Dr Melissa McCullough has been Commissioner for Standards at the Northern Ireland Assembly since 7th September 2020.
Melissa moved to Northern Ireland from the US in 1994 and obtained her PhD from Queen’s University Belfast, Faculty of Medicine. She also has a Masters degree in Bioethics and Applied Ethics, a Bachelor of Laws degree and a degree in Biology.
Since 2005, Dr McCullough has worked as an academic in law, ethics and professionalism in the UK and Ireland. She served as Non-Executive Director (Ministerial appointment) for the Health and Social Care Board in Northern Ireland from 2009 until 2020 and is currently a visiting academic at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, an assessor for undergraduate medical programmes for the Medical Council Ireland, and a law and ethics specialist on the Clinical Governance Board at Synergix Health, London.
Dr McCullough’s published work and research interests include professionalism, organisational ethics, applied ethics, equality and justice in policy and practice, diversity and inclusion, and public health ethics. She also appears regularly on the broadcast media as a specialist in these subjects.
She is married with three grown-up children and her leisure interests include writing, travelling, current affairs and interior design.
