Team

At Cognate Health, we’ve built a multidisciplinary team dedicated to delivering quality service nationwide.

Led by Professor John Gallagher, our team of occupational health experts have worked with our clients on the design and management of their occupational health support for over 25 years.

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Team

At Cognate Health, we have built a multidisciplinary team that is dedicated to delivering quality service nationwide.

Led by Professor John Gallagher, our team of occupational health experts have worked with our clients in the design and management of their occupational health for over 20 years.

[team]

Founder & Chief Medical Officer
Professor John Gallagher

Senior Medical Consultant
Dr Shane Farrelly

Occupational Health Physician
Dr. Hashim Sulieman

Consultant Occupational Health Physician
Dr Paola Chavez

Consultant Occupational Physician
Dr. Kevin O’Sullivan

Commercial Director

Dermot Carberry

CFO, Chief Financial Officer

Ian O’Keeffe

Occupational Health Manager
Sharon Cleary

Occupational Health Advisor
Susan Sheehan

Founder & Chief Medical Officer

Professor John Gallagher

Professor John Gallagher is a medical doctor specialising in Occupational Medicine. He graduated in 1985 at University College Cork (UCC), attained his Membership of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine in 1992 and Fellowship in 1997. He completed a Masters degree at the Institute of Occupational Health, University of Birmingham in 1991 and was the winner of the inaugural John Darwall Prize.

John is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland since 2005. He is Adjunct Professor at the School of Public Health in University College Cork and the Academic Director of the Diploma in Safety, Health & Welfare at Work.

He is also an examiner, trainer and past Dean of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. John is Founder and Clinical Director of Cognate Health Ltd.

Senior Medical Consultant

Dr Shane Farrelly

Dr Shane Farrelly has over 30 years’ experience as an expert in International Occupational Medicine. He is a consultant to a number of international companies providing guidance to the Companies Corporate Health Departments in the design and implementation of Global Occupational Health Programmes.   In 2014, he was appointed as one of three Senior Medical Advisors to the Irish Health & Safety Authority.

He is an expert in rehabilitating employees with long term absence back to work and has worked with the insurance industry in designing and implementing proven and effective rehabilitation programmes globally. Dr Farrelly is also a specialist in Absence and Strategic Case Management and has designed and implemented programmes which have significantly reduced short, medium and long term absence.

Dr Farrelly is also a Physician Executive with the proven ability to lead large groups, manage budgets, address HR challenges, and apply strategic business insights.

In addition he has expertise in population health and guides companies in putting in place and maintaining a culture of health

Occupational Health Physician

Dr. Hashim Sulieman

Dr. Hashim Sulieman is an Occupational Health Physician. Dr Sulieman graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) degree from Khartoum University in Sudan, conferred in 2004. Dr Sulieman has over 15 years of experience in Occupational Health and has served at a Senior Level in organisations in both Sudan and Abu Dhabi. Dr. Sulieman furthered his qualifications with the LFOM (2014) and MFOM (2016) from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. Dr Sulieman expanded his expertise by obtaining an MBA, MSc in Healthcare, MRCGP UK (2019), and a diploma in Diabetes and Endocrinology from Plymouth University(2021). Dr Sulieman is located in our Cherrywood Clinic in Dublin.

Consultant Occupational Health Physician

Dr Paola Chavez

Dr Paola Chavez graduated from Scientific University of the South (Universidad Científica del Sur) in Lima, Peru in 2007. She finished her training in Occupational Health in Valladolid-Spain (2010-2014). Dr Chavez has been working as an Occupational Health Consultant since then, between the cities of Valladolid and Barcelona. She has a Master Degree in Bodily Injury and Medical Expertise from Barcelona University (2017-2019).

Physician

Dr Rozali Athanasaki

Dr. Rozali Athanasaki is a medical doctor who initially specialised and practiced Forensic Medicine as a consultant in Greece and has been working in Cognate Health since 2015.

Dr. Athanasaki completed her medical degree at the University of Nis, Serbia (1999) and went on to gain a Masters degree in Medical Ethics and Law from Keele University UK (2009) before completing a PhD in medico-legal ethics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (2014). She successfully completed her exams for the Licentiateship of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (LFOM) in 2023.

Dr. Athanasaki has held posts with high responsibility throughout her career. Forensic medicine, report writing, drug testing and traumatology are her areas of special expertise.

She is a key member of the occupational medical expert team at Cognate Health.

Consultant Occupational Physician

Dr. Kevin O’Sullivan

MB BCh BAO MRCGP MFOMI

Dr Kevin O’Sullivan is a specialist in Occupational Medicine, which he practices in all areas but has a particular interest in musculoskeletal medicine and ergonomics. He holds a Diploma in Musculoskeletal Medicine and a Diploma in Sports Medicine from the Royal Colleges of Scotland. Kevin is a part time lecturer in UCC for the Higher Diploma in Safety, Health and Welfare at Work and also for the Msc course in Occupational Health. Kevin has a particular interest in travel medicine.

Physician

Dr. Andrew Crosbie

Dr Andrew Crosbie graduated from UCC and holds General Practice Memberships and Fellowships in both Ireland and the UK.  Dr Andrew works on a sessional basis at Cognate Health bringing his wide-ranging generalist skills to Occupational Medicine.  He has a range of interests including musculoskeletal medicine, mental health and workplace injury.

