Dr. Orla Houlihan

Dr. Orla Houlihan graduated with First Class Honours from University College Cork. She completed postgraduate training in General Internal Medicine in Dublin, during which time she acquired membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom. Following this, she completed Higher Specialist Training in Radiation Oncology at St. Luke’s Radiation Oncology Network and Cork University Hospital and became a Fellow of the Faculty of Radiologists and Radiation Oncologists, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, in 2019.

Dr. Houlihan subsequently embarked on a Clinical Research Fellowship at Queen's University Belfast and Belfast City Hospital, primarily focused on exploring the role of in vivo dosimetry in pelvic brachytherapy and stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy. During this fellowship, Dr. Houlihan worked on the EU Horizon 2020 ORIGIN project, a multinational initiative involving the design, development and clinical implementation of a real-time in vivo dosimetry system based on optical fibre sensing technology for use in prostate and gynaecological brachytherapy.

Dr. Houlihan has a keen interest in teaching and professional development and has completed a Professional Certificate in Healthcare Management Practice through the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, awarded with distinction, a Postgraduate Diploma in Medical Education through the University of Dundee and a Master of Public Health through University College Cork, graduating with First Class Honours. She has been involved in teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels throughout her career and has co-authored an e-learning module on heath inequalities in cancer as part of the Health Education England Programme in partnership with Public Health England and the National Health Service of the United Kingdom.

Dr. Houlihan has been involved in developing clinical guidelines with the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) including 'Treatment of Patients with Breast Cancer: Radiation Oncology' (2023) and 'NCCP advice for Medical Professionals on Acceptable Dose Fractionation during the COVID-19 Pandemic' (2020). She has also updated the UK Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiation Therapy Consortium Guidelines on the treatment of prostate cancer. She is committed to evidence-based clinical research and practice and has served as a reviewer for the Clinical Oncology Journal and worked at the Prostate Cancer Centre of Excellence at Queen's University.