APPEL Team – Appel

Joanne Kissane

Director & National Coordinator of APPEL

Joanne graduated from the School of Pharmacy, Trinity College, Dublin in 2000 and worked as a community pharmacist with Lloyds Pharmacy until 2011 when she became Superintendent Pharmacist for the group, a role she held for seven years. Subsequently, she became Head of Operational Excellence where she was responsible for leading the implementation and management of a highly efficient, customer centric store operating model.

In 2017 she completed a Masters in Quality and Safety in Healthcare Management with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Joanne is serving a second term on the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland as a pharmacist appointee and she is the current President of the PSI Council.

Rachel Hamilton

APPEL Operations Coordinator

Rachel joined the APPEL team as Operations Coordinator in early 2018. Rachel joined us from a start-up healthcare company where she helped to establish their Customer Care Department, training processes, and communications. With previous experience in the financial and tourism industries, Rachel has extensive administration and coordination experience. She holds a BA in French and Music from Trinity College Dublin, a Higher Diploma in Psychology from Dublin Business School, and a Diploma in Project Management from IBAT.

Marius Orac

Operations Coordinator

Marius joined the APPEL team in 2022 as Operations Coordinator. He manages the APPEL Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.

Joining APPEL from the finance industry, with extensive experience in portfolio management, Marius has a number of qualifications from the Institute of Banking as well as a Bachelors degree in Law.

James Horan

Operations Support Pharmacist

James joined the APPEL team as Operations Support Pharmacist in August 2019. James joined us from community pharmacy where he has worked in a patient-facing role since graduating in 2010. James completed his B. Sc(Pharm) in Trinity College, Dublin and his M.Pharm in RCSI. In 2021, James took over as a part-time Practice Educators in RCSI while staying on as a part-time Operations Support Pharmacist on the APPEL Operations team.

Dr. Maria Donovan

Practice Educator, University College Cork (UCC)

Maria returned to UCC as a Practice Educator in 2016 having studied both for her pharmacy degree and her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics at UCC. During her career, Maria has worked in community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and regulatory affairs in industry. In addition to her role as a Practice Educator, Maria is also a Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy at UCC and continues to work in community pharmacy.

Ruth McCarthy

Practice Educator, University College Cork (UCC)

Ruth is a Practice Educator at UCC and has over 20 years’ experience in academia, industry and community pharmacy in Ireland, the UK, New Zealand and Australia including stints at both the School of Pharmacy in University of Auckland and University College Cork. She has also worked in International Pharmaceutical Marketing and Distribution and in On-line Pharmacy. In her most recent role she worked as a Business Manager for 10 years in one of the largest community pharmacy multiples on the island of Ireland. She has an MSc in Business and Management, a Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma, a certificate in Training Delivery and Evaluation and a PG Cert in T&L in Higher Education. Ruth continues to work as a community pharmacist.

Anne Teresa Morgan

Practice Educator, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI)

Anne Teresa is a Practice Educator at the RCSI and has 20 years’ experience in community pharmacy. Anne Teresa has worked in a number of roles within community pharmacy, most recently as RCSI Teacher practitioner with a large multiple, being responsible for training of pharmacy undergraduate student and pharmacy interns. She completed her degree in pharmacy at Queens University Belfast and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy from De Montefort University.

Eimear Ni Sheachnasaigh

Practice Educator, University of Dublin, Trinity College (TCD)

Eimear is an Assistant Professor (Practice Educator) in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Trinity College Dublin and also practices part-time as a pharmacist with the HSE Addiction Services. After completing an internship in hospital Eimear moved into community pharmacy and has worked in a number of roles within both independent pharmacies and large chain multiples. Eimear has undertaken an MSc (Community Pharmacy) with Trinity and is currently pursuing a post-graduate qualification in Global Health Policy with the University of London.