The Committee

How it Works

The affairs of the Irish Association of Advanced Nurse/Midwife Practitioners association shall be managed by a committee consisting of the following:

  • Chairperson

  • Vice Chairperson

  • Treasurer

  • Secretary – Education

  • Secretary – Membership

  • Editorial Officer- IAANMP Supplement and Website

  • PRO/GDPR Officer

  • Committee Officers

A quorum for a committee meeting shall be five of which two must be an officer of the committee. The committee shall have the authority to:

  • Co-opt a member of the association to fill a vacancy, which will be subsequently endorsed at an AGM
  • Establish sub committees the members of which shall be appointed at the discretion of the committee
  • Invite persons who are not members of the Association to attend certain meetings to give expert advice

The Committee 2025

The IAANMP committee are all volunteer members who contribute their expertise in order to advance the mission and vision of the association.

Melissa Hammond
Melissa Hammond
Chairperson
Fiona Colbert
Fiona Colbert
Vice-Chair
Caroline Fraser
Caroline Fraser
Treasurer
Gemma Smyth
Gemma Smyth
Co-Secretary
Kathleen Canavan
Kathleen Canavan
Co-Secretary

Subcommittee Officers

Dona Cromar
Dona Liza Cromar
Committee Officer
Leena Rodrigues800500
Leena Rodrigues
Committee Officer
Roisin Lennon
Roisin Lennon
Committee Officer
Theresa Lowry Lehnen
Theresa Lowry Lehnen
Editorial Officer
IAANMP Supplement & Website
vincent-melvin-400600
Vincent Melvin
Committee Officer
GDPR Lead & Advisor

Honorary Members

Ms. Valerie Small
First ANP in Ireland
cora oconnor
Ms. Cora O'Connor
Founding member and previous Chair of IAANMP
Years of service 2004-2014
Karen Brennan
Karen Brennan
Previous Chair of IAANMP
Years of service 2014-2018
Christine McDermott
Christine McDermott
Previous Chair of IAANMP
Years of service 2018-2022
Aidan Foley
Mr Aidan Foley
Previous Chair of IAANMP
Year of service 2022-2023
Ms. Paula McBrearty
Founding member of IAANMP 2004
Committee member 2004 - 2009
Gabrielle Dunne
Founding member of IAANMP 2004
Committee member 2004 - 2014
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Melissa Hammond – Chairperson
Melissa qualified as a registered general nurse in 2004 with a bachelor degree in science at Queens University Belfast. She completed a higher diploma in Cardiovascular and Critical Care specialist nursing in Trinity College Dublin and in St James’ Hospital. She specialised in intensive care and cardiology nursing, and moved into a Clinical Nurse Specialist role in Heart Failure. She helped launch the HF Virtual Consultation Clinics between secondary and primary care. This is where she saw the potential impact of an ANP role in General Practice.  In 2018, she progressed on to complete a masters in science at University College Dublin for advanced practice and nurse prescribing. Melissa moved into General Practice in May 2022 where she is now working as a registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner and has a special interest in Chronic Disease Management, Health screening and Preventative Medicine.
Melissa is passionate about the impact of nursing, in particular the ANP role, and she has a vision to promote true understanding of the advanced practice role within healthcare and nationally. She is an active  member in the General Practice ANP Ireland group and is on the steering committee advocating for ANPs in General Practice.  She has vast experience and can offer an understanding of the advanced practice journey in both primary and secondary care, within public and private settings. Melissa is looking forward to the next year to help further enhance the voice of all advanced practitioners in Ireland as chair of the IAANMP.
Fiona Colbert Donaghey RGN,RNP:

