Louise Kenny
Louise Clare Kenny (born 1970) is a British physician who is Professor and Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Liverpool. She was elected an Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours. Early life and education. Kenny was born and raised in Liverpool. Her grandparents were Irish immigrants who moved to Liverpool during the Great Depression. Her mother was born during the Liverpool Blitz, an attack that killed Kenny's great aunt and her children. Kenny has said that she always wanted to become a doctor. As a teenager, she  worked in a café in the Great Homer Street market. She studied medicine at the University of Liverpool, where she initially intended to become a cardiologist. She changed her mind the moment she saw a baby being born. After training as an senior house officer, she started a doctoral research programme at the University of Nottingham funded by the Medical Research Council and WellBeing for Women. Career. In 2006, Kenny was appointed a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Cork University Hospital. She specialised in hypertensive disease of pregnancy. In 2013, Kenny founded the Science Foundation Ireland Irish Centre for Fetal  and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT), which is based at the University College Cork. The centre focusses on improving health outcome for mothers and babies around the world. INFANT is involved with various studies into issues that impact pregnant women, including pre-eclampsia, preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction. At INFANT, Kenny focussed on the identification of biomarkers that may indicate women are at risk of pre-eclampsia. Kenny was involved with overturning the Irish ban on abortion. In 2017, Kenny moved to the University of Liverpool, where she was made Executive Pro Vice Chancellor. Geraldine Boylan was appointed Director of  the INFANT upon her departure. At Liverpool, Kenny is part of a research programme that looks to improve the health of children who grow up in Liverpool City. Awards and honours. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to research in the NHS.