Professor Dara Byrne is the Health Service Executive (HSE) National Clinical Lead for Simulation in Ireland and the Professor of Simulation at the University of Galway, Ireland. She leads the National Simulation Office, which reports to the Chief Clinical Officer and represent all health professions at a national level and is supported by National Quality and Patient Safety. The National Strategy for Simulation was launched by the office in December 2025, adopted as a national HSE strategy by the senior leadership team and is a roadmap for developing interprofessional simulation on clinical sites in Ireland.

Professor Byrne established the Irish Center for Applied Patient Safety and Simulation (ICAPSS) in Galway in 2017 which is a dual accredited simulation facility on a clinical site and holds an international AMEE ASPIRE to Excellence Award for Simulation. The ICAPSS is a leader in patient safety and simulation research activities and runs the successful Diploma and MSc. in Healthcare Simulation and Patient Safety which was established in 2017 and has educated over 600 learners from all professions and backgrounds to date.

Professor Byrne has over 25 years' experience in designing delivering and debriefing high quality simulation activities. Her expertise lies at the business end of simulation, in strategic planning and implementation, simulation and systems thinking for organizational change and leadership development.

She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Educators and AMEE and holds an MBA. She is an advanced simulation educator (CHSE-A) since 2014, is ASPiH accredited and is the 2025 IMSH director of the year.

She is a founding member of the Irish Association for Simulation, an executive member of ASPiH and a member of the Medical Council’s Education and Training Committee.

She has published widely on simulation, health professions’ education and patient safety and is the senior author on ‘The Essential Handbook of Healthcare Simulation’ (2023).