Fiona Colbert Donaghey RGN,RNP, Emergency Cardiology RANP, BSc, MSc Nursing, RNP, FFNMRCSI, Honorary Teaching Associate RCSI, Radiological Nurse Referrer Site Coordinator, Beaumont Hospital. Nurse representative on National Advisory Committee for Nurse and Midwife Referrers of Radiological Procedures and Chair person of Advanced Practice Section INMO. Experienced Provider/ACLS/BLS instructor. I am also part of the ANP/CNS grand rounds team in Beaumont Hospital. I have a special interest in Women’s Cardiovascular Health and currently undertaking a MSc in Preventive Cardiology. I studied in Thames Valley university Slough and then returned to Ireland were I worked in the Mater hospital before joining Beaumont Hospital. I have worked In Beaumont for many years in CCU as a staff nurse, CNM 1 & 2 then for a brief time as an ADON out of hours before embarking on my ANP journey. I registered in 2017 and work as part of the team. My role involves providing a consult service to patients in the emergency department with a wide range of cardiac conditions. We also developed a virtual ANP led clinic since 2016.

Caroline Fraser, Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner (Emergency)

Caroline is a Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner (RANP) in the Emergency Department (ED) in the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore. She is responsible for assessing and treating both adults and children with injuries and minor illnesses. Caroline has worked in the Emergency Directorate both in England and Ireland for 26 years in a variety of roles including Clinical Nurse Manager 2 & 3 and Regional ED Clinical Facilitator. During this time, she completed a post graduate course in emergency nursing and a BSc in nursing. In 2017, she began her career in advanced practice and undertook a Masters in Advanced Practice in Trinity College, Dublin. Caroline is a registered nurse prescriber and is authorised to refer for radiological procedures. In addition to the clinical component, her role also incorporates the provision of leadership and education to staff in the ED. She is an ACLS instructor and a member of the Midlands ED ANP group, Emergency Medicine Programme ANP forum group and the IAANMP. Caroline has lectured in Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) on post-graduate courses and has assisted in developing both the Higher Diploma in Emergency Nursing and the Emergency Nursing Foundation programme in AIT. She has a special interest in pain management in the ED and has carried out research in this area. Caroline was recently involved in implementing a virtual fracture clinic into the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise which was the first hospital in Ireland to do so with no orthopaedic speciality. She has carried out a number of audits in this area which she has presented at national conferences.

Gemma Smyth cANP in Intellectual Disability:

Gemma currently works as a candidate Advanced Nurse Practitioner (cANP) in Intellectual Disability Nursing – Health and Wellbeing, for HSE Cavan/Monaghan Disability Services. Graduating from Queen’s University, Belfast in 2001 as a Registered Nurse in Intellectual Disability Nursing, Gemma’s career has been shaped by a commitment to the vocation of Intellectual Disability Nursing. Her journey includes roles as a staff nurse and Nursing Sister, as well as Day Service Manager in the private sector. Prior to undertaking her current innovate role, Gemma worked as a Health Facilitation Nurse, collaborating with Primary Care Practices, General Practitioners and other community based multidisciplinary team members in the Western Trust area in the North of Ireland. The focus of her work was improving identification of individuals with an intellectual disability and facilitating smoother access to healthcare services in the community for them and their representatives.  The role also provided education and guidance to staff in primary care on enhanced methods of communication and making reasonable adjustments for people accessing services in addition to supporting General Practitioners with annual health screening and co-production of health improvement plans. Gemma is passionate about advocating for individuals with an Intellectual Disability, ensuring access to equitable healthcare, and empowering people to lead healthy lives. She is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Nursing – Advanced Practice at Trinity College Dublin.

Kathleen Canavan Moran MSc RANP RNP Cardiothoracic:

Kathleen is a Chicago Illinois U.S.A. native, born to Irish Immigrants. She moved to Dublin Ireland in April 1999 to open a new Cardiothoracic Surgical Unit in St. James’s Hospital Dublin, and to pioneer the role of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Keith Shaw Cardiothoracic Unit in St. James’s Hospital Dublin in 2000. She practiced in St. James’s Hospital until June 2004 when she was headhunted to open the first Cardiothoracic Surgical unit in the West of Ireland. She took up her post at The Galway Clinic in June 2004 and is still actively practicing there today…now known as Blackrock Health The Galway Clinic.

Kathleen bases her practice on providing seamless holistic care to her patients by being actively involved clinically in every aspect of her patient’s care, with a hands-on approach, from the patient’s referral through to their post operative follow up care.

