Professor Donal O’Donoghue was a Mentor with the NIA from its start in 2015, continuing to support the programme and offer expert guidance to Fellows up until his death in early 2021.
Donal was Medical Director of the Greater Manchester Academic Health Science Network. He was a Consultant Renal Physician at Salford Royal since 1992 where he was also University of Manchester Professor of Renal Medicine. He was most recently President of the Renal Association. He had extensive experience in policy development and leading large-scale improvement. Donal led the development of the National Service Framework for Renal Services and chairs the board of trustees of the British Kidney Patient Association, the largest kidney charity in the UK.
He was the National Director for Kidney Care at the Department of Health between 2006 and 2013. During this time he chaired the National Directors Forum, the Vascular Board and the Pandemic Influenza Clinical and Operational group. He was a member of Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Body. Until his death, Donal was a practising kidney doctor, active researcher and in addition to his commitment to Greater Manchester and Liverpool, he was the Chair of the Greater Manchester, Lancashire and South Cumbria Clinical Senate, which provides clinical advice to commissioners.