I graduated with a first class honours degree in psychology from Queen's University Belfast (QUB) and after a year studying clinical - community psychology at the University of South Carolina on a postgraduate scholarship, I returned and completed my PhD in addictive behaviours at QUB. I subsequently undertook clinical psychology training at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. I have held joint appointments in the UK between universities (University of Wales at Bangor and from 1994 Queen's University Belfast) and the health services in each region. My early clinical practice then was within the specialisms of substance misuse, adult mental health and neuropsychology. Since 2000 I have worked within the field of paediatric psychology and neuropsychology. I have also been director of doctoral training programmes in Clinical Psychology at Queen's University Belfast (2001 - 2016) and more recently at University College Cork (2016 - present). My research programme is focused on understanding psychological processes related to outcomes in childhood chronic illness and trialling psychological interventions therein. Working with longitudinal datasets with colleagues from medical and nursing disciplines, we explored neuropsychological phenotypes, psychological models of interventions and developed and evaluated new early intervention programmes to promote adjustment and improve outcomes in these children and their families. I have also been hugely committed to advancing the relevance and influence of clinical and applied psychology in healthcare and society. I have worked through the British Psychological Society and the Division of Clinical Psychology when in the UK and led on many initiatives. These have included a review of accreditation standards for clinical psychology in the UK, establishment of a cross-divisional forum to help bring greater synergy to the work of the divisions in NI, the development of new pre-qualification pathways for a new psychological workforce in NI, being deputy specialty advisor to the chief medical officer for NI, development of an outcomes framework for psychologicalservices in NI and contribution to the work of the psychological therapies strategies and workforce reviews in the region. I have been privileged to have been involved in training the clinical psychologists of the future for over 20 years. I strive to make a real difference to the future of the profession and to the lives of those often marginalised and in distress. This has been the passion underpinning all of my teaching, research and professional activities.

• Psychological and familial processes in understanding outcomes to chronic childhood illness and disability.
• Psychological interventions to promote familial resilience and childhood adjustment to chronic illness and disability.
• Neuropsychological phenotypes in childhood - congenital heart disease, acquired brain injury, epilepsy and other syndromes.
• My work has been within cross-disciplinary research teams and has been focused on children with congenital heart disease, neurological presentation, neurodevelopmental disorders and psychogenic seizures. It has involved working with both cross-sectional and longitudinal data sets. It is highly translational in focus and in large part has focused on the development and evaluation (through RCTs and other controlled evaluations) of family focused intervention programmes delivered at key developmental transitions.
• Previous research interests (still pursued through collaborations with research students) relate to cognitive processes underlying clinical presentations such as addictive behaviours and mood disorders.

• Clinical Psychology; Neuropsychology; Paediatric Psychology; Research Methods
  • Neurodevelopmental outcomes and phenotypes in disorders of childhood
  • Neurological presentations of childhood
  • Psychological processes and interventions in childhood illness and disability
  • Neuropsychological and cognitive assessment
  • Clinical assessment and formulation
  • Personal and professional development
  • Research methods for applied psychologists
  • Addictive behaviours