Dr Louise Kavanagh McBride has been elected President of The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI, the regulator for the professions of nursing and midwifery in Ireland. She succeeds Essene Cassidy, who served as President for the previous seven years.
Dr Kavanagh McBride has served on the Board since 2015, when she was appointed by the Minister for Health as the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA) Institutes of Technology representative. She has been Vice President of the Board since 2017.
During her time on the Board, Dr Kavanagh McBride served as chair of the Education, Training and Standards Committee, and has also served as a member of the Business, Strategy and Finance Committee and the Fitness to Practise Committee.
Originally from Duleek, Co Meath and living in Co Donegal, Dr Kavanagh McBride is a registered general nurse and nurse tutor, specialising in Orthopaedics and Emergency Nursing. She is currently Head of the Department of Nursing and Healthcare at Atlantic Technological University, Donegal providing undergraduate and post-graduate nursing and healthcare-related studies in the North West. She is currently involved in funded research projects in the area of mental health and wellbeing of third level students in partnership with University of Ulster.
In her new role, Dr Kavanagh McBride will oversee the implementation of NMBI’s new Statement of Strategy 2023-2025.
The Board of NMBI has 23 members with a lay majority of 12. Of the remaining 11 members, eight are registered nurses and midwives elected by the professions. The elected members represent the general, children’s, psychiatric, intellectual disability, public health and midwifery disciplines. They represent the areas of nurse training, administration and clinical practice. A further three nurses and midwives are appointed by the Minister of Health. All Board members act in a non-executive capacity
