FORMER CHIEF MEDICAL Officer Dr Tony Holohan is taking up a new role as a professor at University College Dublin (UCD) in place of his abandoned appointment at Trinity.

Dr Holohan left his position as CMO at the start of this month after 14 years.

Announcing the new appointment in a brief post on LinkedIn, Dr Holohan said: “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Adjunct Full Professor at University College Dublin.”

He described the position in UCD’s College of Health and Agricultural Sciences as “not remunerated”.

In a statement, College Principal Professor Cecily Kelleher said: “The appointment of someone of such high calibre and experience in guiding national policy and response to the Covid-19 pandemic will contribute enormously to our future research, education and planning.”

“I greatly look forward to working with him,” Professor Kelleher said.

Adjunct professorships function differently to a more traditional professor role, often being appointed from outside of an institution with a view to bringing in someone to add particular expertise.

UCD offers adjunct professorships to individuals “whose appointment to the University will enhance the teaching or research profile” of the relevant department and “contribute to the intellectual life of the University”.

There are four levels of adjunct professorships at UCD, with Adjunct Full Professor – the title given to Dr Holohan – being the highest.

“Appointees will be appointed for a maximum of five years. Normally there will be no remuneration attached to the appointment,” according to UCD’s Human Resources.

The former CMO had intended to take up a position at Trinity as a Professor of Public Health Strategy and Leadership but ultimately stepped back from it after controversy over its terms.

The professorship would have been an “open-ended secondment” funded by the Department of Health and continuing the terms of his former contract, which was understood to bring a salary of around €187,000 per year.

The Taoiseach was among politicians to raise concerns, saying that the secondment should be paused to allow for greater transparency.

Dr Holohan decided against proceeding with the Trinity role, saying he did “not wish to see the controversy” continue.

“In particular, I wish to avoid any further unnecessary distraction that this has caused to our senior politicians and civil servants,” he said at the time.

“My strong belief is that this was a significant opportunity to work with the university sector to develop much-needed public health capacity and leadership for the future.”

A competition for a permanent replacement for Dr Holohan as chief medical officer is ongoing, with public health consultant Professor Breda Smyth serving as interim CMO.