Executive Committee

President: Dr Silke Ryan (2021-2024)

Dr Silke Ryan is a Consultant in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at St. Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin and Associate Professor at University College Dublin and Principal Investigator at the Conway Institute, UCD. She graduated in medicine from the University of Jena, Germany in 1998, received her MD by thesis in 1999 and was awarded her PhD degree from UCD in 2006. Dr Ryan has a special interest in respiratory sleep disorders and non-invasive ventilation. Her research focuses on the broad subject of cardiovascular disease mechanisms of obstructive sleep apnoea and in particular, inflammatory responses to intermittent hypoxia.

Her research has been published widely with over 80 original manuscripts in prestigious journals such as Circulation, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the European Respiratory Journal and her achievements to date have been recognized by numerous invitations to speak at international conferences and by receiving multiple international awards. These include the highly prestigious James Skatrud New Investigator Award from the American Thoracic Society in 2012 and the Cournand Lecturer Award from the European Respiratory Society in 2015, the latter recognizing the most successful young European young investigator in the whole field of pulmonary medicine.

Secretary: Dr Brian Kent (2021-2024)

  • Niall Smyth (Treasurer)
  • Patricia Boyle (Treasurer)
  • Aisling McGowan (IICMS Representative)
  • Dr Sheila Javadpour
  • Dr Eddie Moloney

President: Dr Silke Ryan
(2021-2024)

Dr Silke Ryan is a Consultant in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at St. Vincent’s University Hospital Dublin and Associate Professor at University College Dublin and Principal Investigator at the Conway Institute, UCD. She graduated in medicine from the University of Jena, Germany in 1998, received her MD by thesis in 1999 and was awarded her PhD degree from UCD in 2006. Dr Ryan has a special interest in respiratory sleep disorders and non-invasive ventilation. Her research focuses on the broad subject of cardiovascular disease mechanisms of obstructive sleep apnoea and in particular, inflammatory responses to intermittent hypoxia.

Her research has been published widely with over 80 original manuscripts in prestigious journals such as Circulation, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the European Respiratory Journal and her achievements to date have been recognized by numerous invitations to speak at international conferences and by receiving multiple international awards. These include the highly prestigious James Skatrud New Investigator Award from the American Thoracic Society in 2012 and the Cournand Lecturer Award from the European Respiratory Society in 2015, the latter recognizing the most successful young European young investigator in the whole field of pulmonary medicine.

Secretary: Dr Brian Kent
(2021-2024)

Dr Kent is a consultant respiratory and sleep physician. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he completed specialist training in respiratory medicine in Dublin, before undertaking a three-year Health Research Board-funded Research Training Fellowship in Sleep Medicine.

Following this, he was appointed as a consultant in respiratory and sleep medicine in Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, London in 2013. Over the following six years, he helped build one of Europe’s largest multidisciplinary sleep services, and also established one of the largest severe asthma services in the UK, before returning to St James’s Hospital in 2019.

Dr Kent’s clinical practice encompasses the full range of physical sleep disorders, from obstructive sleep apnoea to parasomnia to narcolepsy, and the care of people with difficult and severe asthma, alongside other respiratory diseases.

  • Dr Katherine Finan (President-elect)
  • Dr Barry Kennedy (Secretary-elect)
  • Mark Traynor (Treasurer)
  • Megan McGrane (IICMP Representative)
  • Dr Sheila Javadpour
  • Dr Eddie Moloney