Kathleen is an active member and participant in the patient’s surgical care and the surgical team. She has first assisted cardiothoracic surgical operations for over 24 years. She is an expert in vein and radial artery harvesting and in first assisting the Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeons. She is an expert in first assisting robotic surgical operations and was the first robotic surgical assistant in Ireland. To date, she has performed over 1500 surgical robotic cases as the surgical first assistant.

Kathleen prepared the documentation for submission to NMBI for post approval for Advanced Nurse Practitioners in Cardiothoracic Surgery for the University Hospital Galway and The Galway Clinic and achieved accreditation for both in 2012.

She has a special interest in wound care and management. Her patients are the centre of her daily practice and she is a true patient advocate.

Having worked in both public and private institutions in Ireland, Kathleen is keen to foster and bridge any gaps between both healthcare providing bodies, in order to facilitate better holistic focused care to the people availing of healthcare services in Ireland.

Dona Liza Cromar 

Dona is a Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Emergency Care who works in both the Injury Unit at Roscommon University Hospital (RUH) and the Emergency Department (ED) at Galway University Hospital (GUH). She is responsible for diagnosing and effectively treating a wide range of injuries in both adults and children over the age of five. In addition, she is competent in dealing with specific ear, nose and ophthalmic presentations.

Dona undertook her Bachelor of Nursing Degree at Trinity College Dublin. She has worked in the ED at the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore (MRHT) and GUH as an emergency nurse. She obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Emergency Nursing at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) and went on to secure a permanent position as Clinical Nurse Manager at the MRHT’s ED. She was the nurse lead in the development of a new service and oversaw quality improvement initiatives. She has worked extensively in data collection, audit and policy development. Furthermore, she has completed a Certificate in Prescribing of Medicinal Products and a Certificate in Referring Patients for Ionising Radiation at University College Dublin. She graduated with an Honours Master’s Degree in Advanced Nursing Practice, allowing her to enter the register as an RANP.

She is a member of the Unscheduled Care Safety Group and the nurse representative on the Drugs and Therapeutics Committee in RUH. Her qualitative research was presented at both a national and international conference. She is involved in the expansion of the current services at RUH, as well as the development of referral pathways and policies. In her role, Dona provides guidance and education to the staff in the Injury Unit.

Leena Rodrigues

Leena is a Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Nurse Prescriber with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. With over 26 years of international clinical experience spanning India, Oman, and Ireland, she has a strong foundation in intensive care nursing and advanced clinical practice. She qualified as a Registered Nurse in 1998 from the Bombay Nurses Training Institute, Mumbai, and has since pursued extensive postgraduate education in Ireland, including a Postgraduate Diploma in Critical Care Nursing and dual Master’s degrees in Clinical Practice and Advanced Practice Nursing from University College Dublin.

Leena currently serves as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in the Fracture Liaison Service (FLS) at St Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH), where she led the design and implementation of the ANP-led service. Her role involves autonomous assessment, diagnosis, education, and bone health management for patients aged 50+ with fragility fractures, with a strong focus on falls and secondary fracture prevention. She is actively involved in national performance measurement through the FLS database and is a member of the national FLS Report Writers Committee.

Her previous roles include CNM2 in the DXA department and Surgical Site Infection Surveillance Co-ordinator at SVUH, contributing to service improvement, policy development, and infection prevention. Passionate about innovation in nursing, Leena brings deep expertise in clinical leadership, service design, and interprofessional collaboration. She is proud to support the work of the IAANMP committee, advocating for the visibility and impact of advanced practice roles in Ireland.

