Dr Paul Kavanagh is a medical doctor (Trinity College Dublin, 1997), a registered specialist in public health medicine (Medical Council of Ireland Registration Number 021204), and holds postgraduate qualifications in Community Health, Health Economics, Medical Education, Healthcare Leadership and Data Science.
Having worked across a range of health system setting, Paul has broad experience in designing and driving strategic interventions that strengthen healthcare governance and that protect and improve population health.
He led the roll-out of the HSE’s first clinical governance initiative, Towards Excellence in Clinical Governance, delivered key patient safety programmes in areas including healthcare associated infection, blood and tissue safety, and healthcare records management, and he has been responsible for leading the response to high-profile failings of care, working with public and patient representatives, clinicians and health service managers to improve quality and safety.
He also led significant developments in medical professional regulation in Ireland, including designing and implementing new maintenance of professional competence arrangements for doctors, strengthening processes for medical registration, curriculum reform for intern training, and establishing an innovative research programme to better understand and support good professional practice among doctors and the patient-doctor relationship.
Currently, Paul is a Consultant in Public Health Medicine at the National Health Intelligence Unit providing epidemiological advice and public health support to health information system design, major national health service reform, population profiling, and health service planning and evaluation; in addition, he is Public Health Medical Advisor to the HSE Tobacco Free Ireland Programme.
Paul is also Senior Honorary Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Examiner with the Faculty of Public Health Medicine.