DrDara O'Keeffe

Director, PG Surg Simulation & Skills

Surgical Affairs

  • Director, PG Surg Simulation & Skills
    Surgical Affairs

BIOGRAPHY

Dara O’Keeffe is the Simulation Lead in Postgraduate Surgical Education and Training at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She trained in surgery in Ireland for eight years before entering the field of medical education in 2006. At RCSI she designed and implemented national assessments in technical and non-technical skills, before moving to Boston in 2010. There she held the position of Assistant Director of Simulation-based Learning at the Brigham and Women’s hospital and a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School. In 2015, she returned to RCSI to further expand the postgraduate simulation curriculum in Surgery and Emergency Medicine.

She has over a decade of experience in simulation curriculum planning and delivery across all specialties and allied healthcare professionals, specialising in assessment. She has completed a fellowship in Surgical Education Research and a Masters in Health Professions Education with University of Illinois Chicago. She is a member of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare and a founding committee member of the Irish Association for Simulation.

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Simulation Lead Postgraduate Surgical Education and Training 2016-
    Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dept Surgical Affairs, Dublin, Ireland16 Apr 2019
  • Senior lecturer in Surgical Education and Training, May 2015 -
    Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, DOSA, Dublin, Ireland2015
  • Assistant Director for Simulation-Based Learning,
    Brigham and Women's Hospital, STRATUS centre for medical simulation, Boston, United States2014 - 2015
  • Instructor, Harvard Medical School
    Harvard Medical School, Dept of Surgery, Boston, United States2014 - 2015
  • Curriculum and Faculty Development Educator
    Brigham and Women's Hospital, STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation, Boston, United States2013 - 2014
  • Special Lecturer in Surgical Education
    Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, DOSA, Dublin, Ireland2006 - 2013

DEGREES

  • Mb BCh BAO
    University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland1 Jan 1992 - 1 Jan 1998
  • BMedSci
    University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland1 Jan 1996 - 1 Jan 1998
  • MHPE (Masters Health Professions Education)
    University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, United States1 Jan 2016 - 1 Jan 2019
  • DipHCM
    Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland15 Aug 2019 - 30 Sep 2020

CERTIFICATIONS

  • MRCS (Member of the Royal College of Surgeons)
    Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland2001
    Qualification by exam
  • Surgical Education Research Fellowship
    Association of Surgical Education, USA2010

POSTGRADUATE TRAINING

  • Surgical Trainee
    HSE, Ireland1 Jan 1998 - 1 Jan 2006
    SurgeryResidency
  • Surgical Education Research Fellowship
    Association for Surgical Education, Springfield, United States

LANGUAGES

  • French
    Can read, write and speak

RESEARCH SUB-AREAS

  • Medical Education
  • Simulation
  • Technology Enhanced Learning
  • Surgical Training & Education (incl. Simulation)

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (UNSDGS)

  • 4 Quality Education
  • 3 Good Health and Well Being

RESEARCH CLUSTERS