• Director, UCD Perinatal Research Centre
• Head, Women's and Children's Health, UCD School of Medicine
• Head, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, UCD School of Medicine
• Chair and Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, UCD School of Medicine
• Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Maternal and Fetal Medicine Specialist, National Maternity Hospital
• Conway Fellow, UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research
• Programme Director of Maternal & Fetal Medicine Sub-speciality training programme at National Maternity Hospital

Qualifications

Professional Training

Linked to UCD Research Information Management System profile

Qualifications

Committees

• National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre (NPEC) Maternal Morbidity Committee
• Irish Multidisciplinary Obstetrics Emegency Training
• Sepsis Decision Tool Multidisciplinary Committee
• Speciality Training Committee (Obstetrics & Gynaecology), Royal College of Physicians of Ireland

Link to UCD Research Information Management System profile.

• Clinical Director, Merrion Fertility Clinic
• Consultant Obstetrician Gynaecologist, National Maternity Hospital and St Michael’s Hospital
• Associate Clinical Professor, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University College Dublin
• Adjunct Professor, School of Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin 

• Assistant Professor (Ad Astra Fellow) in the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science, University College Dublin
• Link to UCD research profile: https://people.ucd.ie/catherine.phillips/

Associate Professor Sharleen O’Reilly

• Lecturer/ AssociateProfessor UCD Institute of Food and Health
• CORU registered dietician who works at the interface of research, teaching and practice in public health nutrition
• Link to UCD research profile: https://people.ucd.ie/sharleen.oreilly

• Assistant Professor in School of Computer Science, University College Dublin
• Link to UCD research profile: https://people.ucd.ie/catherine.mooney

Catherine is an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at University College Dublin and leads the Life Science Data Analytics Group, LiSDA (lisda.ucd.ie). Her research is focused on using machine learning, including deep learning, in the development of biomarkers and clinical decision support systems. Prior to joining UCD Catherine was a Research Fellow in the Physiology and Medical Physics Department of The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, specialising in bioinformatics and computational biology. After completing her PhD in Computer Science at UCD she completed a four-year post-doc in clinical bioinformatics in the School of Medicine and Medical Science, at UCD.

• Associate Professor in School of Computer Science, University College Dublin
• Link to UCD Research profile: https://people.ucd.ie/eleni.mangina

Eleni Mangina carried out her PhD work at the University of Strathclyde (UK), Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, working on Agent-based applications for intelligent data interpretation. Eleni Mangina holds an M.Sc. in Artificial Intelligence from the Department of Artificial Intelligence at University of Edinburgh in the UK and an MSc in Agricultural Science from Agricultural University of Athens in Greece. In 2002 she joined the School of Computer Science at University College Dublin. Her lab operates at the intersection between applied Artificial Intelligence and a portfolio development within interdisciplinary applications

Dr Louise E. Glover, PhD.

Following her PhD studies at UCD, Dr. Glover completed postdoctoral training in Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston and was an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado. She has served in the role of Principle Investigator and Co-investigator on several international projects funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Veterans Affairs. Dr. Glover joined Merrion Fertility Clinic as Clinical Research Co-ordinator in 2017, and she holds adjunct Assistant Professor/Clinical Lecturer positions at both TCD (Immunology) and UCD. Dr. Glover holds active memberships to the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) and the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. She was awarded the Grant For Fertility Innovation from Merck in 2018. Her primary research focus is reproductive immunology, in particular how immune pathways in the endometrium are altered in infertility.

Qualifications

Professional Experience

Professor Niamh Nowlan

Niamh Nowlan is Full Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at University College Dublin. Her research focuses on the role of mechanical forces in prenatal and postnatal development of the bones, joints and spine, and the importance of fetal movements for fetal and neonatal health. Prior to joining UCD in 2021, Prof Nowlan held the position of Reader of Developmental Biomechanics in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, UK, where she maintains an honorary appointment. Prof Nowlan has attracted approximately €4.5 million in research funding in the past ten years, including an ERC Starting Grant. Her research has attracted numerous national and international awards, including the 2018 S.M. Perren Award from the European Society of Biomechanics, the 2016 Bioengineering Society UK (Bioeng UK) Early Career Scientist Award and the Engineers Ireland Biomedical Research Medal in 2007. In 2018, Prof Nowlan proposed, organised and chaired the Royal Society Meeting on “Mechanics of Development”.

Link to UCD Research Profile: https://people.ucd.ie/niamh.nowlan

Dr. Fiona O'Toole is the current Maternal and Fetal Medicine Subspeciality Fellow at the National Maternity Hospital. She graduated from UCD in 2009 with an honours degree in Medicine. She has worked in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in both Ireland and Australia and has completed 4 out of the 5-year SpR training programme. She is currently registered with UCD as an MD student focusing on the management of iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy and is part of the Perinatal Research Centre team.

Dr Cathy McNestry – MD Student

Dr. Cathy McNestry is training as an obstetrician gynaecologist. Cathy graduated from the UCD School of Medicine with honours in 2012. She joined the PRC in 2021 as Clinical Academic Fellow and MD student. She is investigating the impact of pregnancy health and breastfeeding on women’s cardiometabolic risk and bone health as part of the ROLO Preteen study, and breastfeeding as a health intervention as part of the Latch On randomized controlled trial.

Ms Anna Delahunt – PhD Student

Anna Delahunt is a CORU Registered Dietitian and a Registered General Nurse who has worked in the area of clinical paediatrics for most of her career. Her main area of interest throughout her clinical career has been in paediatric neurodisability, childhood feeding problems and eating disorders. Her most recent post is as Clinical Specialist Dietitian in paediatric neurodisability in Children’s Health Ireland, Tallaght Hospital. She completed her MSc in 2017, focusing on the area of paediatric enteral feeding. She is currently undertaking a PhD in the UCD Perinatal Research Centre, exploring the underlying determinants of childhood eating behaviours, as part of the ROLO longitudinal birth cohort study.

Ms Liz McGovern – PhD Student

Liz is an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC no: L-25682) and is a member of both the Irish and International Lactation Consultant Associations. She is undertaking her PhD on the EU Horizon2020 funded project Impact Diabetes Bump2Baby. Liz will be looking at breastfeeding attitudes and practices of participants in the Bump2Baby and Me randomised controlled trial within the project. Her PhD is focusing on exploring indicators of prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy and their relationship with breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity.

Following a background in Social Science and Sociology in UCD, she has over 20 years part-time experience supporting voluntary and non-profit organisations with their research and programme evaluation needs. Her 18-year experience of supporting breastfeeding families started as a voluntary breastfeeding counsellor with Cuidiú, the parent support charity. After certifying as an IBCLC 11 years ago, she became a tutor for Cuidiú, training new and existing breastfeeding counsellors as well as supporting breastfeeding parents and their children in private practice.

Ms Sophie Callanan – MSc Student

Sophie graduated from UCD in 2021 with a BSc in Human Nutrition. Sophie previously completed a 10-month work experience placement in the UCD Perinatal Research Centre as part of her undergraduate programme during which she developed a keen interest in child health and obesity while working on the longitudinal ROLO birth cohort study. Sophie has returned to the UCD Perinatal Research Centre to complete a 2-year research Masters investigating the fetal programming of childhood cardiometabolic health and obesity in the ROLO Preteens cohort.