Skip to nav | Font Size: Normal Large Larger | High Contrast
· Your Voice In Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland ·
Home » The Board » Board Members
Patient and Client Council Board Members are chosen from a wide range of disciplines and represent numerous areas of expertise.
Select a board member to view their full profile
_thumb.jpg)
Dr Maureen Edmondson, OBE, BSc, PhD, FIFST, CSi, FECSS lives in Portaferry. Dr Edmondson is currently Chair of the FareShare Island of Ireland. She has recently completed 5 years as the Northern Ireland member of the OFCOM Communications Consumer Panel and six years as Chair of the Northern Ireland Food Advisory Committee and Northern Ireland Member of the Food Standards Agency Board.
Dr Edmondson is visiting Professor in the School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences and Chair of the Advisory Board to the Northern Ireland Centre for Health and Nutrition (NICHE). She is a Board member of the Institute of Food and Health, University College Dublin and was formerly Director of International Scientific Affairs at Mars Incorporated. She is Chair of the Northern Ireland branch of the Institute of Food Science and Technology.
Cllr Mrs Elizabeth Adger lives in Ballymena. She is an elected representative and member of Ballymena Borough Council.
Cllr Mrs Adger is Chair of Personal Policy Opertional Services, B.B.C, a member of the Board of Governors at Harryville Primary School and Director of Ballee and Harryville Community Enterprise public company.
Cllr Mrs Adger holds no other public appointments and has engaged in political activity for the DUP in the last five years.
Mr Brian Compston lives in Belfast. Mr Compston was formerly Southern Area Manager, Business in the Community and former Head of Domestic Marketing, NIE plc. He is a Trustee Board Member of Citizens Advice NI and was formerly a member on the Eastern Health and Social Services Council until 31 March 2009. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He holds no other public appointments and has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
Dr Paul Coulter MA BSc MB BCh BAO LM
Dr Paul Coulter lives in Lisburn. He is currently engaged in doctoral research focusing on current trends within the church and society in Northern Ireland as well as lecturing part time in Belfast Bible College and assisting churches of various denominations as a visiting speaker.
In the past he has been employed by Glenabbey Church as Director of Youth and Equipping Ministries, by the Belfast Chinese Christian Church as Associate Pastor, and by the Northern Ireland Hospice and the former Belfast City Hospital and Newry and Mourne Trusts as a medical officer. Since April 2005 he has served as a Lay Magistrate in the Belfast Division.
He holds no other public appointments and has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
Mrs Margaret Harte MSc BA (Hons)
Mrs Margaret Harte lives in Omagh. She is an Educational Psychologist by profession and worked within the Schools’ Psychological Service of the Western Education and Library Board prior to taking up the post as Education Officer for Special Education and Designated Officer for Child Protection with the Board in 1998. She represented WELB on the Western Area Child Protection Committee prior to her early retirement from WELB in 2006. Prior to her appointment to the Board of the PCC, Mrs Harte worked as a Lay Chairperson and Convenor for the Eastern and Southern Boards respectively, within the Independent Review Process.
Mrs Harte is currently an Independent Member of the Adoption Panel within the Western Trust. She has not engaged in any political activity within the last five years.
Mr Errol Hutchinson lives in Ballymena. Until 2001, Mr Hutchinson had been a Director of a manufacturing company for some 20 years. He is a Director of Hiddenloop Ltd., a computer software company. He is currently employed, on a part-time basis, as an external advisor by the North Eastern Education and Library Board. He is a Director of Coaching FC, a charitable organisation. He is also a Member of the LiveWires Group and a patient representative on the NI Regional Cardiac Services Network Board.
Mr Hutchinson holds no other public appointments and has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
Miss Elaine Kelly lives in Belfast. Miss Kelly is currently employed by The National Union of Students and Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI) as Project Co-ordinator, Open Your Mind Project. She is also Chair of Brook NI Trustee Board.
Miss Kelly was formerly a Research and Policy Officer with Opportunity Youth.
Miss Kelly holds no other public appointments and has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
Dr Sheila Kelly MB BCh BAO FRSCI
Dr Sheila Kelly lives in Holywood. Dr Kelly retired in October 2008 from her post as Consultant in Palliative Medicine at the Ulster Community Hospital Trust and Medical Director at the Marie Curie Hospice. Dr Kelly was the first Consultant in Palliative Medicine to be appointed in this specialty in the NHS in NI, when she took up her initial post in the Belfast City Hospital in 1997.
Dr Kelly enjoys travelling to experience the richness of other cultures. Closer to home she enjoys walking, gardening, interior design and cooking.
