National Health Protection Senior Management Team

Director National Health Protection

HSE Public Health: Health Protection

Dr O'Moore, Director of National Health Protection qualified from UCD in 1991. He trained in Public Health in Oxford and at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He worked primarily in the UK since 1995, but has also worked internationally, including with the WHO and with ECDC in various roles relating to specialist practice in health protection. In the UK, Dr O'Moore worked with the Health Protection Agency (as Director of the Thames Valley Health Protection Unit), Public Health England (as National Lead for Health & Justice), and the UK Health Security Agency (as Deputy Director for Vulnerable People and Inclusion Health). During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for the public health response for Public Health England (PHE) and then UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in Adult Social Care and Secure Settings. He previously worked in PHE as National Incident Director for the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014/15.

Dr O'Moore has a long-standing interest in health inequalities and health equity. He has also worked as Director of the UK Collaborating Centre with the WHO Health in Prisons Programme. He was a founding member of the Worldwide Prison Health Research & Engagement Network (WEPHREN). Dr O'Moore has led a range of national health protection and health improvement programmes nationally, including work on blood- borne viruses, JB and migrant health. He led the development of surveillance and epidemiological resources nationally and internationally to inform health needs and health impact assessments. Dr O'Moore was a senior advisor to national and international governments, produced many research papers, presented at international conferences and is an editor and senior contributor to a forthcoming publication by Oxford University Press on Prison Medicine.

Consultant in Public Health Medicine- National Immunisations

Dr Jessop graduated from Cambridge University and worked in paediatrics before training in Public Health Medicine in London. She worked as a consultant in public health in Buckinghamshire for 5 years before moving in 2014 to work as a consultant in Health Protection in Northern Ireland and was the lead for childhood immunisation programmes.
Since 2019 she has led the National Immunisation Office in Ireland, which is the HSE coordinating unit for the implementation and improvement of all the national immunisation programme. She a member of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) in Ireland and is a passionate advocate for immunisations across the life course.

Director of Nursing-Health Protection

Dr Thomas qualified as a graduate registered general nurse and midwife, Toney gained diverse healthcare experience working in multinational and multi-cultural settings. An appetite for prevention of infection (IP), brought him to Freemantle Hospital, Perth, W Australia, where he secured formal IP academic qualification.
Dr Thomas joined Beaumont Hospital IP team, Dublin, (Tertiary National multi-speciality university teaching hospital), where he was the Assistant Director of IP and Control from 2007 until joining NHPI. He pursued Leadership and Management studies and completed MBA in Health Services Management. In his academic role, he was the programme coordinator f Post Graduate Diploma IP at the Faculty of Nursing, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 2005 to 2011.

Consultant in Public Health Medicine-Infectious Disease

Dr Paul McKeown is a Consultant in Health Protection with the National Health Protection Service of Ireland. Having trained in general medicine and general practice in the UK, he has worked in the HPSC for more than 20 years on the epidemiology, surveillance, control, and prevention of infectious disease. He is consultant lead on gastrozoonotic and vectorborne disease, and non-respiratory emerging infections.