Mairead Cahill

Dr Mairead Cahill is an Associate Professor in Occupational Therapy at the University of Limerick and has worked in various roles educating and training students and qualified occupational therapists at the university for over eighteen years. She qualified as an Occupational Therapist from Trinity College Dublin (BSc) in 1997 and gained an MSc from Trinity College Dublin in 2006. She graduated with a PhD from the University of Limerick in 2023. Prior to her current lecturing position, Dr Cahill worked as a Practice Education Co-Ordinator at the University of Limerick for over a decade and as a University-based Regional Placement Facilitator since 2006. In these roles, she has developed a range of professional knowledge and valuable experience. In her various academic roles, she developed effective decision-making skills and the ability to identify solutions to complex problems using sound and analytical thinking.

As a practice education coordinator, she developed the ability to objectively view challenges and identify solutions through working with a variety of stakeholders (practice educators and occupational therapy students) understanding that decisions made had the potential to impact different stakeholders. Dr Cahill has participated in three full OT CORU accreditation visits and over the past 18 months have attended other disciplines' CORU accreditation visits at the university due to her role leading an interprofessional preparation for practice module for students of occupational therapy, physiotherapy, human nutrition and dietetics and speech and language therapy. Prior to working at UL, she gained clinical OT experience in acute and rehabilitation settings (physical disability) in Ireland and the UK.