Professor Bernie Hannigan took up her role as Chair of the Board of the Institute of Public Health on 1 January 2023. 

Between 2014 and 2021, Bernie served as Director of Research, Translation and Innovation for Public Health England (now UK Health Security Agency) and prior to that as Director of R&D and Chief Scientific Adviser for Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland (2008-2014), preceded by academic leadership with the University of Ulster.

Bernie was appointed Chairperson of the Health Research Board by the Minister for Health in April 2021, having been a Board member since November 2015. Her previous non-executive roles include Board membership of Invest Northern Ireland and the Marine Institute. More recently, she was a member of the Health and Life Sciences Panel for the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF 2022).

A native of Dublin, Bernie graduated with BA(Mod) Natural Sciences from Trinity College Dublin and PhD (Immunology) from the National University of Ireland for research at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI).

Throughout her academic career, Bernie has led or participated in research teams that attracted significant external funding, authored over 100 papers and two textbooks, and supervised 20 successful PhD students.