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The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD has announced Ireland’s new National Science Advice Forum and appointed 12 members from across healthcare and higher education. The  includes UL’s Head of School of Medicine, Professor Colum Dunne.

The Government Science Advisor (Professor Aoife McLysaght) will now convene and chair the National Science Advice Forum which will assist her in providing advice. Membership will be for a period of three years and participation in the forum is voluntary and unremunerated.

Professor Colum Dunne BSc (Hons), PhD, MBA, LLM, FRCPath is currently the Head (Dean) of the School of Medicine at ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ and Foundation Professor and Director of Research. Colum has served as Interim Director of the HSE’s Intern Network (Mid-West). He served in two terms of the University’s Governing Authority (University Board). He was appointed Honorary Professor at Queen’s University Belfast in 2024. He is Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (London) (FRCPath), Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, and Royal Society of Medicine (London). He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy Life and Health Sciences Committee (RIA). Colum is a Trustee and Council Member of the Healthcare Infection Society (London).

Colum began his third level education at University College Cork (UCC). He held senior research roles at Ireland's National Food Biotechnology Centre, UCC's BioMerit Research Centre & the Departments of Microbiology and Medicine in UCC following a period of research at Michigan State University, USA. Having been General Manager of a cancer research centre (supported largely through philanthropy) developing gene-/chemotherapies and innovative medical devices, Colum joined multinational Glanbia Plc as Director of Research, and served for five years as a Director and member of the Boards of the Glanbia Nutritionals group of companies.

He is an inventor on multiple patents, and was CEO and Founding Director of SoloPep Ltd, which commercialised an infection risk-reduction medical device for patients with respiratory illness. Colum has published extensively (>275 peer-reviewed articles). His research aims to better understand intestinal diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, medical device innovation, microbial colonisation and infection, host response, healthcare associated infections, prevention and ways to mitigate effects. Further research focuses on medico-legal aspects of vulnerable populations.