Extension of the Non-Executive Chair and three Non-Executive Members of the Patient and Client Council Board

1. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process.  However, the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland requires the political activity of appointees (if any declared) to be published.  All appointees declared that they had not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.

2. Professor Maureen Edmondson, OBE, BSc, PhD, FIFST, CSi, FECSS lives in Portaferry. She served six years as Chair of the Northern Ireland Food Advisory Committee and as Northern Ireland Member of the Food Standards Agency Board. She is a Trustee of the Institute of Food Science and Technology and has been its President April 2015-17. Maureen is a Board Member of FareShare UK and is Chair of the Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland for OFCOM the Communications Regulator. She is a visiting Professor in the University of Ulster School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences. Maureen was first appointed to the Patient and Client Council on 7th March 2011.

Professor Hugh McKenna lives in Jordanstown and recently moved from being Pro Vice Chancellor for Research at Ulster University to lead the development of its new medical school. He has over 250 publications including 11 books and over £7 million in grants. He is a Fellow of several academies and Royal Colleges. In 2008 he was made Commander of the British Empire (CBE). In 2014, he was presented with two Lifetime Achievement Awards.  He Chairs the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health (now Inspire Wellbeing) and the Hong Kong Council’s Accreditation Panel. He is a Director of the Patient and Client Council and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Oct 2016 from Napier Edinburgh University.  He chaired the 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework for nursing, allied health professionals, pharmacy and dentistry.  He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas, USA, University of Moribor, Slovenia, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia and Trinity College Dublin and Head of the Visiting Committee at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a member of the International Scientific Advisory Board at King’s College London and on the International Research Advisory Board for the Swedish Research Council.  He is married with a son and a daughter.

Doctor May McCann PhD, Grad. Cert. Ed., Dip.Soc. Anth. BA lives in Belfast. Until early retirement she lectured in Social Anthropology at QUB. She subsequently worked in the voluntary and community sector, in education, research and policy work, initially in the women's sector and more recently in the area of mental health. Her research interests include Irish culture, gender, equality and ‘involvement and co-production’. She is a current member, and previous Chair, of the Bamford Monitoring Group, the service user and carer group working towards the effective implementation of the recommendations of the Bamford Review of Mental Health and Learning Disability. Dr McCann is also involved as a carer in a range of mental health bodies within the Department of Health, the Health and Social Care Board, the Public Health Agency, the Belfast HSC Trust and in professional and educational sectors. She is currently Chair of CAUSE, a regional charity providing peer support and advocacy to mental health carers. She holds no other public appointments.

Mr Brian Compston lives in Belfast. Mr. Compston was formerly Southern Area Manager, Business in the Community and former Head of Domestic Marketing, NIE plc. He was previously a Trustee Board Member of Citizens Advice NI until December 2016 and was formerly a member on the Eastern Health and Social Services Council until 31 March 2009. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Mr. Compston holds no other public appointments.

3. Media enquiries to DoH Press Office on 028 9052 0579.  Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07623 974383 and your call will be returned. Follow us on twitter @healthdpt