Dr. Aisling O'Halloran
Dr Aisling O’Halloran is currently Senior Research Fellow in Biogerontology with the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). She leads the TILDA Biomarker Working Group and manages the TILDA Biobank - one of the largest biobanks in Ireland. She holds a PhD in the genetic epidemiology of cardiovascular disease from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and a B.A. (Mod) in Natural Science, specializing in genetics, from Trinity College Dublin. Dr O’Halloran’s research interest are focused on the biology of the ageing and age-related disease phenotypes such as frailty. Her research aims to investigate biomarkers that best capture those who are experiencing accelerated biological ageing and who are therefore at risk for declining health and age-related disease. This information is utilised to inform disease prevention and management strategies, and to improve health and social care policy and service planning.
Dr O’Halloran has published >50 peer-reviewed publications on studies of ageing, epidemiology, molecular biology, immunology, and genetics. As principal or co-investigator, she has received grant funding of €2.1 million from national agencies and international grant funding of €4.5 million (€850,000 to the Irish component) from the US National Institutes of Health for a multinational study entitled ‘Social circumstances and epigenomics promoting health in three countries.’. Dr O’Halloran has research supervision and lecturing experience at undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has supervised RA, MA and PhD students and lectures on the on the ‘The Biology of the Ageing Process’ module as part of the Postgraduate Certificate on Advanced Ageing and Frailty Studies at TCD. She is a member of the EUGMS SIG on Frailty and Resilience in Older People, the NIH Biomarker Network, and the Irish Frailty Network. She is an associate editor with the journal BMC Geriatrics and was a member of the national executive committee of the Irish Gerontological Society (2016-2022).
Peer Reviewed Publications
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Feeney, J, O'Halloran, AM, Kenny, RA. The association between hair cortisol, hair cortisone and cognitive function in a population based cohort of older adults: Results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. 2020; 75(2):257-265.
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O'Halloran AM, Finucane C, Savva GM, Robertson IH, Kenny RA. (In Press). Sustained attention and frailty in the older adult population. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and social sciences, 2014; 69(2):147-56.
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O'Halloran AM, Penard N, Galli A, Fan CW, Robertson IH, Kenny RA.. Falls and falls efficacy: the role of sustained attention in older adults. The BMC Geriatrics, 2011; 11:85.
Martin FC, O'Halloran, AM, Tools for Assessing Frailty in Older People: General Concepts. In: Veronese N. (eds) Frailty and Cardiovascular Diseases: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 2020; Vol 1216. Springer, Cham.