Physician

Dr Eibhlis O’Leary

Commercial Director

Dermot Carberry

Dermot has over 34 years of experience across a variety of sectors both nationally and internationally at senior level in strategic commercial management and operational process improvement.

Prior to joining Cognate Health, Dermot held positions with Avis, Hertz, Tenago Partnering, SR Technics, O’Mara Medical and was most recently General Manager at Home Instead.

Dermot holds a Masters in Management, UCD Smurfit, HDip in Human Resources Management with University College Cork and Diploma in Strategic Marketing Management, IMI. He is a Mentor for Enterprise Ireland and Local Enterprise boards and was Chairman of the Irish Exporters Association South.

Chairperson

Noel Creedon

Noel has a proven track record of scaling businesses in a CEO/Chairman role. Noel has senior executive experience in a variety of roles and sectors including financial services, private banking, hospitality and healthcare.

He has held senior management roles with Bank of Scotland and Halifax in the UK, as well as lead regional roles in the middle east for UK insurers.

In 2012, Noel set up iNua Hospitality and has since then, established this business as the leading regional hotel chain in Ireland.

He has also served on the Board of the Ditchley Care Group specialising in nursing home and primary care facilities.

Noel took up his role with Cognate Health in January 2020 and works closely with the CEO and Senior -Executive Team of Cognate Health and chairs the Board of Directors.

CFO, Chief Financial Officer

Ian O’Keeffe

Ian has over 15 years of experience in financial and commercial roles, providing corporate and project finance advice to private and public sector clients.

Prior to joining Cognate Health, Ian held positions with Deloitte, PwC, Projects and Infrastructure Group, and was most recently a Director in the Australian Treasury.

Ian holds a BSc in Computer Science and Economics and a Masters in Management Information and Managerial Accounting Systems from University College Cork. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Operations Manager

Michael Philpott

Michael is responsible for building and controlling the operating processes and systems at Cognate Health, which service both existing and new business.

He has invaluable experience and insights having held Support and Systems Engineering positions with both Citco and Dell, and more recently, senior management roles in CareChoice and Ditchley Nursing Home Group, ensuring all homes were fit for purpose and operated in a safe and efficient manner.

Michael is a Computer Science graduate from University College Cork and holds a MSc in Occupational Health and a HDip Safety, Health and Welfare at Work, both also from UCC.

Head of HR

Ann Shalloe

Ann is a Human Resources Professional with over 25 years experience providing guidance and leadership to Senior Managers in different industries including the retail, manufacturing and Occupational Health sectors.

Ann graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) from University College Cork (1992). Ann also holds a Masters Degree in Human Resources and Occupational Psychology also from U.C.C (1993). Ann has extensive experience across all areas of Human Resources, especially in recruitment and retention, performance management, employee development, employee relations and compensation and benefits. Ann has worked as a Senior HR Manager in Occupational Health for the last 18 years.

Occupational Health Manager

Sharon Cleary

Sharon is a Registered General Nurse and Specialist Community Public Health Nurse – Occupational Health. She has 17 years of occupational health experience and eight years’ practice in managing occupational health services in Ireland and the UK.

Sharon has occupational health expertise and knowledge in a wide variety of disciplines, which include corporate, manufacturing, airport and aviation industry, transportation, construction, cleaning, government departments, utilities, and pharmaceutical, along with the NHS and HSE.

Occupational Health Advisor

Susan Sheehan

Susan qualified from London South Bank University as an RGN in 2003 with a BSc (Hons) in General Nursing. She has worked as a Clinical Nurse Manager in London in medical, surgical settings and Cardiac HDU.

She returned to Ireland in 2007 and continued to work within the speciality of cardiology and has over 10 years’ experience in Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratories and Urgent Cardiac Care. In 2015, Susan completed a Diploma in Health Services Management.

She has a keen interest in employee health & wellbeing, health promotion and education within the workplace. She joined Cognate Health in 2017 as an Occupational Health Nurse and recently completed a MSc in Occupational Health and Safety from University College Cork.

Finance Manager

Nora Kennelly

Nora joined Cognate Health in July 2018, two years after relocating from Dublin. After qualifying as a CPA from Griffith College, Dublin, Nora worked for many years in Practice, Industry and Professional Services and brings this vast experience to her role in Cognate.

Outside of work, Nora walks her two Jack Russell dogs and is a Munster supporter.

Project Specialist

Caroline Foley

After completing a BSc in Computer Science at University College Cork, Caroline worked as a Course Administrator at the Law Society of Ireland’s law school in Cork. Caroline later relocated to Blackhall Place, Dublin where she took up the role of Administration Team Leader at the Law Society of Ireland’s Diploma Centre.

Caroline moved back to Cork and joined Cognate Health in 2018 as a Central Administrator. The Central Administration team support the smooth running of Cognate Health’s operational activities. Together with her colleagues, Caroline facilitates appointment bookings, issues reports and medical certificates and fields queries. She liaises closely with Cognate Health’s network clinics around Ireland in addition to Cognate Health’s clients.

Executive Assistant

Janice Casey

Janice has over 23 years’ experience in the hospitality sectors in the Cork City area & Australia.

Before joining Cognate Health in 2022, Janice held Management positions with The Metropole Hotel, Jury’s Hotel Group, Tea Gardens Hotel, & Meeting & Events Executive at The River Lee Hotel for over 12 years, and most recently Janice has held position of Executive Assistant for C-Suite level.

When Janice is enjoying her time out of the office, her passions include travelling and her spending family time with her two boys.