Veronica O’Keane has recently retired from her position which was as a professor of psychiatry and consultant psychiatrist at Trinity College Dublin.  She has over 30 years of experience in the field and has published numerous research papers, especially on mood disorders and on perinatal depression. She is the author of the book A Sense of Self: Memory, the Brain, and Who We Are and  The Rag & Bone Shop, How We Make Memories and Memories Make Us.  She lives by the sea in north Dublin and is a passionate open sea swimmer.

In Series 2 of our Inspiring People in Medicine and Science we continue to source inspiring voices and to ventilate topics relevant to us, our loved ones and the societies we live in.  With topics as wide ranging as development aid, mental health, Femhealth and value – we dig deep into what these areas mean, why the conventional wisdom is not always “wise” and hear about exciting new frontiers.  We are releasing all four of these episodes this week so that you can compare and contrast the experiences of these doctors and medical professionals and that have broken the mould and are pushing for change.  

Chidiebere Ibe is a medical student and Forbes-Featured medical illustrator whose illustration of a black fetus in utero went viral in December 2021.  Many commentators said that this was the first time that they had seen a depiction of a dark-skinned fetus or pregnant woman and provoked a discussion about the lack of representation of such images in textbooks and journals. Chidiebere has a bachelors degree in chemistry from the University of Uyo in Nigeria, and is the Chief Medical Illustrator at the Journal of Global Neurosurgery.  He holds numerous roles on various committees relating to medical education.

Yele Aluko is Chief Medical Officer at EY, a role he has held for close to 4 years. He is Co-Chair, Health Equity Advisory, at the international Well Building Institute, an Advisory Board Member at the Children’s National Hospital and a Board Member at the Wake Forest University School of Business. He has worked as a Cardiologist in hospital settings for over 30 years.

In this inaugural Fiftyfaces Focus Medicine and Science podcast series we dive into disciplines that are rich and multi-layered, hold the power to transform lives and outcomes but also suffer from underrepresentation, neglect and bias.