying and project management consultancy firm, since 1982. He has been an elected local District Councillor since 2001 and currently sits as a member of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council. In his role as a Councillor, he sits on various committees, notably the Planning Committee and the Local Development Plan Steering Group of which he has been chair since 2015. In the recent past he has been a member of the Western Local Commissioning Group, a committee of the Health and Social Care Board, the Western Education & Library Board and several school and college Boards of Governors. He currently is a Board member of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service. |
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Deepa Mann-Kler |
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Joseph Stewart OBE |
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Deepa Mann-Kler is Chief Executive of Neon. She is a visiting Professor in Immersive Futures at Ulster University in Northern Ireland and an experienced public, private and charity sector Chair and Non-Executive Director. Deepa served on 10 Boards across the UK over the past fifteen years. As a TEDx speaker and thought leader she regularly keynotes on the intersection of digital transformation, technical innovation, inclusion, ethics, bias, data, AI and creativity. |
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Joseph has held a number of Board level positions in the public and private sectors in Northern Ireland having retired in 2016 as Director of Human Resources from PSNI, a post which he held from the inception of the service in 2001. A graduate of Law from Queen’s University, Belfast, Joseph was a Director of the Engineering Employers Federation until 1990 and a Director in Harland and Wolff between 1990 and 1995. He was Vice Chairman of the Police Authority from 1989 to 1994 and Chief Executive from 1995 to 2001. Joe is Chair of the Governance and Audit Committee of the Agency and in February 2021 was appointed Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Risk and Assurance Committee of the Livestock and Meat Commission Northern Ireland. Joseph received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 1994. |
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Tracey McCaig |
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Brendan Whittle |
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Tracey McCaig has been appointed Interim Director of Finance for the PHA on 15 February 2021. Prior to this appointment Tracey held the post of Assistant Director of Finance in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust from May 2017. During her 32-year career in Health and Social Care finance, Tracey, who is a Chartered Management accountant, has headed up a number of senior finance roles across the HSC, ranging from internal audit to head accountant roles in the NI Ambulance Service, Health and Social Care Board and Public Health Agency. Tracey has a proven track record in team leadership, quality improvement, financial governance and multi-disciplinary HSC team working to effect change and improvement in HSC services. Following the retirement of Paul Cummings and prior to Tracey McCaig’s appointment the Director of Finance role was covered on an interim basis by the Assistant Directors of Finance: Christine Frazer, Lindsay Stead and Colin Bradley.
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Brendan Whittle was appointed as HSCB Director of Social Care and Children and Executive Director of Social Work in April 2021. Previously Brendan has held senior positions in the HSC, including as a Director at South Eastern HSC Trust between 2012 and 2019. He initially served as Director of Adult Services and Prison Healthcare and subsequently as Director of Children’s Services & Executive Director of Social work. Most recently, Brendan has been Deputy Director of Social Care and Children at HSCB since 2019. Brendan qualified as a Social Worker in London, working in East London initially before moving to Northern Ireland in 1992. He has a wealth of experience in Health and Social Care across a range of areas including Children’s Services, Hospital Social Work, Disability services, Older People and Mental Health services. During this time Brendan has maintained his professional development achieving both the MSc in Advanced Social Work and the Northern Ireland Leadership and Strategic Award in Social Work. |
