TILDA researcher announced as new CARDI ageing research fellow

The Leadership Programme in Ageing Research funds and supports a new generation of leaders in ageing research in Ireland, North and South.

The CARDI Fellows will be post-doctoral researchers, funded for a period of up to 3 years who will study a topic related to healthy ageing and take part in training and development activities to build up their independence and leadership. CARDI has recently launched a second call for applications for its Programme. 

The second fellow announced was Dr Mark O’Doherty, Queen’s University Belfast, whose subject will be ‘Understanding disability and frailty and how they are reported in older adults in different jurisdictions and their contribution to inequalities in health’.

“We are delighted to announce the funding of two successful candidates from our first Leadership call and look forward to receiving high quality nominations for this call,” said CARDI Co-Chair, Professor Davis Coakley. “This innovative programme seeks to select and support outstanding scholars to carry out excellent research and to develop all aspects of their research including knowledge translation.”

“By investing directly in these fellows we aim to foster a strong community of researchers in ageing who will conduct innovative policy-relevant research that can help meet the needs of our rapidly ageing population,” said Professor Coakley.

The CARDI Leadership Programme in Ageing Research is funded by the Health and Social Care Research and Development Division Northern Ireland and The Atlantic Philanthropies.

About Dr O’Halloran:

Dr Aisling O’Halloran research topic for the CARDI Leadership Programme will be ‘Frailty in Ireland, north and south’. Dr O’ Halloran joined The Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing (TILDA) at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) as a post-doctoral fellow in health research in January 2012.  Her current research interests include all aspects of frailty, resilience and falls, with an interest in characterising the physiological, cognitive and behavioural factors which predispose or protect older people to these outcomes. She is the research lead on both the Frailty Working Group and the Biomarker Working Group within TILDA, with responsibility for TILDA Biobanking and Biomarkers. Dr. O’Halloran has published original research in high impact journals and presented at scientific and medical conferences both nationally and internationally.

Prior to joining TILDA, Dr. O’Halloran was the Senior Researcher on the Falls Prevention Strand at the Technology Research for Independent Living (TRIL) Centre at St. James’s Hospital, Dublin, Ireland (2010-2011). A multi-disciplinary team focused on utilising ageing research to inform the development of technologies to promote independent living.

Previously, Dr. O’Halloran spent three years conducting post-doctoral research in the areas of genetics and immunology with the School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine at University College Dublin (2009) and the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College, Dublin (2006-2008). Dr. O’ Halloran holds a Ph.D. in cardiovascular disease and genetics from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and a B.A. (Mod) in Natural Science, specialising in genetics, from Trinity College Dublin.