Patrick Wall

Patrick Wall graduated from UCD with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine (MVB) in 1979. After several years in equine practice, he enrolled in the Royal College of Surgeons to study medicine. He enjoyed veterinary but decided that engaging with people and keeping horses as a hobby might be a better career option.

After hospital jobs in Ireland, he went to work in a rural hospital in Tanzania. After that, Patrick went to the UK where he specialised in communicable diseases where the veterinary degree gave him unique insights into zoonosis control. He ended up as head of the Foodborne Diseases Division of the UK CDC in Colindale London. 

Patrick was recruited to set up the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, created in response to the BSE crisis, where he was the CEO for five years. He became the second Chairperson of the European Food Safety Authority based in Parma in Italy. He was a member of the oversight food safety committee for the Beijing Olympic games and is a member of the international scientific advisory committees of the Chinese National Centre for Food Safety and the Saudi Arabia Food and Drug Authority. He is chairperson of Independent Milk Laboratories and a judge in the NDC/Kerrygold National milk quality awards and is the external auditor for the Irish Department of Agriculture’s one health programmes. During the pandemic, Patrick co-directed a HSE contact tracing center on the UCD campus and was a member of the NPHET modelling group with two colleagues from the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine.

Patrick is Professor of Public Health in UCD where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate medical students and veterinary students. His research interests include food safety, one health, lifestyle related diseases and science communication. In addition to veterinary and medical degrees, he has an MSc in Infectious Diseases from the University of London and an MBA from the Michael Smurfit School of Business and is a Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Public Health

Patrick has maintained his interest in horses and he was chairman of Horse Sports Ireland from 2013 to 2016.