Susan Lawson

Susan graduated from the School of Clinical Speech and Language Studies in TCD and has over 16 years clinical experience in the assessment and management of adult dysphagia. She completed an MSc in UCD in 2009 in the Centre of Disability Studies, researching in the area of stroke and multidisciplinary rehabilitation. Susan has post-graduate training in videofluoroscopy, fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES), pharyngeal manometry and Deep Pharyngeal Neuromuscular Stimulation. She lectures at undergraduate level in TCD and at postgraduate level in Tallaght Hospital’s IASLT accredited Dysphagia Course and Videofluoroscopy Course. She is currently involved with a research team encorporating the SLT and Gastroenterology departments at Tallaght Hospital. They are investigating the feasibility and acceptability of Transnasal Gastroscopy as an alternative to unsedated OGD and in FEES assessments.

Tara Raftery

Tara Raftery is a Ph.D student currently funded by a 3 year scholarship from the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET). Her research investigates the immunological and anti-inflammatory effects of vitamin D in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Tara currently has a number of clinical studies running in the Dept. of Gastroenterology in Tallaght Hospital and SJH under the supervision of Dr. Maria O’Sullivan and in collaboration with Dr. Mahmud (SJH), Dr. McNamara (Tallaght Hospital) and colleagues in University of Calgary, Canada and the Imperial College London.

Tara is also Chairperson of the Research Interest Group of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI), winner of the INDI Inaugural Malnutrition Research Bursary (2011), Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) National Graduate Award (2009) and the INDI Graduate Award (2008) for maintaining a consistently high academic record.  Tara is also a guest lecturer in TCD and DIT.  Email: rafteryt@tcd.ie 

Julie Regan

Julie completed her PhD in the School of Medicine in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in the Autumn of 2013. Her PhD thesis was entitled 'Adaption of Functional Lumen Imaging Probe to Evaluate the Upper Oesophageal Sphincter in Oro-pharyngeal Dysphagia'. Julie completed an MSc in TCD in 2006 and researched the effects of thermal-tactile stimulation on swallowing in Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease during videofluoroscopy. She graduated from the School of Clinical Speech and Language Studies in TCD in 2000 and has over ten years clinical experience in the assessment and management of adult dysphagia in Tallaght Hospital.

Julie has post-graduate training in videofluoroscopy, pharyngeal manometry, surface electromyography, fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES), Deep Pharyngeal Neuromuscular Stimulation and Vitalstim. She lectures on neurology and dysphagia at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the School of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, TCD. She has peer-reviewed publications and is full member of the Dysphagia Research Society (DRS).She is interested in the role of trans-nasal gastroscopy as a screening method for upper gastrointestinal disease and is currently developing a Dysphagia Evaluation Clinic under the auspices of TAGG.

Asal Al Haddad

Asal Al Haddad graduated with a BSc degree in Biomedical Engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in 2014. She worked in the clinical engineering department at Tallaght Hospital for 4 months in 2013 as part of her engineering training course and is currently working as a clinical engineer at the hospital. She is interested in doing research work on the functional lumen imaging probe (FLIP) under the supervision of Dr. Barry McMahon.

Maha Alqudah

Maha alqudah received her degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Jordan University of science and technology (JUST). Currently she is a PhD student in the department of Clinical Medicine in Trinity College Dublin (TCD). She works under the supervision of Dr. Barry McMahon. Her research interest is in using the functional lumen imaging probe (FLIP) in measuring the distensibility of the ano-rectal region in the human body. Currently output from this research is in press in one of the most prestigious gastrointestinal motility journals in the world. The paper demonstrates that the technique can rapidly determine the effect of the three major muscle components affecting the anal canal and consequently could revolutionise how ano-rectal function is perceived. The ongoing research aims to determine the exact mechanism underlying ano-rectal dysfunction in two distinct patient groups those with chronic intractable constipation and those with faecal incontinence, often as a result of trauma or prolapsed with the specific aim of designing appropriate biofeedback, medical and surgical therapies.

Prize: Best poster presentation on the 5th School of Medicine postgraduate research day in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) for poster titled; "Defining New Measures of Ano-rectal Function" 2012.

