Dr Thara Persaud is a Consultant Paediatric Radiologist with Children’s Health Ireland (CHI).
Qualifications:
Dr Persaud completed a BSc in Physical Therapy at McGill University in Montreal Canada (1994) before graduating medicine from The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (MB BCh BAO LRCP &SI Hons 2000). She obtained her membership in paediatrics with The Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (2003) prior to specialist radiology training in Tallaght University Hospital, radiology fellowship (FFR RCSI 2006), and Paediatric Radiology post fellowship specialisation at the Children’s Hospital for Eastern Ontario (2009).
Dr Persaud held consultant posts in several world class institutions including Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. This allowed her to experience a variety of cultures, organisations and health systems, before returning home to Ireland in 2015. During COVID, she completed an MSc in Clinical Leadership (RCSI 2022) having won a scholarship from The 30% Club and has a distinction in Medical Management from the Institute of Public Health (2008)
Teaching/Research/Management:
Dr Persaud plays an active role in teaching registrars within the radiology training scheme as well as providing education and support for radiographers, nurses and clinicians. She has also participated in the faculty’s overseas registrar training programme in Kuwait.
In addition to numerous publications and research collaborations, such as the international multicentre cystic fibrosis RECOVER study, she recently contributed to a textbook on Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH) and is a founding member of the International Consensus Committee on DDH evaluation, whose function is to provide standardised training to evaluate hip dysplasia in children. In the UK, she participated in various essential skills development opportunities, such as:
- Lessons Learnt: Building a Safer Foundation Facilitator Training;
- Educational Supervision training
- Member of the Clinical Leadership and Career Development Steering Committee
Other non-clinical roles include membership of the CHI Cross Hospital Paediatric Radiology Integration Group, to progress, plan and integrate the three paediatric radiology departments into the new national children’s hospital. This includes the development of national guidelines, such as those for suspected physical abuse in children, and participation in the newly formed National Paediatric Radiology Network.
The Irish healthcare system is at an inflection point, with the coming together of the children’s hospitals, healthcare immigration and the emergence of new technologies such as generative AI. Dr Persaud would love to have the opportunity advance the interests of radiologists and radiation oncologist, and to work with fellow faculty members to help shape radiology and provide world class healthcare for Irish patients.