About

Professional associations for trans health, or PATHs, exist across the globe to connect people working to advance the health, rights and wellbeing of trans and gender diverse people.

The 2023 European Professional Association for Trans Health (EPATH) conference held in Killarney highlighted the need for a dedicated organisation to address the unique challenges facing the trans and gender diverse community in Ireland.

Thus, a group of healthcare professionals, academics, and community advocates launched the Professional Association for Trans Health Ireland (PATHI) in 2024 during the closing plenary of the TransCare conference in University College Cork, following in the footsteps of other professional associations for trans health around the world such as WPATH, EPATH, AusPATH and PATHA.

PATHI connects healthcare professionals, academics, and advocates committed to promoting person-centred, evidence-based care. By adapting global best practices in gender-affirming care to the Irish context and fostering a network for knowledge exchange, research, and collaboration, PATHI seeks to drive transformation in policies, guidelines, services, and practices.

Secretary

Dr Meg Ryan, D.Couns Psych, C.Psychol., Ps.S.I

Dr. Meg Ryan (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in Global Health in Trinity College Dublin, and Director of the MSc in Global Mental Health. Her research interests are broadly focused on reproductive justice, gender based-violence, global mental health, and LGBTQIA+ healthcare, with a particular focus on qualitative methodologies. Meg is a practicing Chartered Counselling Psychologist and works from a feminist psychotherapy perspective incorporating both humanistic and psychodynamic principles.

"PATHI is a vital step towards ensuring accessible and inclusive health services for trans and gender diverse people in Ireland that are rooted in principles of bodily autonomy, social justice and human rights."

Treasurer

Ailsa Spindler, B.Sc.

Ailsa Spindler (she/they) has been an activist for human rights, and LGBTQ+ rights in particular, for most of their working life. Ailsa was the first Director of ILGA-Europe, and of the Equality Network in Scotland, as well as running Terrence Higgins Trust in Scotland. Having retired from running Gay Project in Cork in February 2024, Ailsa now has time to volunteer for PATHI and for NXF, while enjoying life in rural Kerry.

“Ireland prides itself on its social inclusion policies, but all the time it languishes at the bottom of the EU table for health provision for trans people. This must not continue.”

Field Representative, Primary Health

Mx. Ryan Goulding

Ryan Goulding (they/them) is a Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing in the School of Nursing & Midwifery, University College Cork, a registered mental health nurse with several years experience of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, and Chair of the Trans Research Alliance Network for Staff and Students UCC (TRANSS UCC). They are also undertaking their PhD which aims to improve healthcare experiences of TGD youth in Ireland. They have been an active member in championing trans rights and wellbeing through their educational work with nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals as well as their research outputs. This includes the development of the School of Nursing & Midwifery’s first LGBTQI+ Inclusive Healthcare module, the development and provision of an LGBTQI+ Inclusion Programme to CAMHS & Palliative Care services in Cork and Kerry, and supporting the creation and running of TransCare 2024.

“Ireland requires a coordinated and representative professional body, such as PATHI, to advance equitable, timely, and holistic healthcare for trans and gender diverse individuals. The current system has consistently failed to deliver appropriate and accessible care, highlighting the urgent need for systemic reform guided by a unified policy voice.”

Field Representative, Allied Health

Nicola Cantwell

Nicola Cantwell (She/Her, Sí/Í) is a pharmacist working in education, clinical governance and vaccination roles in Carlow. She is currently completing a Masters in Teaching Learning about educational needs of pharmacists in the care of transgender and intersex patients. She is working on the development of a Rainbow Ready Pharmacy Programme to enhance the provision of healthcare to trans and gender diverse patients in community pharmacy.

“We need to work to breakdown barriers to healthcare experienced by members of the trans and gender diverse community and ensure that they are empowered with accessing healthcare.”

Field Representative, Advocacy & Community Organising

Mx. Morr O'Malley

Morr O’Malley (They/She) is a nonbinary trans community advocate from Galway. They have been involved as a community advocate and an LGBTQ+ activist for over a decade, particularly focusing on equality and health rights issues. They also currently serve as a Policy Officer for Trans Healthcare Action.

"Trans+ healthcare in Ireland is being regularly withheld. What care that is offered falls significantly short of international best practice. I believe PATHI is vital to ensure an Ireland where trans people's bodily autonomy and right to access timely healthcare will be upheld."

Field Representative, Research & Education

Chris Noone, BA, MSc, PhD

Chris Noone (he/him) is a lecturer in psychology. His research broadly focuses on experiences of inequality in health and healthcare, which has mostly focused on LGBT+ communities, and experiences of and attitudes towards sexual health. Chris has received funding from the HSE, Irish Research Council, and Health Research Board to support his research. He has also collaborated on research with several community organisations such as the MPOWER programme at HIV Ireland, LGBT Ireland, the Sexual Health Centre, and COPE Galway. He is also a board member of the National LGBTQ+ Federation.

"Trans and gender diverse people in Ireland, who have been failed for so long, deserve a healthcare system that respects their rights to gender self-determination and bodily autonomy and PATHI will advocate for health services that do this effectively."

Field Representative, Law & Policy

Matty Kennedy, BA, MA, PhD

Dr Matty Kennedy (he/they), is an interdisciplinary empiricist in the area of trans studies, an educator and a writer. He is currently a research fellow at the University of Southampton’s Winchester School of Art, an adjunct assistant professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin, and the vice chair for the Trans* Research Association of Ireland. Prior to this, he was employed in Belong To, Ireland’s National LGBTQ+ youth organisation, as the Research and Advocacy Manager during which time he completed his PhD. His PhD was a qualitative, interdisciplinary, community-based project exploring transnormativity and the lifeworlds of young trans men in Ireland and is currently in progress as a monograph.

“Trans individuals in Ireland, particularly trans youth, are often disenfranchised as a result of their access to rights, healthcare and social inclusion being mediated by a variety of conduits. PATHI's commitment to research, education, policy and advocacy practices that would recognise the agency and autonomy of trans individuals and provide means for them to articulate their needs and experiences is invaluable in enacting meaningful change specifically in healthcare contexts."