Professor McNicholas is a Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Lucena Clinic, Rathgar and Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. She trained in psychiatry in Guys hospital, and in child Psychiatry in Great Ormond Street Hospital, London. She carrier out a fellowship in Stanford University, CA and was Assistant Professor at Columbia University, NY. Her clinical interests are ADHD, 22q11.2ds and Eating Disorders and transitions from CAMHS to AMHS. Her research interests are aligned to quality care, advocacy and include research into innovative service delivery and staff retention. She is chair in child psychiatry at University College, Dublin and actively involved in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. She was a founding member of Lucena Foundation, an organization developed to deliver psycho-education, training and research in the area of child and adolescent mental health wellbeing. She contributes to the training of GPs, teachers and pediatricians and has co-authored a book on mental health in child and adolescents, a guide for teachers, along with over 200 scientific papers.