Tara McMorrow

Tara McMorrow (BSc, PhD, Grad Dip UTL, ERT) is an associate professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology and a Conway Research Fellow. She graduated from University College Galway in 1995 with an Enterprise Ireland funded PhD in molecular biology. She subsequently undertook an EU post-doctoral fellowship at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in Cell Biology and Genetics, with Professor Frank Grosveld. She was awarded a Conway Research Fellowship in 2001 in Pharmacology in UCD and was appointed lecturer in Pharmacology in 2005.

Tara is currently the chair of the UCD Academic Council Committee on Student Appeals and Complaints (ACCSAC). She was previously the Associate Dean of Science and chair of the programme board in the UCD College of Science from 2019-2024. She is also director of the UCD Centre for Toxicology (https://toxicology.ucd.ie/). Her research focus is in the area of toxicology and the development of new approach methodologies (NAMs) in toxicity testing. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed publications, reviews for numerous international journals and grant funding agencies, and has been an invited speaker at several conferences. She has also been on the organizing committees of several international conferences in Ireland, including the ERCSG2016 and ICOH2018.

Tara is actively involved in teaching to undergraduate students in Science, Medicine and Nursing as well as graduate students in Toxicology, Regulatory Affairs, Biotechnology, Occupational Health and Safety. She completed a graduate diploma in university teaching and learning in 2013 and has won several teaching awards. She was also the Curriculum Review and Enhancement Project Champion for graduate taught programmes in the College of Science from 2015-2017, as part of the university review project. She is the academic director of graduate and continuing professional development programmes in Toxicology and Regulatory Affairs, and was previously the academic director of the graduate programmes in Biotechnology and Business in the UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science.

She is also a European and Irish Registered toxicologist (ERT&RTI) and provides expert reports and consultations in all areas of toxicology and toxicological regulation. She is a member of the Irish Society of Toxicology and was previously President of the IST from 2016-2018. She is also currently an expert member of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Chemical Safety sub-committee. She has been a member of the European Society of Toxicologists since 2013, and was previously a member of the EUROTOX Education Sub-committee from 2018-2022.