Louise Kenny

Louise Clare Kenny CBE (born 1970) is a British physician who is Professor and Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the University of Liverpool. She was elected a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours.

Louise Kenny CBE
Born	1970 (age 54–55) Liverpool
Alma mater	University of Liverpool
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Liverpool
Thesis	The role of endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor in normal and compromised pregnancies (2003)

Early life and education

Kenny was born and raised in Liverpool.^[1] Her grandparents were Irish immigrants who moved to Liverpool during the Great Depression.^[1] Her mother was born during the Liverpool Blitz, an attack that killed Kenny's great aunt and her children.^[1] Kenny has said that she always wanted to become a doctor.^[1] As a teenager, she worked in a café in the Great Homer Street market.^[1] She studied medicine at the University of Liverpool, where she initially intended to become a cardiologist.^[2] She changed her mind the moment she saw a baby being born.^[1] After training as a senior house officer, she started a doctoral research programme at the University of Nottingham funded by the Medical Research Council and WellBeing for Women.^[1]

Career

In 2006, Kenny was appointed a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Cork University Hospital. She specialised in hypertensive disease of pregnancy.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[3] 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.^[4] At INFANT, Kenny focussed on the identification of biomarkers that may indicate women are at risk of pre-eclampsia.^[4] Kenny was involved with overturning the Irish ban on abortion.^{[1][5][6][7][8]}

In 2017, Kenny moved to the University of Liverpool, where she was made Executive Pro Vice Chancellor.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[9]

Awards and honours

• 2015 Science Foundation Ireland Researcher of the Year^[4]
• 2015 Tatler Magazine Woman of the Year^[10]
• 2017 Guaranteed Irish Science Hero^[11]

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.^[12][13][14]

Selected publications

• Mark A Brown; Laura A Magee; Louise C Kenny; et al. (1 July 2018). "Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: ISSHP Classification, Diagnosis, and Management Recommendations for International Practice". Hypertension. 72 (1): 24–43. doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.10803. ISSN 0194-911X. PMID 29899139. Wikidata Q89093946.
• Ali S Khashan; Kathryn M. Abel; Roseanne McNamee; Marianne G Pedersen; Roger T. Webb; Philip Baker; Louise Kenny; Preben Bo Mortensen (1 February 2008). "Higher risk of offspring schizophrenia following antenatal maternal exposure to severe adverse life events". JAMA Psychiatry. 65 (2): 146–152. doi:10.1001/ARCHGENPSYCHIATRY.2007.20. ISSN 2168-622X. PMID 18250252. Wikidata Q50873408.
• Louise Kenny; David I Broadhurst; Warwick Dunn; et al. (1 October 2010). "Robust early pregnancy prediction of later preeclampsia using metabolomic biomarkers". Hypertension. 56 (4): 741–749. doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.110.157297. ISSN 0194-911X. PMID 20837882. Wikidata Q46329980.