Dr Kelly holds no other public appointments and has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
Dr May McCann PhD, Grad. Cert. Ed., Dip.Soc. Anth. BA
Dr May McCann lives in Belfast. Until early retirement she lectured in Social Anthropology at QUB. She subsequently worked in the voluntary and community sector, in education, research and policy work, initially in the women's sector and more recently in the area of mental health. Research interests and publications are in the area of diversity and equality.
Dr McCann is a Board Member of CAUSE, a regional charity providing peer support and advocacy to mental health carers.
She holds no other public appointments and has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years
Prof Hugh McKenna lives in Jordanstown, Newtownabbey. Prof McKenna is from a nursing background and is currently Dean of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, University of Ulster. Over many years he has been active in practice and research in mental health services, quality of health care and the healthcare workforce. He is a Trustee of the Northern Ireland Mental Health Association. Prof McKenna serves on committees of the Ulster Cancer Foundation, the Parkinson's Disease Society and previously, the DHSSPS.
Prof McKenna holds no other public appointments and has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
Cllr Martin Reilly lives in Derry. He is an elected representative and member of Derry City Council.
He is on the Board of Directors of Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau.
Cllr Reilly holds no other public appointments and is a member of the SDLP.
Mrs Rena Shepherd has extensive senior level experience in the business, voluntary, and Public sectors. She has headed up a number of large organisations in the Oil, Publishing and Postal industries and is described as a “Change agent par excellence”
Since 2005 Mrs Shepherd has held a number of public appointments and part time positions. She was Chair of the Parades Commission from June 2009 to May 2011. She has a number of successes in the mediation field under her belt.
Mrs Shepherd has a passionate and personal interest in disability and spends all her spare time volunteering and lobbying on behalf of a number of disability groups and individuals. In 2006 with the assistance of a grant from Atlantic Philanthropies, she set up the Centre on Human Rights for People with Disabilities in NI. She takes a particular interest in rights based healthcare and hammers home at every opportunity the social rather than the medical model of disability. Mrs Shepherd has lived with chronic pain since her early twenties and is involved in lobbying to have pain recognised as an illness in its own right and for a strategy for pain relief in NI. Rena is a volunteer trainer for Arthritis Care and delivers self management courses for pain and other chronic conditions on their behalf.
Mrs Shepherd maintains her links with the business community and is currently a Director on the Board of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce where she heads up the Policy subcommittee. She tells us that Business is her first love and she enjoys the platform that her role with the Chamber allows her for lobbying and working with local ministers and Assembly members to improve the local economy and encourage inward investment. She also sits on a number of audit and governance committees in the health and voluntary sectors and delivers training around good corporate governance.
Mrs Shepherd was a member of the Women’s Coalition from 1996 until 2004 and was the Business representative on the Bill of Rights Forum.
She relaxes by listening to classical music and opera and attending concerts and performances. She is a Development Board member of the Ulster Orchestra. She is married to Jon and they have 2 grown up sons, 2 daughters in law, and 2 “precious and much loved granddaughters” Abbie and Charlotte.
Cllr Mrs Maria Ina (Marion) Smith BA
Cllr Mrs Marion Smith lives in Bangor. Cllr Mrs Smith is an elected representative and member of North Down Borough Council where she was Mayor in 1999/2000.
Cllr Mrs Smith has chaired and is still an active member of most of the Councils main committees, and is a non executive member of the Patient Client Council, as well as Libraries Board N I. She is a former Chair and member of the local District Policing Partnership and is accredited Neighbourhood Watch Scheme Co-ordinator. Cllr Mrs Smith is an executive member of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association.
She has always had an interest in health issues having been closely involved in the establishment of, and on-going support, for Bangor Community Hospital, forming a small group called the Friends of Bangor Community Hospital which has raised large amounts of money for the local hospital. She has served as a Non-Executive Director on the former Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust and the South Eastern Education & Library Board. She is a member of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust’s Personal & Public Involvement Panel. She also serves on the Board of Governors of a number of schools in the Bangor area.
Cllr Trevor Wilson lives in Cookstown. He is an elected representative and member of Cookstown District Council. Cllr Wilson is currently employed as a Laboratory Supervisor by Lafarge Cement. He is Chairman of Cookstown Enterprise Centre and Chairman of Cookstown Arts and Culture Committee. He is Chair of Sward which help delivers the Rural Development Programme. He was formerly a non-executive director of the former Homefirst Trust.
He has engaged in political activity for the UUP in the last five years.
Ms Koulla Yiasouma MBA BA (Hons)
Ms Koulla Yiasouma lives in Bangor. She is employed by Include Youth as Director with responsibility for the oversight and management of the activities of the organisation ensuring that they promote the rights of and best practice for young people at risk or in need and to ensure the financial viability of the organisation.
Ms Yiasouma has not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.