Orla Hardiman is a science and medical graduate from UCD, and trained in Neurology in Boston. She was appointed as a Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital in 1996, and became a Fellow of Royal College of Physicians in Ireland in 2001. In 2011, she established the Academic Unit of Neurology at Trinity College Dublin.. She was appointed the first Professor of Neurology in the country in 2013. In 2015 she was elected as a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. She is the recipient of a number of international honours and awards, including the first American Academy of Neurology Palatucci Award for Advocacy in Neurology (2003), the ALSA /American Academy of Neurology Sheila Essay Award in ALS (2009) and the International ALS Alliance Forbes Norris Award (2011). She is an advocate for multidisciplinary care, and the involvement of the voluntary sector in the delivery of services. She established the first Irish specialist multi-disciplinary services for Migraine, Motor Neuron Disease and Multiple Sclerosis providing “one-stop shops” for patients requiring medical, nursing and clinical professional interventions, in addition to access to specialist care coordinators.