Martin Higgins took up his role as Deputy Chair of the Board of the Institute of Public Health on 1 January 2023.

Mr Higgins was Chief Executive of safefood, one of the cross border bodies set up under the Good Friday Agreement, for 14 years until his retirement. 

Prior to that, he worked in the Department of Health for many years specialising in finance and later in public health regulation. He is an experienced board member having served on the boards of the Irish Medicines Board, the Irish health and social care professionals regulator Coru, and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.

He was also board chair of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and is currently a member of the board of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). Martin has a keen interest in governance and is former chair of the audit and risk committees of both COMREG and An Bord Pleanála. He is currently the external member of the Health Research Board’s audit and risk committee.

A professional accountant with additional qualifications in governance, regulation and health economics, Martin is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.