Professor John R. Higgins

Professor John R. Higgins commenced as Principal Investigator of HIHI in 2016. In this role he is the holder of the EI grant for HIHI and responsible for the preparation, conduct, and administration of the research grant, in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and institutional policy governing the conduct of sponsored research. He is responsible for the budget and all progress reporting in relation to the grant. He also chairs the Steering Committee and sits on the board of the National Oversight Group. From 2012 to 2016 he was PI of the Demonstrator Hub, which preceded Health Innovation Hub Ireland.

John is the UCC Professor and Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, a practising consultant based at Cork University Maternity Hospital and Clinical Director for Maternity Services in South/South West Hospital Group.  He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin.  He trained in Internal Medicine and in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Dublin and Melbourne and returned to Ireland to take up the UCC Chair in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in 2001.   John gained unique experience from leading the 2009 amalgamation of three maternity hospitals to form the state-of-the art Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH).

In April 2011 he was appointed Head of the College of Medicine and Health in University College Cork where he served until January of 2017. John returned full time to CUMH in the role of Clinical Director for Maternity Services in February 2017. He is responsible for the four maternity units in the South/Southwest which deliver one fifth of the babies born in Ireland.  This role is the first of its kind to receive clinical and executive authority over a service under the Health Service Executive.