
Prof Deborah McNamara is President of RCSI and Consultant General & Colorectal Surgeon at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
She qualified from Trinity College Dublin and completed surgical training in Ireland and France, specializing in surgical management of colorectal cancer.
She was appointed Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon in 2003, becoming the first woman in Ireland to hold this title. She was Programme Director of the National Higher Surgical Training Programme in General Surgery (2010-2013) and Clinical Director for Surgery at Beaumont Hospital (2014-2017).
Her work as Chair of the Colorectal Cancer Guidelines and Clinical Leads groups of the Irish National Cancer Control Programme (2011-2024) lead to the publication of the first National Clinical Guidelines for colon and rectal cancer, endorsed by the Minister for Health as national policy. In 2017, she chaired the group that published the RCSI PROGRESS report, setting out an ambitious strategy to improve gender equality in surgery in Ireland. She served as Co-Lead of the National Clinical Programme for Surgery (2017-2024), leading large-scale healthcare improvement programmes in areas such as patient safety, operating theatre efficiency, surgical care pathways and models of care for surgical specialties.
She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers focusing on colorectal cancer, healthcare improvement and patient safety. Her work has been recognised with a number of national and international distinctions including the Patey Prize of the Surgical Research Society, the AWS Olga Jonasson Award, the Millin Lecture and Honorary Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons.