NIPC Webinar Series: New Blood Pressure Guidelines –
What’s Changed, Why, and How to Implement?
Meet the Experts Session in Recognition of World Hypertension Day 2025
In recognition of World Hypertension Day 2025, the National Institute for Prevention and Cardiovascular Health (NIPC) was proud to host a special Meet the Experts session, spotlighting the new ESC Guidelines for the management of elevated blood pressure and hypertension.
Participants had the opportunity to meet the very experts who wrote the guidelines, hear firsthand why the changes were made, and get practical advice on how to bring them into your day-to-day clinical practice. For participants working in primary care or managing more complex cases, this session equipped them with the latest insights and tools for improved patient outcomes.
The session concluded with a live panel discussion, giving attendees the chance to ask their questions directly to the guideline authors.
Topics include:
- Latest Blood Pressure Guidelines: Key New Messages and Why
- How to Implement the New Guidelines: Case-Based Approach (from Primary Care Settings to Managing Resistant Hypertension)
- Ask the Experts Q&A Session
Speakers include:
- Chair: Dr Eamonn O’Shea, HSE/ICGP Integrated Care GP Clinical Lead (Cardiovascular)
- Professor Bill McEvoy, Co-Chair of the ESC Guidelines for the Management of Elevated Blood Pressure and Hypertension; Professor of Preventive Cardiology University of Galway; NIPC Research and Medical Director
- Professor Rhian Touyz, Co-Chair of the ESC Guidelines for the Management of Elevated Blood Pressure and Hypertension; Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Canada
Sponsors have funded the organisation of this NIPC Series, however, none of these sponsors have had any influence over the educational/scientific content of presentations or the agenda
Previous NIPC Series Webinars
On March 5th, in support of International Women’s Day, NIPC in collaboration with Global Heart Hub, hosted an insightful webinar exploring the unique challenges women face in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our expert speakers covered key topics, including missed diagnoses, sex-specific differences in treatment, premature heart disease, and the impact of menopause and obesity.
Despite being the leading cause of death in women globally, CVD is often under-recognized, under-diagnosed, and undertreated in women. Symptoms can present differently than in men, leading to delays in diagnosis and care.
Topics include:
- Late, Missed and Mis-Diagnosis of Heart Disease in Women: Lived Experience
- Hypertension, Lipids and Diabetes: Sex and Gender Specific Differences in Management
- Case-Based Spotlight: Premature Heart Disease in Women and How Best to Manage Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Cardiometabolic Health in a New Era of Therapeutics
- Menopause and Obesity: The Truths that Every Practitioner Should Know
Speakers:
- Dr Jennifer Jones – Director of Training and Education, NIPC
- Annie Costelloe – Global Heart Hub Women and Heart Disease Working Group; Head of Patient & Community Engagement, Croí
- Rhonda Monroe – Global Heart Hub International Patient Advocate Community
- Dr Anastasia S. Mihailidou – Head of Cardiovascular & Hormonal Research, Kolling Institute; Senior Hospital Scientist, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia
- Dr Susan Connolly – Consultant Cardiologist, University Hospital Galway and CHO2
- Dr Caoimhe Hartley – GP and Clinical Lead of Complex Menopause Clinic, Rotunda Hospital, Dublin
For our NIPC Series webinar Heart Failure Matters, 26th September 2023, an expert panel came together to share their experiences and insights on the key challenges faced with managing and treating people living with Heart Failure. This was held in collaboration with the Irish Nurses Cardiovascular Association (INCA)
Our experts discussed the latest updates from The National Programme for Heart Failure in Ireland, new developments in pharmacological management, detection and screening, as well as patient self-management and carer considerations. This was followed by an expert panel discussion and audience Q&A session.
Agenda Includes;
- Welcome and Introduction
Maria Hayes, President, Irish Nurses Cardiovascular Association - The National Programme for Heart Failure in Ireland – Past, Present and Future
Prof Ken McDonald, Clinical Lead, National Heart Programme; St Vincent’s University Health Care Group - Important Updates in Pharmacological Management
Mairead Lehane, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Mallow General Hospital - Is it Heart Failure? Detection and Screening in People with Other Co-Morbidities
Michelle Carey, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Tallaght University Hospital - Living with Heart Failure: Somatic Awareness, Self-Management and Carer Considerations
Norma Caples, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, University Hospital Waterford - Expert Panel Discussion and Audience Q and A
Chair: Dr Brendan O’Shea, GP & Principal in Practice; Assistant Adjunct Professor at Trinity College Dublin
New Approaches to the Management of Residual Risk – An Era Beyond Statins
The NIPC Series ‘New Approaches to the Management of Residual Risk – An Era Beyond Statins’, was held on 17th May 2023. An expert panel came together to discuss a wide range of topics from advances in pharmacological management to lifestyle approaches that can all be used in the treatment of residual risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
In this NIPC Series webinar our expert panel shared their insights on the progress of currently available therapies along with the best-available evidence in pharmacological and lifestyle approaches.
The panel discussions had a strong practical focus on how to apply managing residual risk across hospital, general practice and community settings.
NIPC would like to thank all of the speakers and sponsors for making this informative and engaging series possible.
- Prof Derek Connolly, Consultant Cardiologist, Birmingham City & Sandwell Hospitals
- Dr Jennifer Jones, Director of Training and Education, NIPC
- Noeleen Fallon, Specialist Nurse in Cardiac Rehabilitation, Tallaght University Hospital
- Dr Niamh Moran, GP, Irish Society of Lifestyle Medicine
- Chair: Dr Susan Connolly, Consultant Cardiologist, Integrated Care, University Hospitals Galway and CHO
Menopause and Heart Health – The Essential Facts
In support of International Women’s Day 2023 NIPC hosted a NIPC Series webinar ‘Menopause and Heart Health – The Essential Facts’.
A panel of experts from Ireland and Northern Ireland came together to share their insights on key challenges specific to menopause and women’s heart health. Women face many unique health challenges throughout their lives and this webinar explored cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and menopause. Our speakers shared their perspectives from General Practice, Cardiology, Gynaecology and the lived patient experience.
Thank you to all our speakers
- Dr Deirdre Lundy, Clinical Lead, Complex Menopause Service, National Maternity Hospital, Dublin
- Dr Sandra McNeill, Obstetrician & Gynaecologist Consultant, Western Health and Social Care Trust
- Dr Susan Connolly, Consultant Cardiologist, Integrated Care, University Hospitals Galway and CHO2 West
- Dr Nicola Cochrane, GP & Menopause Specialist, Carrig Clinic and National Maternity Hospital, Dublin
- Annie Costelloe, Head of Patient Community Engagement, Croí, West of Ireland Cardiac & Stroke Foundation
- Chair: Maire-Louise Connolly, Health Correspondent, BBC Northern Ireland.
Join the NIPC Alliance
Bringing together Institutions, Healthcare Providers, and Industry in preventive action. In addition, the NIPC Alliance offers patients and members of the public a platform for information exchange and discovery with the aim of empowerment and self care.
Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe
Fionnuala McAuliffe is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at National Maternity Hospital Dublin, Head of Women’s and Child’s Health at University College Dublin and Director of the UCD Perinatal Research Centre, a multidisciplinary research centre aiming to improve outcome for mother and baby though clinically relevant pregnancy research.
She has received significant grant funding both nationally and internationally and has over 360 peer reviewed publications. She has developed guidelines for pregnancy in Ireland, UK and internationally.
She is FIGO executive council member and Chair of FIGO committee on Impact of Pregnancy on Long- term Health. She is co-lead of the FIGO pregnancy obesity and nutrition initiative. Other roles include Council member Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists UK, Scientific advisor for British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society.
Professor Fidelma Dunne
Fidelma Dunne is a Professor in Medicine at the School of Medicine, National University of Ireland (NUIG), Associate Director of the Clinical Research Facility (CRF) Galway and a Consultant Endocrinologist at Galway University Hospitals group. She obtained her medical degree from NUIG, MD from UCC, PhD from the University of Birmingham UK, Masters in Medical Education from the University of Dundee Scotland and Masters in Clinical Research from NUIG. She was the Foundation Head of the School of Medicine (2009-2013) and an executive board member of the Irish Medical Council (IMC)(2013-2021). Professor Dunne is a member of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group (DPSG) of the EASD and is the current President of the International Association Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) 2016-2022. She was a Fulbright scholar for 2014-2015 at Columbia University New York and is an adjunct professor to the Steno Diabetes Research Centre in Odense, Denmark (2020-2025).
Her major research interest is in the area of pregnancy and diabetes with >220 peer review publications, 10,000 citations and H index of 51 with >22m euro in grant funding. Her research group are conducting a number of studies as part of the ATLANTIC DIP programme including an IMP regulated RCT of Metformin in pregnancies complicated by GDM (EMERGE), investigation of a biomarker (CD59) for GDM diagnosis and a 10 year follow up (metabolic and cardiovascular) of women with prior GDM. In addition, she has been involved in international studies including a multicentre European funded (FP7) trial on prevention of GDM using Vitamin D and lifestyle intervention (DALI), CONCEPTT a JDRF funded trial examining the benefits of continuous glucose monitoring (CGMS) in women with Type 1 Diabetes during pregnancy. More recently she has been the Irish lead for a pan European cohort study examining pregnancy outcomes of women with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes (EVOLVE) and the EXPECT study an RCT examining insulin Degludec (Tresiba) in women with Type 1 Diabetes in pregnancy.
She is the PI of the recently HRB funded All island Collaborative Clinical Trial Network in Diabetes (2021-2026).
Professor Roxana Mehran
Roxana Mehran is a Professor in Cardiovascular Clinical Research and Outcomes; Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is an internationally renowned interventional cardiologist, and clinical research expert in the field of cardiovascular disease. She has built a globally-respected academic research center focused on developing randomized clinical trials and has served as principal investigator for numerous global studies, developed risk scores for bleeding and acute kidney injury, participates regularly in developing clinical guidelines, and has authored >1,000 peer-reviewed articles. Dr Mehran is a current member of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Board of Trustees. She has been included for four consecutive years in Clarivate Analytics: “Most Cited Researchers – Top 1%” as well being included in “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” (Thomson Reuters). In 2019, she founded Women as One, dedicated to advancing opportunities for women in medicine.
Dr Mehran is currently leading the Lancet Commission on Women’s Cardiovascular Diseases, which brings together leading female researchers from around the world who have clinical expertise in cardiovascular medicine to identify and bridge gaps in research and care for women with cardiovascular disease.
Dr Mehran is a recipient of several awards including the 2016 American College of Cardiology Bernadine Healy Leadership in CV disease award, the 2018 Nanette Wenger Award from Women’s Heart for excellence in research and education, the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the 2019 ESC Silver Medal and Andreas Grüntzig Lecture plaque.
Professor Molly Byrne
Molly is a Professor of Health Psychology at the School of Psychology in NUI Galway where she directs the Health Behaviour Change Research Group (HBCRG). This Group is a national hub and internationally-recognised centre of excellence in the application of behavioural science to health behavioural intervention development, evaluation and implementation. Molly’s research aims to improve population health by developing and promoting an evidence-based behavioural science approach to health behaviour change interventions. She is particularly interested in chronic disease prevention and management.
She is a member of the Advisory Board of the NIPC and is Director of the HRB funded Collaborative Doctoral Programme in Chronic Disease Prevention, on which the NIPC is a partner.