Article

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Shane McInerney as the Interim Chair of the Clinical Research Ethics Committee in Galway. 

Dr. Shane McInerney is a distinguished General Adult Consultant Psychiatrist with a special interest in mood disorders and medicolegal psychiatry, based in Galway. 

Dr. McInerney has an impressive background, having served as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He was also the clinical lead at "The Centre for Depression and Suicide Studies" at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada, for five years until his return to Ireland in 2019. 

His academic and professional achievements include a prestigious fellowship in Brain and Therapeutics from the University of Toronto, a globally renowned medical institution. During his tenure there, he was honoured with the John M. Cleghorn Research Award and The Connaught Community Partnership Award. 

Dr. McInerney was appointed as the interim chair of the Galway Clinical Research Ethics Committee (CREC) in October 2024. The committee had been without a chair since May 2024, resulting in a backlog of applications awaiting review and approval. Dr. McInerney has diligently collaborated with the wider ethics committee members to address this backlog, revitalizing clinical research activities in Galway that had been stalled due to pending ethical approvals. 

Under Dr. McInerney's leadership, the Galway CREC has made significant progress in clearing the backlog of applications, ensuring all pending reviews are completed promptly. This collective effort from all the members will allow the committee to start 2025 with a clean slate, enabling the seamless and ethical progression of clinical research in Galway. The committee's dedication to efficiency and ethical standards ensures that research activities can resume without delay, fostering an environment where innovative and impactful clinical studies can thrive.