New Principal for UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences
19 May 2025
Professor Michael Keane, College Principal of the UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences
(opens in a new window)Professor Michael Keane has been named as the new College Principal of the UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences.
As a College Principal, appointed by the UCD Governing Authority, Professor Keane will serve as a member of the University Management Team.
Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics at UCD and a Consultant Respiratory Physician at St Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH), Professor Keane has been Dean and Head of the UCD School of Medicine since 2018.
He has also held significant management positions at SVUH, having served on the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group Board of Directors for nine years, and filling the roles of group clinical director and interim CEO.
He has been prominent in postgraduate medical education, serving on the council of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, where he is currently Registrar.
“My congratulations to Michael on this appointment," said UCD President (opens in a new window)Professor Orla Feely.
“Michael is an outstanding academic and clinical leader, and I look forward to working with him in delivering on our shared ambitions for health and agricultural sciences at University College Dublin.”
“I am delighted to be appointed as College Principal,” said Professor Keane. “Health and agricultural science have a central role in the UCD Strategy to 2030 and I look forward to working with the UMT in delivering on that strategy.”
An honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians London, Professor Keane has chaired the board of directors of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and UCD Malaysia Campus (RUMC) in Penang since 2018.
A graduate of UCD School of Medicine he undertook a three-year fellowship training in pulmonary and critical care medicine at University of Michigan, before joining its faculty in 1998.
Following this, he moved to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and served for several years as Director of its Fellowship Training Program and its Medical Intensive Care Unit.
In 2007, he returned to Ireland to take up his current professorship at University College Dublin and the role of Consultant Respiratory Physician at SVUH.
His research interests are focused on interstitial lung disease and rare lung diseases, and he has published widely in these areas.
A member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and associate editor of Respirology, Professor Keane has been a grant reviewer for the NIH, ERC, MRC and Wellcome Trust.
Professor Keane will take up the new position on 1 September 2025 following the end of term for Professor Cecily Kelleher in the role.
By: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