Roisin Lennon
I trained as a nurse back in the days of PTS in the Adelaide Hospital, Dublin. During my 6-week maternity placement in the Coombe I decided to be a midwife and secured a student midwife place in Perth Royal Infirmary in Scotland. On becoming a midwife I worked as a rota midwife in Ninewells Hospital in Dundee for 4 years and obtained my post grad BSc (Hons) in Nursing also. I then moved back to PRI and worked there for a further 8 years as a team midwife. In 2003 I moved to Sligo where I started work on the maternity ward and then was a senior midwife on the labour ward for many years becoming the first registered nurse/midwife prescriber in the unit. A six-month stint covering the CMM3 post for maternity leave made me realise that I wanted to focus on hands on clinical midwifery. I obtained a Master of Health Science in Advanced Practice in 2016 and registered as a RAMP in Midwifery care in 2017. My service aims to normalise pregnancy and birth for a caseload of women with underlying medical conditions and other complexities that mean they do not meet the criteria for normal midwife led care. In the 5 years since introducing the service, the caseload numbers have grown. The service is rated favourably by the women and the birth outcomes are comparable with findings from women attending for continuity of midwifery care for normal risk women. I am also an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and provides a self-referral feeding support clinic in SUH. I feel privileged to be a midwife and to be a part of so many women’s pregnancy journey and am proud to be able to provide a choice of care pathway for the service users of SUH maternity services.

Theresa Lowry Lehnen (PhD), FFNMRCSI
RGN, PG Dip Coronary Care, Dip Counselling & Psychotherapy, BSc, RNP, MSc, PG. Dip. Ed (QTS), M. Ed, PhD, FFNMRSCI. Advanced Nurse Practitioner General Practice

Theresa Lowry-Lehnen manages the nurse led medical centre at South East Technological University, Carlow campus. She is qualified as an RGN, Coronary Care Nurse, Registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner in General Practice, Registered Nurse Prescriber (RNP) and as a Teacher of Science and Nursing Studies. She holds a PhD, MSc, PGDE (QTS), M.Ed and is a registered Teacher with the Teaching Council of Ireland. She is a Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, RCSI (FFNMRCSI). Theresa has extensive clinical nursing experience in primary and secondary care, combining her practice with over 20 years in educational, teaching and lecturing roles. She holds a Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy, is an FSRH, BASSH and RCGP certified practitioner in sexual health, and an IUHPE registered health promotion practitioner.
Theresa worked in CCU/ITU for over 15 years, before moving to the primary care sector, where she specialised in General Practice Nursing and has continued to work for 25 years. She has authored published nursing, health and psychology books and is a regular contributor to medical, nursing and pharmaceutical journals and newspapers, with over 300 clinical articles published in recent years. Some of her academic work has been used to create CPD modules for doctors, nurses and pharmacy teams.

Theresa has an editorial role in the Advanced Practice supplement and manages the IAANMP website. She initiated the concept for the IAANMP Advanced Practice supplement in ‘Nursing in Practice Ireland’ journal, collaborating with GreenCross Publications and the IAANMP to establish a national platform for ANPs and AMPs to publish, share, and promote advanced practice and research.

 

Vincent Melvin

Community Mental Health Nurse

An experienced Community Mental Health Nurse (RPN/RNP/RANP) who has specialised in Psychiatry of Old Age. Prior to 2018, served the population of the North West of Ireland in: acute psychiatry, adult community mental health, rehab & recovery, and liaison mental health nursing settings. Over 20 years post registration experience relating to the provision of mental health nursing care to adults/older adults. Special interests include delirium and dementia, and integrated care. Currently sits on the Mental Health Advanced Nurse Practitioners of Ireland and IAANMP committees.

Mr. David Delaney
David is the newly elected Secretary. He currently works in the Emergency Department of University Hospital Limerick. David graduated from the University of Tasmania in Australia and started his career in cardiac care. From there he worked in the Intensive care units of the Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania, the Royal Prince Alfred, Sydney, St. James Hospital, Dublin and University Hospital Limerick. He is currently a Clinical Skills Facilitator in the Emergency Department of University Hospital Limerick. He has previously studied a postgraduate diploma in Intensive Care Nursing with NUI Galway and is currently in his dissertation year of this Masters in Advanced Nursing Care also with NUI Galway. David will be a registered Advanced Nurse Practitioner once his MSc is complete. David also holds a position on the student subgroup of the International Council of Nurses NP/APN network.