Board Of Management
Dr Anne Griffin
Before joining the School of Allied Health academic team in 2018, Anne practised as a registered dietitian with the HSE and private consultancy for 20 years. During this time, she established and provided a community dietetic service and was involved in the development, implementation and support of programmes to promote health and prevent nutrition related diseases in a range of clinical & community settings. Anne continues to work in nutrition health promotion through partnerships she has developed and maintained with both HSE and community development groups. Her current research interests include: (1) nutrition care pathways for older adults; (2) understanding the factors affecting participant attendance at structured education programmes for Type 2 Diabetes; (3) development of nutrition competencies among healthcare professionals (4) faculty development to support interprofessional education; (5) Mediterranean Diet and Rheumatoid Arthritis (MEDRA). Anne recently graduated with an MA in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship in Higher Education, and was awarded the Education & Health Science faculty individual award for excellence in teaching in 2021.
Anne currently serves by statutory appointment on the Dietitians Register Board of CORU and is the chair of the Executive Council of the Irish Nutrition & Dietetic Institute, the professional body for dietitians in Ireland. In 2020, she was elected to the Committee of Education and LifeLong Learning of the European Federation of Associations for Dietetics.
Padraig McKeon
Padraig McKeon is a business leader and manager with over 30 years’ experience working with senior management teams in Irish business and the public service. A native of Sligo, Padraig is a Communications Studies graduate of DCU with post graduate qualifications in Accounting and Finance. He began a successful career in the Public Relations industry in 1986 and was appointed as a Director of leading Irish PR firm Drury Communications in 1997. He then ran a start-up business for Drury in Central Europe based in Budapest from 1998 to 2000 before becoming Managing Director of Drury from 2003 to 2010.
A fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII), Padraig has served on the PRII National Council and as PRII CPD tutor. From 2002 to 2010 he was a director of the Forum on Public Procurement.
He is a Director of Adare HR Management and of the Dublin Simon Community. A keen sportsman, Padraig maintains strong links with his native Sligo where he is Chairman of music festival Sligo Live and a director of regional radio station Ocean FM. Padraig joined the Board of DCU's Educational Trust in 2006 and was nominated as its representative to Governing Authority in mid-2011. He joined the Board of INDI in 2013.
Professor Mary Flynn
Dr Mary Flynn has worked in public health, clinical nutrition and academia in Ireland, Canada and the Middle East. Currently she leads work on nutrient reference standards for infants and young children at Codex Alimentarius (WHO and FAO of the UN) and was an External Advisor on Health Canada’s Food Guides in 2006 and 2019. Throughout her career she has led multidisciplinary teams in tackling some of the biggest challenges posed by obesity and related chronic diseases. She has implemented innovative prevention and treatment programs reducing risk of heart disease and diabetes for people of all ages.
Mary has over published 100 scientific publications and her work on childhood obesity has been recognized internationally. In 2014, she was awarded the inaugural medal for excellence in Public Health Nutrition by the Nutrition Society in the UK. She was appointed as a member of the first Healthy Ireland Council by the Minister for Health and has been a Visiting Professor at the Ulster University, Northern Ireland since 2012.
Mary was a Registered Dietitian in Canada from 2000 to 2004. She is a member of the Dietitians Registration Board in CORU, the Regulating body for Health and Social Care Professionals in Ireland.
Leo Kearns
Prior to joining Vhi Leo Kearns was the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland. He joined RCPI as CEO in 2006 and led a major programme of transformation. Under his leadership, RCPI adopted a proactive and progressive role in the improvement of medical training, practice and patient care in the Irish health system.
Mr Kearns has played a national leadership role in the development of the National Clinical Programmes and was centrally involved in the development of Clinical Directors within the Irish health sector, and also the introduction of Professional Competence. In addition to his role of CEO of RCPI, Mr Kearns served as National Lead for Transformation and Change in the HSE from 2013-2015. Mr Kearns was centrally involved in the publication of Towards 2026 by RCPI, a new vision for hospital services.
Mary McKiernan
Mary McKiernan is the Dietitian Manager in the Mater Hospital which is the National Centre for Heart and Lung Transplant, Inherited Metabolic Disorders and HIPEC surgery as well as a designated cancer centre, and a dialysis centre.
She has held officer positions in various INDI groups, such as Chair of the INDI Education Steering Committee, coordinator supporting the work of the Validation Unit in the Department of Health prior to the development of registration and contributor to numerous INDI submissions to clinical care programmes.
She is currently the Chair of the NFPE subgroup, and Senior Management Team (SMT) member.
Ita Saul
Ita Saul qualified in Dietetics from DIT, Kevin Street in 1976. Following a year's post graduate studies in Paris, she commenced her paediatric career, initially at the Metabolic Unit, Temple Street Hospital, and from 1995 - 2015 as Dietitian Manager at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Dublin.
She is currently chair of the Public Health Nutrition subcommittee of the FSAI Scientific Committee. Ita is an Honorary member of the INDI.
Jennifer Feighan
Jennifer Feighan is the Chief Executive of the INDI. Jennifer has 25 years’ experience in the healthcare and not for profit sectors. She started her career in healthcare as General Manager of the Dublin Well Woman Centres. She played a central role in the expansion and management of the Cancer Services Directorate in St James’s Hospital. She has developed and managed funding proposals for National Cancer Institute /Health Research Board programmes to enhance infrastructure for Cancer Research in Irish hospitals. She held the position of Business Manager in the Dublin North Hospital Group in the HSE and oversaw several National briefs there. She managed research projects within Mercers Institute for Successful Ageing at St James’s Hospital which had a focus on the engagement of disadvantaged communities, she has a keen interest in research ethics and clinical and corporate governance.
Jennifer has graduate and post graduate qualifications from the University of Bath, The Institute of Public Administration and the Law Society of Ireland.