The cutting edge – Meet the Irish people spearheading the battle against Covid-19 on the world stage

Mike Ryan, Executive Director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme

Born in Sligo and a graduate of NUI Galway and University College Dublin, Dr Mike Ryan has become the unrelenting conscience of the world's fight-back against the virus – and a prominent voice to ensure poorer countries are not left behind in the pandemic.

Dr Ryan was appointed the Executive Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme in 2019.

He joined the WHO in 1996, to work in the newly established unit to respond to emerging and epidemic disease threats.

Dr Ryan currently leads the WHO team responsible for the international response to Covid-19 and he has been at the forefront of managing acute risks to global health for 25 years.

He has been a powerful advocate for a 'one global family' response to the pandemic and equity in the distribution of vaccines.

Last month, he was awarded the inaugural Sir Charles A Cameron Award for Population Health by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, in recognition of his global leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emer Cooke, Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA)

Irishwoman Emer Cooke became executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in November, becoming not only the first Irish person to head the EMA in its 25-year history, but also the first female executive director.

Dr Cooke acknowledged she assumed her EMA role "amid a public health crisis of unprecedented scale”, taking over Europe's foremost medicines body at the peak of a pandemic and with multiple coronavirus vaccines about to be rolled out.

The Dublin pharmacist boasts more than 30 years of senior regulatory experience ranging from the European Commission's pharmaceutical unit to serving as WHO director for all medical product-related regulatory activities.

Ms Cooke studied pharmacy at Trinity College Dublin and graduated in 1982, where she remained afterwards to complete a Masters degrees in Science and in Business Administration.

Her career started in industry but quickly moved into the regulatory space, with appointments first at the Irish drug regulatory authority in the 1980s and then various positions of increasing responsibility at the European Commission, EMA and World Health Organisation (WHO)

The 60-year-old is no stranger to pandemic response, having been part of the EMA's swine flu response in 2009.

Teresa Lambe, co-developer of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine

Irish scientist Prof Teresa Lambe is currently working at Oxford University's Jenner Institute where she co-developed the Oxford–AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

The Kildare native studied pharmacology and molecular genetics at University College Dublin, where she also obtained a PhD in philosophy.

Oxford's vaccine trial has been run by the Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group and has been one of the world's major weapons against the virus thanks to the fact it does not require the demanding low temperature storage controls of other jabs.

Prof Lambe and colleagues co-designed the new vaccine based on the structure of the emerging coronavirus at the start of 2020, and she has worked on bringing it through early trials with collaborators and on delivering some of the results for the large clinical trials.

Prof Lambe stressed that vaccine development teams only took monetary risks to speed up the development process, with full safety checks at every stage of the process.

Speaking to Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 last November, Ms Lambe said: “I’ve never worked as hard, or been as driven.”

She added that it normally takes up to 10 years to develop a vaccine.

Adrian Hill, lead researcher of the Oxford–AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine development

Dublin man Adrian Hill is the director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University where he has been one of the lead researchers producing the Oxford–AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

The Ranelagh native attended Belvedere College before studying medicine at Trinity College Dublin.

He transferred to Magdalen College, Oxford and ended up remaining there to complete the rest of his medical degree, graduating in 1982.

Prof Hill is also a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

His former wife, Prof Sunetra Gupta, is one of the world's leading experts on infectious diseases.

British media reported that Mr Hill could be set to earn €29.9m (£26m) as the tech firm Vaccitech hit the US stock market last week.

The 62-year-old owns 5.2pc of Vaccitech, which will later float on America's Nasdaq exchange.

Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

The Belfast native created the European Centre on Health of Societies in Transition, a WHO Collaborating Centre, which he led for over a decade.

He is also research director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, a partnership of universities, national and regional governments, international agencies and Past President of the European Public Health Association.

Mr McKee was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and trained as a doctor at Queen’s University Belfast. He specialised initially in internal medicine at Belfast City Hospital.

Mr McKee has been a central voice amongst medical experts in the UK, where he has contributed to dozens of research studies and made regular media appearances analysing Covid-19.

In 2015, he was included in the Thomson Reuters list of the top 1pc most cited researchers worldwide.

In the same year, he was awarded the Donabedian International Award which recognises outstanding, life-long achievement in the area of improving health outcomes.

Visit our Covid-19 vaccine dashboard for updates on the roll out of the vaccination program and the rate of Coronavirus cases Ireland

Online Editors