Caitriona Heffernan is a healthcare innovation leader with over two decades of experience spanning clinical practice, academia, design and national innovation leadership. She is committed to transforming healthcare through strategic innovation, fostering cross-sector collaboration, and building capability for system-wide change.

As National Clinical Lead at the HSE Spark Innovation Programme, Caitriona drives strategic and operational management of a key innovation programme in Ireland’s public health service. She leads multi-stakeholder partnerships with industry, academia, and government, ensuring that frontline clinicians are empowered to develop and implement innovative solutions. Her expertise in human-centred design and design thinking enables her to drive impactful problem-solving approaches across the healthcare ecosystem.

​

Caitriona is an adjunct lecturer at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, where she is Programme Lead for the ‘Innovation in Healthcare’ programme. She is currently pursuing doctoral research on the evaluation of innovation in healthcare.