President
Global Patient Advocacy Coalition for Headache (GPACH)
Audrey Craven is the founder and president of the Migraine Association of Ireland (MAI), and is an internationally acknowledged patient advocate for migraine. Audrey, a lifelong migraineur, is committed to sharing hard-won experience of migraine self-management in the hope of improving quality of life for all those affected.
In 1994, Audrey’s journey inspired her to found the Migraine Association of Ireland, leading to better recognition of the impact and burden of living with migraine. This role evolved into national and international neurology patient advocacy work.
She is the past president of both the European Migraine and Headache Alliance (EMHA) and the European Federation of Neurological Associations (EFNA). Audrey was the only patient representative on the European Commission’s ‘Healthy Brain; Healthy Europe’ scientific board for European Month of the Brain 2013.
Audrey has been involved in the Irish Brain Council, the development of the Headache Pathway in the Irish Health Service Executive’s Neurology Clinical Programme, the World Headache Alliance (WHA), the Patient Consumer and Working Group (PCWP) at the European Medicines Agency, and is a founding member and former chairperson of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland (NAI). She was a member of the neurological Expert Advisory Board that produced the three Standards of Care documents, which recommended new health care strategies for neurological conditions in Ireland.
Audrey is the Irish patient representative on the International Headache Society’s Global Patient Advocacy Committee and continues to advocate for migraine sufferers around the world.