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Desmond O’Neill

Trinity College Dublin


Desmond O’Neill

As a medical undergraduate of TCD, Prof O’Neill spent a year in Marseille as a volunteer with a NGO working with older people, and with electives in Hamburg. He subsequently trained as a geriatrician in St James’s Hospital and the University of Bristol. Following an appointment as consultant geriatrician in Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham he returned to Dublin and currently is the senior academic in Medical Gerontology at the TCD campus at Tallaght University Hospital. His focus of research (h-index 45 (Scopus), 55 (Google), 247 (i10)) is rooted in gerontology and the neurosciences, with a strong emphasis on liaison with the humanities. He has pioneered a number of initiatives, including first Medical Director of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland; founder-Chair of Council on Stroke of Irish Heart Foundation; co-PI on first Irish longitudinal study on ageing (HESSOP-2); co-PI on Irish National Audits of Stroke and Dementia Care; founder-editor of first Irish gerontology journal ‘Irish Ageing Studies Review’; chair of Irish government Working Group on Elder Abuse, producing blueprint ‘Protecting Our Future’; co-founder National Centre for Arts and Health; member of team that developed the European Masters in Gerontology; co-PI on first Irish Cochrane Review on ageing; and founder member and subsequent president of the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society. He has subsequently led on the Irish Traffic Medicine Programme, which has developed innovative Certificates in Traffic Medicine and Road Safety with the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland. He has been extensively involved in the Age-Friendly University initiative, successfully proposing to adoption in TCD and the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and on the steering committee of the founding Age-Friendly University, Dublin City University. He has been honoured as the first Irish gerontologist to be awarded Fellowship of the Gerontological Society of America, and first Irish geriatrician to be awarded Fellowship of the American Geriatrics Society. From a humanities perspective, he co-chairs Medical and Health Humanities in TCD’s Long Room Hub, and is a former Chair of the Humanities, Arts and Cultural Gerontology Advisory Panel of the Gerontological Society of America.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Countries Ireland;
Topics COVID-19 and other infectious diseases and LTC; Governance and LTC systems organisation; Quality and accreditation for LTC services;
Methods Guidelines development; Literature reviews and synthesis;
Role Research;
Interest Groups Long-Term Care Policy;
Websitehttps://www.tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=doneill
ORC.ID0000-0002-5542-9897
GOOGLE SCHOLARhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=srRxKfEAAAAJ&hl=en&inst=12264121670432426636
Twitterhttps://x.com/Age_Matters
Research interests

As above

Key publications

1: Dyer AH, Fallon A, Noonan C, Dolphin H, O’Farrelly C, Bourke NM, O’Neill D,
Kennelly SP. Managing the Impact of COVID-19 in Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care
Facilities: An Update. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2022 Sep;23(9):1590-1602. doi:
10.1016/j.jamda.2022.06.028. Epub 2022 Jul 4. PMID: 35922016; PMCID: PMC9250924.

2: Aalto UL, Pitkälä KH, Andersen-Ranberg K, Bonin-Guillaume S, Cruz-Jentoft AJ,
Eriksdotter M, Gordon AL, Gosch M, Holmerova I, Kautiainen H, Kivipelto M,
Macijauskiene J, O’Neill D, van den Noortgate N, Ranhoff AH, Schols JMGA,
Singler K, Stankunas M, Ouslander JG. COVID-19 pandemic and mortality in nursing
homes across USA and Europe up to October 2021. Eur Geriatr Med. 2022
Jun;13(3):705-709. doi: 10.1007/s41999-022-00637-1. Epub 2022 Mar 17. PMID:
35299261; PMCID: PMC8929245.

3: Dyer AH, Noonan C, McElheron M, Batten I, Reddy C, Connolly E, Pierpoint R,
Murray C, Leonard A, Higgins C, Reilly P, Boran G, Phelan T, McCormack W,
O’Neill D, Fallon A, Brady G, O’Farrelly C, Bourke NM, Kennelly SP. Previous
SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Age, and Frailty Are Associated With 6-Month Vaccine-
Induced Anti-Spike Antibody Titer in Nursing Home Residents. J Am Med Dir Assoc.
2022 Mar;23(3):434-439. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.12.001. Epub 2022 Jan 11.
PMID: 35219507; PMCID: PMC8748020.

