Prof Mary McCarron
Professor of Ageing & Intellectual Disab, School of Nursing & Midwifery
Biography:
Professor McCarron is the founder and Principal Investigator for IDS-TILDA, the longitudinal comparative study on ageing in persons with intellectual disability including persons with Down syndrome, a global first. IDS-TILDA increases understanding about how lives and chronic conditions change over time for this population, drives changes on healthcare practice and national health policy. Professor McCarron has also led a longitudinal cohort study of dementia in people with Down syndrome spanning over 25 years, which has led to the development of Ireland's first dedicated National Memory Service for people with an intellectual disability, where she serves as Executive Director.
A champion of patient and public involvement in research (PPI) McCarron is Principal Investigator of PPI Ignite Programme at Trinity College Dublin, part of the national network among universities in Ireland funded by the HRB. She received the inaugural HRB Impact Award. She is co-applicant on the HRB's Clinical Research Network Awards for Dementia Trials Ireland (DTI), a world-class clinical trials' infrastructure to support and grow dementia intervention studies. In addition, she is the Irish Lead on the H21 Consortium working on Clinical and trial outcome measures for dementia in individuals with Down Syndrome,
Professor McCarron has been a key advisor on ageing and policy issues to various governmental and other groups at a national and international level and an active member of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD).