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Professor Catherine Comiskey

Professor (School of Nursing & Midwifery)
DOLIER STREET - SCHOOL OF NURSING

 Catherine.Comiskey@tcd.ie

 3531896 2776


Biography

Professor Comiskey holds a MA and a B.A.(Mod) degree in Mathematics and Philosophy from Trinity College, Dublin University, Ireland and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in biomathematics with statistics and epidemiology from Dublin City University, Ireland. Professor Comiskey has over 20 years research and lecturing experience in statistics and mathematics applied to healthcare and her personal research interests are in substance use, child wellbeing and innovation. From 2017 to present Professor Comiskey was elected by EU members as Vice Chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, a committee with a legal remit from the EU. In 2014 Prof Comiskey was selected after an EU wide competition to serve as an EU expert on the Scientific Committee of the EU's European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Portugal. From 2017 to present she was invited by Minister Byrne to be the sole academic expert on the National Drug Strategy Implementation Committee. From 2014 to 2017 she was invited by Minister Varadkar to serve on the Oversight Forum on Drugs. From 2014 to 2017 she was invited by Minister White to Chair the National Advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol. In 2007 to 2010 she was appointed by Minister of Education and Science to serve on the board of The Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology, (IRCSET). Catherine has served as Head of School (2014-2017), Director of Research (2008-2011 and 2011-2014), Inaugural Director and Founder of the Trinity Centre for Practice and Healthcare Innovation (TCPHI)(2014-2017), Inaugural and Founding Chair of the Children's Research Network of Ireland and Northern Ireland CRNINI (2010-2014) and Professor in Healthcare Statistics at the School of Nursing and Midwifery (2008-present). Catherine has had responsibility for developing, writing and implementing the School of Nursing and Midwifery Strategic Plan, the School's Financial Plan the Staffing Plan, the School's Research Plan, the TCPHI Strategic Plan, the CRNINI Strategic and Financial Plan, and is currently leading on quantitative methodologies and directing and promoting innovation and research in nursing, midwifery and healthcare education, practice and policy. Professor Comiskey has over 100 peer reviewed publication in her research topics, she has successfully graduated to completion 12 PhD's, one DSc and one MD. She is currently supervising an additional 10 PhD's and has three PhD applicants pending. Catherine mentors emerging academics and school children and has been a judge at the Young Scientists Exhibition since 2012.

Research Tags

  Addiction   Addiction and substance abuse   Biostatistical methods   Cervical cancer   Child centred research questions, study design, data analysis   Clinical research, trials   Drug Abuse   Epidemiology   Health outcomes   Infectious diseases   Mathematical modelling   Population Studies   Substance Abuse   Surveys & Survey Research

Research Projects

 Estimating the prevalence of asymptomatic Covid-19 cases in Ireland
 Building capacity in child health research and education
 HRB Internship Programme
 Mapping retrospective outcomes and existing processes of the Dublin Simon Community Detoxification Unit
 The Healthy Addiciton Treatment (HAT) Recovery Model

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Representations

Details Date
Expert consultant to the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board 2020
External expert consultant to the EU body the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) on children of parents who use drugs 2019 to present
Elected Vice Chair of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Scientific Committee 2017 to present
Appointed as a member of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Scientific Committee 2014 to present
Academic Expert- National Drug Strategy Implmentation Committee - Ministerial Appointment 2017 to present
Chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol (NACDA), appointed by the Minister for Health 2013 to 2017
Member of the National Drug Strategy Planning Group -Ministerial Appointment 2015 to 2017
Inaugurial Chairperson of the Children's Research Network of Ireland and Northern Ireland (CRNINI) 2010 to 2014
Invited external consultant and expert statistical reviewer for the Health Techology Assessment (HTA) funding programme of the National Health Service, UK 2008 to present
Member of the Board of The Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology, (IRCSET). Ministerial Appointment. 2007 to 2010

Languages

Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
French Basic Basic Basic
Irish Medium Basic Medium

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
Fellow of Trinity College Dublin April 2020 Present
Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications 1998 Present
Chartered Mathematician 1998 Present
Hyland, M., Hollywood, E., Banka, S. and Comiskey, C, The scale and scope of alcohol-related emergency department presentations by children and young people in an urban hospital setting., Trinity Health and Education International Research Conference 2022 (THEconf2022): 'Resilience, Rehabilitation and Reablement' , Online, 8-10 March 2022, 2022, pp7-, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
Distributed Leadership Interventions at Advanced Clinical Practitioner Level in, editor(s)Curtis, E., Beirne, M., Cullen, J., Norway, R and Corrigan, S. , Distributed Leadership in Nursing and Healthcare. , United Kingdom., Open University Press, 2021, [Comiskey, C.], Book Chapter, IN_PRESS
Comiskey, C.M. Galligan, K, Flanagan, J., Deegan, J, Farnham, J and Hall, A. , The development and implementation of the Healthy Addiction Treatment Recovery Model, Journal of Addictions Nursing , 32, (1), 2021, pE11 - E20, Journal Article, APPROVED
O'Neill, D., De Vries, J., & Comiskey, C. M., Leadership and community healthcare reform: a study using the Competing Values Framework (CVF)., Leadership in Health Services, 34, (4), 2021, p485 - 498, Notes: [https://orcid.org/0000-002-6519-8076. doi/10.1108/LHS-01-2021-0007/full/html ], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Hollywood, E., Comiskey, C., Lalor, J. and Creaner, M. , What does family mean for the school-aged child who lives in an area of urban disadvantage? , Trinity Health and Education International Research Conference (THEconf2021), Online, 10th and 11th March, 2021, pp8 - 8, Oral Presentation, PRESENTED
Hyland, M., Hollywood, E., Banka, S. and Comiskey, C., Alcohol use and alcohol-related harms: exploring risk and protective factors among young people living in urban disadvantage, Trinity Health and Education International Research Conference (THEconf2021), Online, 10th and 11th March , 2021, pp8 - 8, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED
McDonagh, D., Comiskey, C. & de Vries, j, Predictors of treatment outcomes among people attending opiate agonist treatment in methadone maintenance clinics , Trinity Health and Education International Research Conference (THEconf2020): Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 March 2021, Trinity College Dublin, 10/11 March 2021, 2021, Oral Presentation, PUBLISHED  URL
Catherine Comiskey, Addiction Debates: Hot Topics from Policy to Practice, United Kingdom, SAGE Swift Series, 2020, Book, PUBLISHED
Comiskey, C. , Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery: a partnership and evidence-informed approach to developing the new Irish health led, National Drug Strategy, Harm Reduction Journal, 17, (3), 2020, Notes: [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-019-0348-9], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  URL
Comiskey, C., Modelling the Covid-19 epidemic: Learning from past experience and predicting for the future: Policy Brief , Statistical and Social Inquiry of Ireland, 2020, Journal Article, ACCEPTED
  

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Banka, P. and Comiskey, C., The incubation period of COVID-19: A scoping review and meta-analysis to aid modelling and planning. , MedRxiv , 2020, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Comiskey C and O'Sullivan, K. , An evaluation of Clinishift, a communication platform and smart phone application for hospital managers. , Dublin, Ireland, Trinity College for Enterprise Irealnd , 2018, Notes: [Relevant to hospital managers planning staff allocations.], Report, PUBLISHED
Curtis E.A, Duffy E,Comiskey C, O'Rourke F, Griffiths C, Sheerin F., Nursing and Midwifery Career Guide: A guide for newly qualified nurses and midwives in the Republic of Ireland., Dublin., 2018, p1 - 43, Report, PUBLISHED
Comiskey, C.M., O'Sullivan, K. and Quirke, M.B, Blossom Ireland: An evaluation of current programme quality and readiness for service upscaling, Dublin, Ireland, 2016, Report, IN_PRESS
Cullen K., Dinsmore J, Comiskey C, Mills J, Delaney S. , The Spectrum of Family Caring: A Description and Analysis of Cross-Cutting and Condition Specific Dimensions of Caregiving, The Carers Association, 2013, Report, COMPLETED
Dinsmore J, Comiskey C and Mills J. , Gridsta Teen Health Promotional Report. , 2012, Report, COMPLETED

  

Awards and Honours

Award Date
Post Doctoral Scholarship awarded from The AIDS Fund 1991
Post Doctoral Scholarship, Society of Actuaries 1991
Doctoral Scholarship The AIDS Fund 1989
Doctoral Scholarship The Health Research Board 1988

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

Professor Comiskey's recognition as a leader in Addiction Research has been recognised internationally and nationally by all relevant leading addiction bodies. . In 2020 she was appointed by the United Nations as their external consultant for the International Narcotics Control Board . In 2019 she was appointed by the European Union's European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction as an external consultant. . From 2017-Present she was elected by her scientific peers to serve as the Vice Chair of the EU's EMCDDA Scientific Committee . From 2014 to Present she was selected to serve on the Scientific Committee of the EMCDDA from an international competition . From 2017 to Present she was nominated by Minister Byrne as the academic expert on the Implementation Committee of the National Drug Strategy . From 2015-2017 she was nominated by then minister of Health to serve on the National drug Strategy Team . From 2012 to 2016 she was nominated by Ministers Alex White and Aodan O'Riordan to serve as the Chair of the National advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol . From 2017 to Present she has served voluntarily on the Board of the Ana Liffey Drug Project Charity. . From 2006-2008 Professor Comiskey was appointed by Minister of Education, Mary Hannafin to serve on the Board of the Irish Research Council. In the last five years Professor Comiskey has successfully obtained over €2 million in personal research funding either as Principal Investigator or as Leading Quantitative Investigator from a range of international and national funding bodies. In total she has obtained over €6m in the past 20 years.