Michael Lohan, head of IDA Ireland’s life sciences, engineering and industrial technology division. Image: IDA Ireland
IDA Ireland announces new role for Michael Lohan.
After 14 years at IDA Ireland in various roles, Michael Lohan has been named as the agency’s new head of its life sciences, engineering and industrial technology division.
In his new role, Lohan will represent IDA in several areas, including as industry advisory board member with the AMBER centre at Trinity College Dublin and BioInnovate at NUI Galway.
He will also operate as an active participant with the Irish Medtech Association, the business group within IBEC representing the medical devices and diagnostics sector.
Prior to this posting, Lohan was leading IDA’s global team as head of medical technologies and healthcare services. Before joining the agency, he held a number of management positions in the private sector as a member of Nortel’s European operational management team.
IDA Ireland CEO Martin Shanahan said: “Michael has a vast experience of what it takes to win foreign direct investment for Ireland through his experience in business development, property and corporate planning within IDA.
“I wish Michael all the very best in this new challenging and results-driven role, and look forward to working closely with him.”
IDA claims that collaborative clusters in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics have been a key element behind the remarkable growth of a sector that directly employs more than 58,000 people, generating exports in excess of €65bn in Ireland.
First woman president of the RCPI
Elsewhere, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) announced earlier this week that it is to appoint Prof Mary Horgan as its new president, the first woman to hold the position in its 363-year history.
Up until this year, Kerry native Horgan was the dean of University College Cork’s School of Medicine, and she will now serve a three-year term with the RCPI.
Horgan is taking up her position from today (18 October) and she told The Irish Times that she was “humbled” by the honour and hopes to be a role model for doctors in training, “both male and female”.
