Professor Mary Mc Carron

Professor Mary McCarron, PhD RNID RGN BNS FTCD is Professor of Ageing and Intellectual Disability, Director of the Trinity Centre for Ageing and Intellectual Disability (TCAID) and Executive Director of the National Intellectual Disability Memory Service. She has held many senior leadership roles in Trinity College including Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery. 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).

  Aged care nursing   Ageing & Intellectual Disability - Changing Service Needs   Ageing & Intellectual Disability Issues   Ageing, Health and Intellectual Disability   Dementia in people with Down's syndrome   Mental health nursing   Palliative Care and Dementia   Palliative care nursing   People with Down Syndrome & Alzheimer's Disease

An international expert in the field of ageing and intellectual disability, Professor Mary McCarron is the founder and Principal Investigator of the first longitudinal study on ageing in people with an intellectual disability (IDS-TILDA) to be conducted within the EU and the only study, to date, with the potential to compare the ageing process in people with intellectual disability with the general population (TILDA). The recipient of the inaugural Health Research Board 2019 Impact Award, Prof McCarron's research excellence and translational activities have been recognised as exemplary. Her sustained efforts in including people with intellectual disabilities in all aspects of research was instrumental in securing an institutional Public, Patient Involvement award from the Health Research Board and Irish Research Council for Trinity College. Leading a research team focused upon ageing, intellectual disability, dementia, end of life and palliative care, Professor McCarron's work is at the forefront of addressing health and care inequities. Funded by the Health Research Board, Irish Hospice Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Department of Health, Irish Research Council, National Disability Authority, EIT Health and others, Professor McCarron's areas of focus are: Longitudinal epidemiological studies tracking the key determinants of health and wellbeing of adults with an intellectual Disability as they age. . Develop interventions models targeted at preventing secondary disability and improving quality of life and longevity for people with ID. . Longitudinal studies tracking over 20+ years the incidence, prevalence and risk factors associated with dementia in people with Down syndrome. . Working with relevant agencies to establish the first National Memory Clinic for people with ID with satellite services throughout the country with a focus on building capacity for assessment of symptoms of dementia and the standardization of assessment and diagnostic protocols. . Using a concerted and collaborative approach develop the infrastructure and networks required to establish and run large scale primary and secondary clinical trials. Work with international collaborators and the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) to develop and validate clinical trials outcome measures, and to develop pre dementia disease models by accumulating clinical and biomarker data with a focus on disease prevention and treatment in people with Down syndrome. . Work with people with ID and relevant agencies and policy makers to develop post diagnostic supports for people with ID and dementia and their caregivers and assess cost and quality of life issues in dementia care and end of life care. . Extending palliative care to persons with advanced and terminal dementia and other non-malignancies . Award-winning approaches to environmental design for those ageing with dementia;