Professor Helen Roche appointed to the Board of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland

Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, has appointed Professor Helen Roche to the Board of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) with effect from 7 October 2025 until 6 October 2028.

Professor Helen Roche, Director of UCD Conway Institute is a Full Professor of Nutrigenomics (nutrition and 'omics) in the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science and a Fellow in UCD Conway Institute and in the UCD Institute of Food & Health.

Helen initially trained in human nutrition and dietetics, followed by molecular medicine. Her nutrigenomics team focuses on precision nutrition – specifically the impact of diet on metabolism and inflammation, in obesity, metabolic dysfunction associated fatty liver disease and obesity related cancer.

Nutrigenomics uses state-of-the-art 'omics' to investigate the molecular effects of diet on health – to provide hard evidence. Whilst nutrition plays a critical role in health and disease, too often the mechanistic basis is lacking and her research aims to fill that evidence gap.

In Europe, Prof. Roche has led several initiatives relating to food, nutrition and health. She chaired the scientific advisory board of the European Healthy Life Healthy Diet Joint Programming Initiative (2015-2019). She advises UK, Netherlands and US grant agencies, including Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, ZonMw, UK Nutrition Research Partnership and the MRC Core Research Centre Initiative. She was a board member of the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland Hospital Group.

Prof. Roche’s research team are funded by a number of agencies. She holds a Research Ireland Investigator Award entitled ‘Diet, Immune Training and Metabolism’ and is co-PI in Precision Oncology Ireland.

Roche’s team are determining if/how the dietary environment impacts obesity related cancer risk. Ongoing research as part of the EU Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life Joint Programming Initiative  funded APPETITE Project is investigating the impact of personalised plant protein and exercise interventions on appetite and malnutrition in older persons.

Helen has supervised more than 30 PhD scientists and a similar number of post-doctoral researchers.