The Irish Aid Annual Professor Father Michael Kelly Lecture – 2024

Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been postponed.

Stay tuned for new event details including date and location.

Red Splendour – we invite everyone to wear something red to show your support and commitment to fighting HIV and AIDS!

The annual Irish Aid Professor Father Michael Kelly HIV Lecture is held every year to coincide with World AIDS Day. For over 50 years, Tullamore-born Professor Father Michael J. Kelly worked tirelessly in the fight against HIV/AIDS in his naturalised country of Zambia, and internationally, spreading the message of strength, dignity, and hope for those affected and at risk.

Every year, this event gives us an opportunity to come together as a community, to keep ourselves up-to-date in terms of the current priorities for HIV and AIDS and importantly to ensure that we keep HIV high on the agenda.

This is a free event, but registration is required for in-person attendance.

The event will also be livestreamed on the Irish Global Health Network YouTube channel for those wishing to view the event online, and registration is not required for this.

Stay tuned for more information coming soon!

About Professor Father Michael J Kelly

For over 50 years, Tullamore-born Professor Father Michael J. Kelly had worked tirelessly in the fight against HIV/AIDS in his naturalised country of Zambia, and internationally, spreading the message of strength, dignity, and hope for those affected and at risk.

In Memoriam: Professor Father Michael J. Kelly, 1929 – 2021

• For more information about Professor Father Michael Kelly, please visit this dedicated website.
• Read more about Professor Father Michael Kelly’s life and work
• To pay tribute to Father Michael Kelly’s ongoing legacy, the IGHN has produced a compilation of lectures and presentations from 2006-2015, entitled HIV & AIDS – A Deep Human Concern. Download it here.

Panellists

Bakita Kasadha, Artist, Poet, Academic and HIV Activist

Bakita Kasadha is a multi-award-winning health researcher and poet. She co-edited (with Dr Shema Tariq) a Sage Publishing special collection titled HIV and Women’s Health: Where Are We Now? This year, she was awarded the International AIDS Society’s biennial Prudence Mabele Prize. Bakita is an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oxford; she joined the university as the main researcher on the HIV and infant-feeding study, NOURISH-UK. As a poet, Bakita uses her creativity as a tool for advocacy. Her poem, Numbers Game (our silence won’t protect us) inspired the creation of a multi-million-pound community fund to prevent new HIV cases and support people with HIV. She previously served as the chair of the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV and as a community representative on the World Health Organisation’s Global Validation Advisory Committee, focused on preventing vertical transmission of HIV, syphilis and HBV.

Dr. Austin O’Carroll, General Practitioner and Founder of Safetynet

Dr. Austin O’Carroll is an inner-city GP with a career spanning since 1997, focused on improving healthcare access for marginalised communities. He founded several initiatives, including Safetynet (2007), providing GP services to over 6,000 marginalised patients annually across Ireland, and GMQ, a specialised program for homeless individuals with addiction services. He also established the Partnership for Health Equity, GPCareforAll (a social enterprise creating GP practices in deprived areas), and the North Dublin City GP Training program, the first of its kind to train GPs for work in marginalised communities. Dr. O’Carroll was Dublin HSE Covid Lead for the homeless population from 2020-2022 and conducted ethnographic research into homeless health service usage for his doctorate. Recognised for his contributions, he received several prestigious awards, including the Fiona Bradley Award, the Time & Tide Award for work with migrants, and the Healthcare Professional of the Year Award. He was also a 2016 Paralympic sailor and is a co-founder of Northdoc.

Michael Gaffey, Director General of Irish Aid

Michael Gaffey has been the Director General, Development Cooperation and Africa Division (Irish Aid), DCAD since August 2022. Before his appointment to DCAD, he was the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations in Geneva, following terms as Director General for Development, Middle East Director, Director for the Western Balkans and South East Europe. His previous postings with the Department of Foreign Affairs were in Tokyo, London, Cairo, Amman, Baghdad, Belfast and Chicago.

Delroy White, Master’s in Global Health Candidate at Trinity College Dublin

Delroy White is a Malawian health professional currently pursuing a Master’s in Global Health at Trinity College Dublin. With a strong foundation in Clinical Medicine and Public Health, Delroy has been committed to advancing health outcomes for marginalized populations since 2013. His expertise includes HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and advocacy, particularly focused on key populations such as men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, and transgender women. Passionate about global health and climate change, Delroy is dedicated to developing equitable healthcare solutions for low-income communities. 

Artists

Eimear Crehan, Singer and Songwriter

Eimear is a singer songwriter from County Kildare, Ireland. She has extensive experience performing on stage, having performed all over Ireland and beyond in lots of capacities over the years. She fronted award-winning funk band Fox.E and the Good Hands for 9 years and in that time had numerous releases and accomplishments. Her debut album Scars was released in Nov 2018 and after releasing a number of singles over the past year, her new album Quiver was released on November 7th. Since the launch of Scars, she has toured extensively, performing her own sold out shows as well as regularly doing support all around the country for the likes of Mary Coughlan and Jack L. She is also a renowned vocal and creativity coach.