Barbara O'Connell/Occupation: Chief executive and co-founder of the Peter Bradley Foundation which provides a range of community rehabilitation services for people with acquired brain injury.
Personal/family: Married to Maurice O'Connell with three children - Joanna (15), Kerrie (13) and Sean (3).
What figure from the world of medicine or health do you most admire?
My mother Dr Esther Bradley, a pioneer in the 1970s with CMAC (Accord) for natural family planning and marriage counselling. I also admire people I know working quietly around the country in the area of physical and sensory disability, such as directors, managers and key workers who use their scarce resources in creative and innovative ways to meet the complex needs of individuals .
What other career might you have chosen?
Journalism or public relations.
If you could grant three wishes for the health service, what would they be?
Ensure the Health Service Executive makes significant investment in rehabilitation in the community by putting co-ordinated, timely, flexible and accessible services in place. I would work to get the same recognition for acquired brain injury (ABI) in Ireland as it has internationally, where people with ABI are regarded as a unique group who have a condition for life that requires a range of specific services which will allow them (often young people) to make a meaningful re-entry to society. Finally I would like to ensure that people no longer suffer geographic disadvantage in relation to their healthcare needs.
What is your greatest fear?
Contracting breast cancer.
Have you ever been a patient and were you a good one?
Only when giving birth and I may have been a bit cranky and hormonal.
When or where are you happiest?
I am happiest when the kids are with us and my husband is skilfully and playfully winding them up. In work I am at my happiest when things come together for a staff team. The Ards peninsula in northwest Donegal is my idea of heaven.
How do you cope with stress?
I have a good laugh, bend a friend's ear, indulge in a spot of retail therapy and then a nice glass of wine or two.
What is the trait you most admire in yourself?
I am a naturally positive, passionate and persistent person. I always see opportunities and challenges and am quick to respond and able to multi-task.
What is the trait you most dislike in yourself?
My intolerance - usually fed by those who are slow to respond to the glaring gaps in service and insist that one size fits all.
Do you use alternative or complementary medicine or therapies?
I have an old road traffic injury and Simini, my osteopat,h keeps all my body parts moving in harmony and insists I take omega oils daily.
Who or what makes you laugh?
The antics of teenagers, the use of the word "actually" by my three-year-old son and Peter Kay and my brother-in-law Patrick.
What is your motto?
I have two - "to make a difference" and "non illigetamus carborundum".
What is your favourite TV or radio programme?
The West Wing, Absolutely Fabulous and Desperate Housewives on TV and Morning Ireland every day on the radio.
What books would you bring to a desert island?
Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach, Song of the Bird by Anthony de Mello, the Readers Digest Encyclopaedia of DIY for my survival and a notebook and pen for my sanity.