Dr Donal Tighe

Dr Donal Tighe graduated from University College Dublin 2007. He completed his Basic Specialist Training (BST) in Beaumont Hospital and obtained Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland in 2009. He has recently completed his higher specialist training in gastroenterology (2011-16), having worked in Galway University Hospital, St James’s Hospital and Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. He is currently working as a lecturer in Clinical Medicine in Tallaght Hospital, and is undertaking a M.D, looking at the role of immunomonitoring in the management of inflammatory bowel disease. He has received a privileged grant from the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation to support this work. Dr Tighe’s specialist interests include advanced therapeutic endoscopy and immunomonitoring in IBD.

Rana Haider

Dr Rana Haider is a graduate from Riphah University Pakistan. He completed his SHO training in St James's Hospital Dublin. He worked as a Registrar in Limerick and Naas Hospitals. He is currently working as a Lecturer in Clinical Medicine in Trinity College Dublin. He is currently undertaking a Masters in Clinical Medicine Research. His research project include H .pylori resistance and development of a new paradigm for eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection in the modern era.

Barry Hall

Dr Barry Hall graduated from UCD in 2009. He completed his intern and basic specialist training in St Vincent’s University Hospital. He is currently working as a Lecturer in Clinical Medicine in TCD and a Gastroenterology Research Registrar at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital, Dublin.His main research areas are inflammatory bowel disease and capsule endoscopy.

Shiv Kirthi

Dr.Shivashini Kirthi graduated from NUI Galway in 2011. She completed her internship in UCH Galway and Basic Specialist Training (BST) scheme in St.James’s Hospital/Adelaide and Meath Hospital Tallaght, Dublin. She is currently working as a Lecturer in Clinical Medicine in TCD and a Dermatology/Gastroenterology Research Registrar at AMNCH, Tallaght. Her main research areas are Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Ronan Leen

Ronan Leen graduated from University College Dublin in 2006. He did his internship in St. Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny and has worked as a medical Senior House Officer and Registrar. He became a Lecturer in clinical medicine in 2010 for Trinity College Dublin and was an Assistant Professor actively involved in undergraduate teaching.
His main interest is in colorectal cancer screening and he has given talks both nationally and internationally on this topic. He has experience in endoscopy and also capsule endoscopy.

Paul Moore

Dr. Paul Moore graduated from Trinity College in 2009. He completed his intern and basic specialist training at Tallaght Hospital. He is currently working as Lecturer in Clinical Medicine at TCD and is undertaking research on the role of radiology in modern gastroenterological diagnosis

Nikki Shearer

Nikki Shearer qualified in 2004 with a BNS in Nursing and worked as a senior staff nurse in the Endoscopy Department in AMNCH until 2008. Nikki was employed as a CNM2/Nurse Coordinator for the pilot Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme at AMNCH - this was a ne

w initiative and the first of its kind in Ireland. Nikki has presented the results/findings of this research and has co-authored in many international published papers on this topic. Nikki completed her MSc and finished her work with TAGG at the end on 2012.

Raja Sivanantham

Raja Sivanantham graduated with a BSc in BioMedical Sciences and an MSc in BioMedcial Engineering from University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland and University of Limerick respectively with honours. His BSc Hons Research Project investigated the detrimental and/or beneficial effects of sulphur containing compounds on pancreatic cells, with a broader view of potential therapeutic benefits in diabetes and/or diabesity and related complications. His MSc research project studied bone cement mantle porosity effects on bone implant integrity with implications on orthopaedic implant replacement treatments. Since then he has worked as a self-placed clinical engineer volunteer with Naas General Hospital. He is currently a research assistant with TAGG, and a course assistant with the Trinity College Innovation Academy.

Ewa Wilcz

Ewa Wilcz completed a PhD in the Department of Clinical Medicine of Trinity College Dublin. Her research interests are in intestinal permeability, tight junction proteins and mast cells. Her research during her time at TCD and TAGG aimed to investigate the role of tryptase and mast cells in barrier dysfunction and permeability in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) using both in vitro models and clinical based studies. Her project was funded by a HEA-PRTLI-4 grant and conducted in collaboration with Drs Maria O’Sullivan (AMNCH/TCD) and Siobhan McClean (ITT). Ewa has presented her work internationally at the American Gastroenterological Association meeting (2010, 2011), and as an oral paper at European meeting, UEGW Barcelona (2010). In addition, Ewa has won a number of prizes for her work including a competitive UEGW travel award and a place on UEGF basic science training in Cambridge, England (2010).

Claudio Tersaruolo