Diabetes Technology Network Ireland and the HRB Diabetes Collaborative Clinical Trial Network Speakers’ Bios
DTN STREAM
Dr Tomás Griffin
Dr Tomás Griffin has recently taken up a post as a Consultant Diabetologist at Galway University Hospitals/CHO2 and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Galway. He is a graduate of the school of Medicine at the University of Galway (First Honour). He completed a PhD entitled, “The Role of Novel Biomarkers in Addressing the Burden of Chronic Kidney Disease in Diabetes Mellitus” at the University of Galway. In addition, he holds a Masters in Clinical Research (First Honour) and a Higher Diploma in Clinical Education (First Honour) from the University of Galway.
Dr Griffin was awarded and completed a competitive Clinical Fellowship in Diabetes Technology at the Leicester Diabetes Research Centre (2021-2022). He is an honorary Lecturer at the University of Leicester. Dr Griffin is the clinical lead for the Insulin Pump/Technology services at Galway University Hospitals, Ireland. He was the local lead for the roll-out of the Hybrid Closed Loop Insulin Pump Pilot at Leicester General Hospital. Dr Griffin has worked as a Consultant Diabetologist/Associate Professor of Medicine at University Hospital Limerick/University of Limerick. In addition to multiple academic publications, Dr Griffin has received national and international awards for his research.
Catherine George
Catherine George is a registered nutritionist (ANutr) and PhD researcher at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, focused on developing resources to support pre-pregnancy health and lifestyle behaviour change. She holds a BA in Biology from Princeton University and an MSc in Nutrition from King’s College London. Her mixed-methods research explores the role of nutrition and physical activity in improving maternal health outcomes, particularly among women at increased metabolic risk, such as those with a history of gestational diabetes.
Catherine’s work bridges research, policy, and practice, contributing to multiple maternal health publications and updates in UK and Irish pregnancy guidelines. Alongside her academic work, she supports athletes and active women in translating evidence-based science into practical strategies to optimise health, performance, and long-term wellbeing
Prof. Dr Maartje de Wit
Dr Maartje de Wit is an internationally renowned associate professor of medical psychology based in Amsterdam, where she is affiliated with Amsterdam UMC. Her research focuses on the intersection of mental health and chronic illness, particularly the psychosocial aspects of diabetes in both young people and adults living with type 1 diabetes. She investigates how psychological factors—such as mood, behavior, and social context—interact with diabetes management across different stages of life, with the goal of improving health outcomes and quality of life. Through a combination of cohort studies and intervention-based research, De Wit has contributed to advancing patient-centered care, including the use of person-reported outcomes and mental health support within diabetes treatment. Her work plays a key role in integrating psychological care into medical practice for chronic disease management. Among multiple research publications, she has been the lead author of ISPAD Clinical Guidelines chapter: Psychological care of children, adolescents, and young adults with diabetes.
Ciara Coveney
Ciara Coveney is a Registered Advanced Midwife Practitioner (RAMP) in Diabetes in Pregnancy at the National Maternity Hospital. She is dual-qualified as a nurse and midwife and holds an MSc in Advanced Practice. She leads the midwifery team of a multidisciplinary diabetes in pregnancy team, delivering specialist, evidence-based care.
In 2021, she was appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor at University College Dublin and is an active member of the NMH/JRN Research Network.
Ciara specialises in pre-gestational diabetes, gestational diabetes, diabetes technology, and high-risk midwifery-led care. She was a member of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Model of Care Working Group (launched 2024) and a current member on the National Guideline update (anticipated 2026).
She has been a national advocate for equitable access to diabetes technology and led the implementation of virtual gestational diabetes care across multiple hospital sites. She has contributed to peer-reviewed publications in this field, including a recent publication on virtual models of care for gestational diabetes, and regularly presents at national and international scientific meetings.
Her research interests include Type 1 Diabetes in pregnancy, midwifery-led high-risk care, and diabetes technology in pregnancy.
Cliodhna Myles
Cliodhna Myles is a Registered Dietitian currently working in Galway University Hospital. Over the past five years, she has specialised in diabetes care, with a particular focus on diabetes technology and innovation. During her time in Cambridge working as a diabetes educator, Cliodhna was involved in several influential clinical studies that helped shape the evolving diabetes technology landscape. She has also contributed to a range of technology education events, including the Cambridge Insulin Pump Course. Cliodhna is passionate about making diabetes technology accessible, practical, and easy to use for people living with type 1 diabetes, while also supporting healthcare professionals to confidently integrate these tools into everyday clinical care.
Dr Una Graham
Dr Una Graham is a Consultant in Endocrinology and Diabetes based at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald. She is the clinical lead for the Northern Ireland Regional Insulin Pump service which coordinates pump and HCL care and provision across the region. She is also the Northern Ireland representative of the ABCD DTN committee.
Georgina Doyle
Georgina Doyle is a Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner (RANP) in Diabetes at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise. She has over 18 years of nursing experience, beginning her career after completing a degree in General Nursing at St James’s Hospital, Dublin. She later completed a Higher Diploma in Children’s Nursing at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.
