ProfessorCecily Kelleher

Cecily Kelleher qualified in medicine from UCD and worked subsequently in clinical medicine, obtaining an MD degree on the relationship between hypertension and diabetes from UCC in 1987 and fellowship of Royal College of Physicians in 1991. Having completed a Master's degree in public health at UCD she took up a post as senior scientist in clinical epidemiology at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology and Medical Care Unit in London, working on the large-scale Thrombosis Prevention Trial. She was appointed to the foundation chair of Health Promotion at NUI Galway in 1990.

In 2002 she was appointed to the Chair of Public Health Medicine and Epidemiology at UCD and was head of the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science until 2014. In September 2015 she became College Principal, College of Health and Agricultural Sciences, a post she held until 2025. Her research interests include nutrition and lifestyle determinents of health, lifecourse and health inequalities. Professor Kelleher holds a DMed based on published work and is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. She has recently been on sabbatical leave.