Tony Holohan
Chief Medical Officer of Ireland
In office
21 May 2008[a] – 1 July 2022
DeputyRonan Glynn
Preceded byJim Kiely
Succeeded byBreda Smyth
Personal details
Born
William Gerard Anthony Holohan

Limerick, Ireland
Children2
EducationCBS Sexton Street
Alma mater
^a Holohan temporarily stepped back as CMO due to family issues on 2 June 2020. Deputy CMO Ronan Glynn was appointed to the office until his return in October 2020.

William Gerard Anthony Holohan is an Irish public health physician who served as Chief Medical Officer of Ireland from May 2008 to 1 July 2022.[1][2][3][4][5] Fergal Bowers described him as being "as familiar as Dr Anthony Fauci in the US and arguably as influential".[6]

Holohan's 14 years leading Ireland's public health strategy encompassed the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the CervicalCheck cancer scandal and the COVID-19 pandemic. He became a prominent figure during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, when he chaired the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), while simultaneously supporting his children and wife as she battled a cancer diagnosis.[7][8]

In March 2022, he announced his intention to step down as Chief Medical Officer, after being appointed as Professor of Public Health Strategy and Leadership at Trinity College Dublin. This caused several days of controversy, and as a result, Holohan announced his retirement as CMO on 1 July and would not take up his planned academic position at TCD.

Career

Chief Medical Officer

Holohan was appointed Deputy Chief Medical Officer in 2001, followed by promotion to Chief Medical Officer in December 2008.[9][10][11][12]

CervicalCheck scandal

Holohan gained prominence during the 2018 CervicalCheck cancer scandal. At the time, a retrospective audit on the cervical smear programme took place which focused on previous smear results of patients diagnosed with cervical cancer. The result of the audit showed that 206 women with a known diagnosis of cervical cancer, had a false negative result on a previous smear test. The results of the retrospective audit were not disclosed to the women in question, with the likely rationale being that disclosure would not change the patient’s (who had a known diagnosis of cervical cancer) clinical outcome. It was reported that Dr Grainne Flannelly, CervicalCheck's clinical director, had advised a gynaecologist not to advise women about the re-evaluated test results, but to file the results instead.[13] A number of these women sued the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Holohan stated that the Department of Health was aware of CervicalCheck’s stance of not informing some women of the outcomes of reviews into their cases, and that a decision was taken not to escalate the matter to the Minister for Health, telling a review panel: "It was reasonable because the information provided in the briefing notes provided by the HSE to the Department was evidence of ongoing improvement to how the service was being delivered, rather than the identification of a problem which, of its nature, required escalation to ministerial level."[14]

Later, as a result of the facts uncovered by the Serious Incident Management Team, officials in the Department of Health and The Chief Medical Officer (Tony Holohan), the Scally review was commissioned. In September 2018, Dr Gabriel Scally showed that there was no proof that the performance of the cervical smear programme, or rates of discordant smears, fell below what is expected of such a program.[15] Similarly, he found no proof of coverup by stakeholders. Dr Gabriel Scally did however find fault with the failure to disclose retrospective audit results to women, despite them having a known diagnosis of cervical cancer.[15] After announcement and publication of the Scally report, which gave the screening programme a clean bill of health Dr Scally went to great lengths to defend the existing cervical screening programme and reinforce public confidence in it. The Scally report was noted to contrast dramatically with the political hysteria of the early ‘scandal’.[16]

COVID-19 pandemic

On 29 February 2020, Holohan announced the first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019, and that the resulting pandemic had spread to Ireland.[17] He gave a televised interview to The Late Late Show on 17 April 2020.[18]

Holohan chaired the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET),[19] a group responsible for the state's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland from the beginning of the pandemic until it disbanded in February 2022.

On 2 July 2020, Holohan made an announcement that he would be taking a hiatus from his position as Chief Medical Officer to care for his family as his wife entered palliative care with multiple myeloma. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn was temporarily appointed to the office until his return in October 2020.[20][21]

On 10 June 2021, Holohan received an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in recognition of his outstanding leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.[22]

On 16 June 2021, he accepted the Freedom of the City of Dublin on behalf of all healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.[23]

Trinity College appointment controversy

On 25 March 2022, Holohan announced that he would step down as Chief Medical Officer on 1 July, after being appointed as Professor of Public Health Strategy and Leadership at Trinity College Dublin.