In 2014, Georgina completed her specialist training in diabetes care and subsequently achieved a Master’s degree in 2016. She became a Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Diabetes in 2020.
Georgina works as an autonomous practitioner within the Diabetes Department at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise, providing comprehensive care for people living with diabetes. Her role encompasses assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, medication prescribing, patient education, and the ongoing management of this lifelong condition.
Dr Hannah Forde
Dr. Hannah Forde is a Consultant Endocrinologist working in Beaumont Hospital. She studied medicine at the National University of Ireland, Galway and graduated in 2010. She completed her basic specialist training in General Internal Medicine at University Hospital Galway and was awarded Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCPI) in 2013. She then undertook clinical and laboratory research investigating the pleiotropic role of the biomarker “TRAIL” in cardiovascular disease and was awarded her PhD by Royal College of Surgeons Ireland in 2018. She completed specialist training in Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus and General Internal Medicine in Ireland and was awarded her Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training (CSCST) in 2020. She subsequently completed a sub-specialty fellowship in type 1 diabetes and diabetes technology in Leicester General hospital under the supervision of Prof. Pratik Choudhary. Her areas of interest include the management of complex type 1 diabetes and virtual healthcare.
Dr Patrick Divilly
Dr. Patrick Divilly is a Consultant of Endocrinology & Diabetes Mellitus in St Vincents University Hospital in Dublin. He is a graduate of University College Dublin. He did a clinical research fellowship in Kings College Hospital. He has a special interest in hypoglycaemia, health economics and diabetes technology.
Claire Maye
Claire Maye is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Paediatric Diabetes based in Sligo University Hospital, with extensive expertise in diabetes management, patient education, and chronic disease care. She completed Health Diploma in diabetes in UCD and the Mater hospital, MSc in Nursing in RCSI, and Helath Diploma in advanced practice in
University of Galway. She plays a key role in delivering advanced, patient-centred diabetes services, supporting individuals with complex diabetes needs through evidence-based treatment, lifestyle intervention, medication optimisation, and the integration of diabetes technologies into clinical practice. Claire is recognised for her collaborative approach to multidisciplinary care and her commitment to improving patient outcomes through education, empowerment, and service innovation. Alongside her clinical responsibilities, as a member of the paediatric diabetes working group, she contributes to the ongoing development of diabetes services, clinical guidelines and professional education initiatives aimed at enhancing standards of diabetes care nationally and across the region.
Dr Caoimhe Casey
Caoimhe is a Consultant Endocrinologist working in University Hospital Kerry in the Diabetes, Endocrine and General Internal Medicine departments. She is the Clinical Lead for the Integrated Diabetes Care team in the Kerry Chronic Disease hub and is the Consultant Lead for the recently established Hybrid Closed Loop Insulin Pump Service at University Hospital Kerry. She is a graduate of University College Cork and completed early postgraduate training in Ireland prior to working in General Internal Medicine in Austin Health, Melbourne. She returned to Ireland to complete speciality training in endocrinology and diabetes with a focus on community diabetology. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and has completed a Research Masters at University College Cork exploring the impact of social deprivation on diabetes complications.
Dr Ferrah Shaamile
Dr Ferrah Shaamile is a consultant endocrinologist at Tallaght University hospital, a graduate of the school of Medicine at the Kalamoon university hospital in Syria in 2011(Excellence degree), and completed a Master degree in Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin.
In 2021, I obtained the Certificate of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training (CSCST) in Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus and General Internal Medicine, Royal College of Physician of Ireland and she is a member of RCPI since 2015.
She was awarded and completed a competitive Clinical Fellowship in Obesity medicine at St Vincent hospital group (2021-2022), is an honorary Lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, and fulfils the role of the clinical lead for Diabetes integrated care at Tallaght University Hospital
DCCTN STREAM
Naomi Holman
Naomi is a Research Fellow in the School of Population Health at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland where she leads a work stream on the epidemiology of diabetes and developing research on intervention effectiveness in Ireland.
Prof. Angus Jones
Prof. Angus Jones is a clinician scientist who combines research in diabetes with work as a consultant physician in the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Trust. His research interests are in precision approaches to the management of diabetes, with a focus on practical approaches that can impact clinical practice now or in the near future. This includes approaches to improving clinical classification of diabetes, both through optimising use of classification biomarkers such as C-peptide and islet autoantibodies, and through development of prediction models to combine clinical features and biomarkers to guide diabetes classification and treatment. This work has informed national and international guidance in this area. Additional interests include developing stratified approaches to treatment of type 2 diabetes and, as part of his work with the University of Exeter NIHR Global Health Group, approaches to effective diabetes diagnosis, monitoring and classification in low resource settings. His research combines new multi-centre clinical studies with analysis of data from healthcare records, trial and observational studies and he works closely with methodology, laboratory and clinical colleagues, alongside national and international collaborators.