4: Blain H, Rolland Y, Schols JMGA, Cherubini A, Miot S, O’Neill D, Martin FC,
Guérin O, Gavazzi G, Bousquet J, Petrovic M, Gordon AL, Benetos A. August 2020
Interim EuGMS guidance to prepare European Long-Term Care Facilities for
COVID-19. Eur Geriatr Med. 2020 Dec;11(6):899-913. doi:
10.1007/s41999-020-00405-z. Epub 2020 Nov 3. PMID: 33141405; PMCID: PMC7608456.

5: Anderson DC, Grey T, Kennelly S, O’Neill D. Nursing Home Design and COVID-19:
Balancing Infection Control, Quality of Life, and Resilience. J Am Med Dir
Assoc. 2020 Nov;21(11):1519-1524. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2020.09.005. PMID:
33138934; PMCID: PMC7603995.

6: Kennelly SP, Dyer AH, Noonan C, Martin R, Kennelly SM, Martin A, O’Neill D,
Fallon A. Asymptomatic carriage rates and case fatality of SARS-CoV-2 infection
in residents and staff in Irish nursing homes. Age Ageing. 2021 Jan
8;50(1):49-54. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afaa220. PMID: 32986806; PMCID: PMC7543256.

7: O’Neill D, Briggs R, Holmerová I, Samuelsson O, Gordon AL, Martin FC; Special
Interest Group in Long Term Care of the European Geriatric Medicine Society.
COVID-19 highlights the need for universal adoption of standards of medical care
for physicians in nursing homes in Europe. Eur Geriatr Med. 2020
Aug;11(4):645-650. doi: 10.1007/s41999-020-00347-6. Epub 2020 Jun 17. PMID:
32557250; PMCID: PMC7298916.

8: Gordon AL, Goodman C, Achterberg W, Barker RO, Burns E, Hanratty B, Martin
FC, Meyer J, O’Neill D, Schols J, Spilsbury K. Commentary: COVID in care homes-
challenges and dilemmas in healthcare delivery. Age Ageing. 2020 Aug
24;49(5):701-705. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afaa113. PMID: 32402088; PMCID:
PMC7239229.

9: Fallon A, Dukelow T, Kennelly SP, O’Neill D. COVID-19 in nursing homes. QJM.
2020 Jun 1;113(6):391-392. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcaa136. PMID: 32311049; PMCID:
PMC7188176.

10: O’Neill D. Protecting Our Longevity Dividend During Covid-19. Ir Med J. 2020
Apr 3;113(4):50. PMID: 32268044.

11: Horgan E, Lawson S, O’Neill D. Oropharyngeal dysphagia among patients newly
discharged to nursing home care after an episode of hospital care. Ir J Med Sci.
2020 Feb;189(1):295-297. doi: 10.1007/s11845-019-02061-0. Epub 2019 Jul 22.
PMID: 31332709.

12: O’Neill D. Reflecting on our perceptions of the worth, status and rewards of
working in nursing homes. Age Ageing. 2018 Jul 1;47(4):502-504. doi:
10.1093/ageing/afy065. PMID: 29688250.

13: Grace AR, Briggs R, Kieran RE, Corcoran RM, Romero-Ortuno R, Coughlan TL,
O’Neill D, Collins R, Kennelly SP. A comparison of beers and STOPP criteria in
assessing potentially inappropriate medications in nursing home residents
attending the emergency department. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2014;15(11):830-4. doi:
10.1016/j.jamda.2014.08.008. Epub 2014 Oct 7. PMID: 25304180.

14: Briggs R, Coughlan T, Collins R, O’Neill D, Kennelly SP. Nursing home
residents attending the emergency department: clinical characteristics and
outcomes. QJM. 2013 Sep;106(9):803-8. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hct136. Epub 2013 Jul
1. PMID: 23818688.

15: O’Neill D. Falls in older people in long-term care. Lancet. 2013 Apr
6;381(9873):1179-80. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60792-8. PMID: 23561990.

16: Horgan F, McGee H, Hickey A, Whitford DL, Murphy S, Royston M, Cowman S,
Shelley E, Conroy RM, Wiley M, O’Neill D. From prevention to nursing home care:
a comprehensive national audit of stroke care. Cerebrovasc Dis.
2011;32(4):385-92. doi: 10.1159/000330640. Epub 2011 Oct 8. PMID: 21986027.