The confusion over the role began when it was announced on 6 April that he would remain a civil servant and the Department of Health would continue to pay his €187,000 salary.[24][25] In a statement, the Department said that Holohan's new role was an "open-ended secondment" that was "in the public interest" because of the skills he could bring to the third-level sector.[26]

The next day, he told a private session of the Oireachtas Health Committee that he had agreed to "relinquish" his role as CMO and would not be returning to it "at any point in the future".[27]

On 8 April, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there had to be greater transparency around the planned academic role for Holohan at Trinity College, and that the matter had to be paused and reassessed until he received a report from Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.[28] On the same day, the Irish Independent reported that Holohan's salary would be €30,000 higher than other professors working at Trinity College.[29]

On 9 April, as a result of the controversy, Holohan announced that he would retire as CMO on 1 July and would not take up the academic position at Trinity College.[30][31] In a statement, he said he did not wish to see the controversy continue.[32][33]

Other ventures

On 7 July 2022, Holohan announced that he would be starting a new position as an adjunct full professor of public health at University College Dublin, with no salary attached to the position.[34][35]

On 15 September 2022, it was announced that Holohan would be joining the non-executive voluntary board of the Irish Hospice Foundation.[36]

On 13 October 2022, Enfer Medical Ltd. announced that Holohan had been appointed chair of its medical advisory board. The company is an independent laboratory facility providing testing services for sexual health, respiratory health, gut health and genomics.[37]

On 2 November 2022, aCGT Vector, a government part-funded start-up working on developing new treatment solutions for cancer, announced that Holohan had been appointed as non-executive chair of its new strategic advisory board".[38] The board completed its work in April 2023.

Personal life

Holohan was born in Dublin and raised in Limerick. His primary education was at Monaleen N.S.; his secondary education took place at the CBS Sexton Street.[39] He graduated from medical school at University College Dublin in 1991.[2] After training in general practice, he also trained in public health medicine, graduating with a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in 1996. Holohan holds a diploma in healthcare management from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He is a member of the Irish College of General Practitioners (MICGP) and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (FFPHMI).[40]

In 2015, Holohan was awarded the UCD Alumni Award in Public Health.[41]

He met his wife Emer Feely while in medical school,[42] who later became a specialist in public health medicine. The couple have two children, a son and a daughter.[43] His wife died in February 2021 following a long battle with multiple myeloma.[44][45]

On 21 September 2023, Holohan launched the publication of his memoir, We Need To Talk, written with Emily Hourican, at an event in Dublin.[46] The book covers his early life, his time studying medicine, where he met his future wife. He recounts in detail her diagnosis of the blood cancer, multiple myeloma, and subsequent treatment, and its impact on her life and family, over a period of nine years until her death in 2021. Holohan also writes about his time as Chief Medical Officer, covering various public events, including Swine Flu, Cervical Check Audit, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reviewing the book for the Irish Independent, Danielle Barron wrote: "this is a book about grief as much as it is a book about being one of the most polarising characters in public health. To err is human. But doctors, as we so often forget, are human, and Dr Holohan has humanised himself with this searingly honest and personal book." [47]

