| 23 Professor Joann Rhodes Chief Executive Officer, Health Innovation Research Northern Ireland (HIRANI) Professor Joann Rhodes is the Chief Executive of HIRANI, where she supports collaborative health research and innovation in Northern Ireland. She has championed the Business Navigator programme for Life Sciences and holds advisory positions at several organizations. Joann began her career as a cellular pharmacologist and Pfizer industry fellow at Imperial College London, developing novel immunomodulation therapies for COPD. Since 2011, she has facilitated industry-academic partnerships, including the £55M NI Future Medicines Institute and the £16M US-UK Pfizer Rare Diseases Consortium. As Chief of Staff at Merck UK Limited Partnership R&D Laboratories, she helped realise the vision for the £1.3B UK R&D innovation laboratories for Neurodegeneration. Joann is also a visiting Professor at Ulster University and holds an Executive MBA from Imperial College London, where she won the Dean’s award and Joan Woodward Prize for Organisational Strategy. She is passionate about accelerating collaborative health innovation and driving prosperity in Northern Ireland and the global life sciences economy. Professor Fiona Carragher Chief Policy and Research Officer, Alzheimer’s Society Professor Fiona Carragher joined Alzheimer’s Society as Chief Policy and Research Officer in 2019. She plays a key role in the organisation’s mission to improve the lives of individuals affected by dementia. Fiona’s career is marked by a dedication to improving outcomes at both patient and societal levels by providing leadership at the intersection of healthcare, research, and policy. She recently accepted a Visiting Professor role at the University of Ulster to support their approach to driving meaningful change in healthcare and the economy across Northern Ireland. Fiona leads the Research and Influencing strategy, overseeing a world-class research programme and strengthening the charity’s position on dementia health, social care policy, and societal change. A Clinical Biochemist and Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, she previously served as Deputy Chief Scientific Officer for NHS England. Fiona is a passionate advocate for women in health and has broadened her Board level experience as a Trustee of the UK Dementia Research Institute and NonExecutive Director at Kent and Medway Health and Social Care Partnership NHS Trust.
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