We are delighted to announce the new incoming president for NSI will be Dr Áine Kelly. Aine will take up the position in September from the current president Dr Éilis Dowd, who has been a excellent leader and advocate of NSI over the past 2 years. As such would you like to thank Éilis for her contribution to the NSI and wish Áine the very best in her new role.
Áine graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1995 with a first class honours degree in Science, specialising in Physiology. She was awarded her PhD in Neuroscience in 1998 and was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of Physiology in 2002. She is currently Associate Professor in Physiology and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Science Education in Trinity College Dublin. Áine’s research expertise lies at the interface of exercise physiology and neuroscience and her laboratory assesses how modifiable lifestyle factors including physical activity can enhance and protect brain function throughout the lifespan. She is particularly interested in the cellular mechanisms by which interventions such as environmental enrichment and exercise both improve cognition and protect against neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in age by modulating neuroinflammation.
Áine has been an active and dynamic member of Neuroscience Ireland for many years, and as our current Outreach Officer, she is heavily involved in the promotion of public awareness and understanding of the brain in health and disease. Of particular note is the leadership role she played in the outstanding Public Programme at the recent BNA2019 Festival of Neuroscience.