Orla Gilheaney

Dr. Órla Gilheaney is Assistant Professor in Speech and Language Pathology in the Department of Clinical Speech and Language Studies. She completed her BSc., MSc. and PhD in Trinity College Dublin.

She has clinical experience working in acute, rehabilitation, and palliative care settings and currently works part-time in TCD and part-time in a clinical post-acute rehabilitation setting.

Her research interests focus on normal and disordered swallowing, with a particular emphasis on under-researched invisible illnesses, the lived experience of chronic illness, and patient and public involvement in research. She has active national and international collaborative projects underway which focus on these topics and their translational to patient-centred care.

She has multiple peer-reviewed publications and acts as a reviewer for numerous international peer-review journals. She is an Associate Editor for BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care and a regular reviewer for Cranio.

Her undergraduate teaching focuses on ethics and professional studies, evidence-based practice, and research skills. She also supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate research projects currently and is Vice-Chair of the research Ethics Committee for the School of Linguistic, Speech, and Communication Sciences. She is the Inclusivity Champion for her school and was awarded a Trinity Teaching Excellence Award in 2021.