Holohan appeared on The Late Late Show on 22 September 2023 and spoke about the "difficult" day of his wife's funeral and opened up about the "impactful" moments on the day in an emotional interview with new host Patrick Kielty.[48]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Finn, Christina (1 July 2022). "Dr Tony Holohan to step down as CMO today after 14 years". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Medical Council (Ireland) Register".
  3. ↑ "Gov.ie - Tony Holohan".
  4. ↑ "WHO national counterpart and national technical focal points". 13 March 2020.
  5. ↑ Dr. Tony Holohan - HRB30.ie
  6. ↑ Bowers, Fergal (24 April 2021). "Covid-19: Everything is riding on our next move". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
  7. ↑ Fegan, Catherine (25 March 2022). "Profile: Tony Holohan – the face of Ireland's war on Covid-19 whose words defined the mood of a nation during darkest hours". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  8. ↑ Prosser, Allan (29 September 2023). "Book review: Tony Holohan's slow rise to oversee the health of a nation in crisis". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  9. ↑ "Dr Tony Holohan".
  10. ↑ "New Chief Medical Officer appointed". 8 December 2008.
  11. ↑ "New chief with big challenges".
  12. ↑ "Dr Colm Henry and Dr Tony Holohan".
  13. ↑ Towey, Niamh. "Cancer controversy: director of CervicalCheck stands down". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  14. ↑ Brophy, Daragh. "Cervical Check scandal: Acting HSE boss says sorry for 'confusion and alarm'". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  15. 1 2 "Top medic advised against Cervical Check review". Irish Examiner. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  16. ↑ "Scally report contrasts with political hysteria of early scandal". The Irish Times. 15 September 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  17. ↑ "First case of coronavirus in Republic of Ireland". BBC News. 29 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  18. ↑ "'Important to continue current measures until 5 May', says Dr Holohan". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 18 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  19. ↑ "Chief Medical Officer: People returning from areas affected by coronavirus should 'self-isolate' if displaying symptoms". TheJournal.ie.
  20. ↑ Daly, Adam (2 July 2020). "Dr Tony Holohan to step away from work as Chief Medical Officer for family reasons". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  21. ↑ Leahy, Pat (1 October 2020). "Dr Tony Holohan expected to return to his post next week". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  22. ↑ Cullen, Paul (10 June 2021). "Tony Holohan awarded honorary fellowship for 'outstanding' pandemic leadership". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  23. ↑ "Chief Medical Officer accepts Freedom of the City on behalf of all healthcare workers". The Journal. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  24. ↑ Cullen, Paul; Kelleher, Olivia (6 April 2022). "Donnelly 'fully supports' Tony Holohan's move to Trinity College". The Irish Times. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  25. ↑ O'Regan, Eilish; Gataveckaite, Gabija; O'Connell, Hugh (7 April 2022). "Holohan says his 'fingerprints' were all over creation of new €187k Trinity post as Tánaiste says 'full details' of his secondment should have been made public". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  26. ↑ Duffy, Rónán (8 April 2022). "Explainer: What's going on with Tony Holohan's taxpayer-funded job in Trinity?". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  27. ↑ McGee, Harry (7 April 2022). "Holohan confirms he does not intend to return to role of chief medical officer". The Irish Times. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  28. ↑ Lehane, Mícheál (8 April 2022). "Taoiseach says Holohan secondment has to be paused until report". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  29. ↑ O'Connell, Hugh; O'Regan, Eilish; Ryan, Philip; Gataveckaite, Gabija (8 April 2022). "Dr Tony Holohan's Trinity secondment 'should be paused and reassessed' until report – Taoiseach". Irish Independent. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  30. ↑ O'Connell, Hugh (9 April 2022). "Dr Tony Holohan will not take up academic position at Trinity College Dublin and will leave public service". Irish Independent. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  31. ↑ Hosford, Paul; Moore, Aoife (9 April 2022). "Tony Holohan will not proceed with move to Trinity College". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  32. ↑ "Holohan not proceeding with TCD post, to retire in July". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 9 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  33. ↑ "Tony Holohan says he will not move to TCD and will retire in July". The Irish Times. 9 April 2022. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  34. ↑ Sherlock, Cillian (7 July 2022). "Holohan appointed as adjunct professor at UCD". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  35. ↑ O'Loughlin, Ciara (7 July 2022). "Tony Holohan appointed professor of public health in UCD on a 'pro bono basis'". Irish Independent. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  36. ↑ O'Regan, Eilish (15 September 2022). "Former chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan joins board of the Irish Hospice Foundation". Irish Independent. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  37. ↑ Mulgrew, Seoirse (13 October 2022). "Dr Tony Holohan appointed as chair of Enfer medical advisory board". Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  38. ↑ Morahan, George (2 November 2022). "Tony Holohan Picks Up Business Role With Cellular Therapy Specialist". Business Plus. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  39. ↑ "New Chief Medical Officer appointed". 8 December 2008.
  40. ↑ "New Chief Medical Officer appointed". 8 December 2008.
  41. ↑ "DR TONY HOLOHAN". UCD Alumni Awards. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  42. ↑ Holohan, Tony (21 September 2023). "We Need to Talk Hardcover – 21 Sept. 2023". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  43. ↑ Magliocco, Sarah (17 September 2023). "Former Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan reflects on his wife Emer's illness and final days". RSVPLive.ie. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  44. ↑ Mulgrew, Seoirse (4 October 2022). "Dr Tony Holohan says knowing his wife's end-of-life wishes before her death made the process easier for his family". Irish Independent. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  45. ↑ McCurry, Cate (22 February 2021). "'A void that will never be filled': Tony Holohan pays tribute to wife at funeral". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  46. ↑ Moloney, Aisling (21 September 2023). "Ryan Tubridy says 'history will be kind' to Tony Holohan as he launches book". Evoke.ie . Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  47. ↑ Barron, Danielle (21 September 2023). "Tony Holohan memoir: Former CMO does not admit to a single mistake during the Covid crisis". Irish Independent . Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  48. ↑ Nevin, Emma; Ryan, Cathal (23 September 2023). "Dr Tony Holohan opens up about wife Emer's funeral in emotional Late Late Show interview". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
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