The President and Governing Body of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT ) have announced the appointment of Mr Justin Kerr as the new Vice President of GMIT Mayo and Head of the newly established School of Health Science, Wellbeing & Society, succeeding Professor Neville McClenaghan.
Kerr first joined GMIT in 2015 as Head of the Department of Nursing, Health Sciences and Social Care, and has led the team in creating and delivering a suite of new programmes at undergraduate and post graduate level.
Prior to joining GMIT, he was Assistant Director of Nursing in Mayo General Hospital, where he had responsibility for the clinical learning environment of undergraduate honours degree nursing students in hospitals across the HSE West region.
Mr Kerr has extensive experience in nursing practice in Ireland, the UK and Australia and has held management positions in nursing, risk management and general management.
He is a Registered General Nurse and is currently a member of the undergraduate site inspection team for the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland.
He has been involved in, and led on, numerous national and regional initiatives within the Health Service Executive (HSE ); he was Regional Co-ordinator for Acute Hospital Services for HSE west with responsibility for coordinating the development of acute care services along the western seaboard, and he led a project to establish the Symptomatic Breast Disease Network between Letterkenny General Hospital and University Hospital Galway.
As well as having a strong clinical background, Mr Kerr holds a Master Degree in Population Health Evidence from Manchester University, a post graduate specialist Diploma in Quality Management from University of Limerick, and a post graduate Diploma in Emergency Nursing from NUI Galway.
He is a Fellow with the NHS National Education Scotland Patient Safety Programme and he is currently studying for a PhD with NUI Galway.
He holds a Black Belt in Lean Management Systems (healthcare ) and has presented to the Irish Centre of Business Excellence annual Lean Symposium in developing Lean systems in health care.
The President of GMIT, Dr Orla Flynn, stated: "The establishment of a new GMIT School led from our Mayo campus is a significant development for both GMIT and the entire western region.
"We are delighted to have appointed Mr Justin Kerr to this key senior role and we wish him every success. GMIT is facing an exciting stage of development as, along with our Connacht-Ulster Alliance partners IT Sligo and Letterkenny IT, we journey towards becoming a Technological University. We look forward to seeing our Mayo campus placed at the very heart of this new university.”
Speaking about his appointment, Justin Kerr said: "I look forward to continuing to build on success and creating opportunities within the new school and to work closely with the community and the region."