Colin Dayan
Colin Dayan trained in medicine at University College, Oxford, and Guy’s and Charing Cross Hospitals in London, UK before obtaining a PhD in the immunology of Graves’ Disease in the Laboratory of Marc Feldmann. He then spent a year as an endocrine fellow at the Massachussetts General Hospital in Boston, USA before completing his specialist training in diabetes and endocrinology as a Lecturer in Bristol. In 2010, he was appointed to the Chair of Clinical Diabetes and Metabolism and Head of Section at Cardiff University School of Medicine and in 2020 as part-time Senior Clinical Researcher in the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford.
Prof Dayan has a long established interest in translational research in the immunopathology of type 1 diabetes promoting progress to “insulin free T1D”. He has published first-in-man clinical studies on the development of peptide immunotherapy and the use of nanoparticles in T1D as well as pioneering the use of lymph node and injection site sampling to monitor the response to therapy. Since 2015 he has been a leading member of the UKT1D-Research Consortium which has hosted more than 15 clinical trials in early T1D over 30 sites. He is currently leading on novel trial designs including the T1D Plus platform trial in Europe and Australia to rapidly test combinations of therapies. In collaboration with the Critical Path Institute, he led the TOMI consortium of 21 clinical trials to define the relationship between C-peptide preservation and clinical endpoints and build an FDA/EMA approved clinical trial simulation tool. He is now seeking to define novel endpoints in preclinical T1D as part of the EDENT1FI European programme. Prof Dayan is a committed advocate to finding ways to bring beta cell preservation and delaying the need for insulin therapy into routine clinical practice. In this regard he supported the application for regulatory approval of Tzield to the FDA in 2021 and is working with colleagues to introduce immunotherapy and population screening into the UK.
Prof Jenny Myres
Jenny is Professor of Obstetrics & Maternal Medicine within the Maternal & Fetal Health Research Centre, University of Manchester and Consultant Obstetrician, St Mary’s Hospital, Manchester, UK. As an obstetrician, Jenny is part of the Maternal Medicine team and leads two translational research clinics for women with hypertension and diabetes. She is also the Hospital Chief Clinical Informatics Officer for St Mary’s Managed Clinical Service (17500 births). She currently runs a portfolio of clinical and laboratory science studies which span vascular and placental biology research, preclinical models, observational cohort studies and intervention trials before, during and after pregnancy. Jenny is also co-lead of the Manchester Integrated Clinical Academic Training programme. Jenny is the chief/principal investigator for several multicentre studies related to hypertension and diabetes in pregnancy.
Prof Charlotte Boughton
Dr Charlotte Boughton is Assistant Research Professor at the University of Cambridge and Diabetes Consultant at Cambridge University Hospitals and Royal Papworth Hospital.
Her research focuses on the use of new technologies, in particular automated insulin delivery (closed-loop) systems to improve outcomes for people with diabetes. She undertakes randomised controlled clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a fully closed-loop approach for people with type 2 diabetes, both as inpatients in the acute hospital setting and as outpatients. She has also investigated the impact of hybrid closed-loop systems in children and adults with type 1 diabetes, and the role of ultra-rapid insulins to enhance performance of automated insulin delivery.
She is currently Chief Investigator for an NIHR EME funded multicentre trial of closed-loop technology for people with cystic fibrosis related diabetes (CL4P-CF).
Her Fellowship project investigates the role of automated insulin delivery in achieving remission for adults with recent onset type 2 diabetes.
Prof Fidelma Dunne
Fidelma Dunne is a Professor of Medicine, Clinician scientist and Director of the Institute for Clinical Trials, University of Galway. She holds an MD (University College Cork), PhD (University of Birmingham UK), Masters Medical Education (University of Dundee Scotland), and Master’s Clinical Research (University of Galway). She was a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University New York in 2015. In addition, she is the Director of the All-Ireland Clinical Trial Network in Diabetes and an Adjunct Professor at Steno Diabetes Research Centre Odense Denmark (2020-2025).Professor Dunne has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to advancing research and improving outcomes in the critical area of diabetes and pregnancy over 25 years with >270 peer review publications, 15,000 citations, H index of 66 with > 22m euro in grant funding. She was awarded the International Jorgen Pedersen (DPSG Europe 2021) and Norbert Freinkel awards (ADA 2024) for contributions in this field and has been elected a member of the prestigious Royal Irish Academy (2024). In 2024 she also received University of Galway Presidents award for research in the team category as Principal Investigator of the EMERGE trial and the national award for research from the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) being selected by peers.
Dr Emma Wilmot
Dr Emma Wilmot is a leading clinical academic and keynote speaker in the field of diabetes, internationally renowned for her expertise in both diabetes research and patient care. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham and an Honorary Consultant Diabetologist at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, with a strong focus on improving outcomes for people living with diabetes through innovation and technology. As the founder of the Diabetes Technology Network UK, she has played a key role in advancing access to modern diabetes treatments and digital tools, while also contributing extensively to research on type 1 diabetes, early-onset type 2 diabetes, and glycaemic control. With over 100 publications and leadership roles in national organisations such as Diabetes UK and the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists, Professor Wilmot is widely recognised for translating cutting-edge research into practical improvements in diabetes care, making her a highly influential voice at international conferences.
