Rate My Professor Audrey Tierney

Professor Audrey Tierney serves as Discipline Lead of Nutrition and Dietetics and Professor in the School of Allied Health within the Faculty of Education and Health Sciences at the University of Limerick. She earned her PhD in Nutrition and Nutrigenomics from Trinity College Dublin in 2008, a BSc from the same institution in 2003, and an Honours Diploma from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2003. Her career trajectory includes roles as lead dietitian on the EU FP6-funded LIPGENE dietary intervention trial at Trinity College Dublin, a postdoctoral position in the Nutrigenomics Research Group at University College Dublin, clinical practice at Alfred Health, and a decade in academia at La Trobe University in Australia. She joined the University of Limerick's School of Allied Health in July 2017 and holds additional professorial positions in the Centre for Implementation Research and the Health Research Institute.

Tierney's research focuses on clinical nutrition and dietetics, emphasizing the prevention and management of Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes through dietary fats, particularly monounsaturated fats, and whole-diet approaches like the traditional Cretan Mediterranean Diet. Her work extends to the Mediterranean Diet's role in inflammatory diseases such as Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis, cystic fibrosis nutrition, healthy campuses, food security, and lifestyle medicine. As Principal Investigator of a Health Research Board-funded study, she investigates dietary shifts and barriers to healthy eating in cystic fibrosis patients in the post-CFTR modulator era. She has authored 98 research articles, 22 reviews, and 2 book chapters. Notable publications include 'Dietary intakes and quality of Irish adults with cystic fibrosis: Comparisons to nutrition guidelines and HEI-2020' (2025, Journal of Cystic Fibrosis), 'Effect of Mediterranean diet on mental health outcomes: a systematic review' (2025, Nutrition Research Reviews), 'Changes in Components of Sarcopenia Diagnostic Criteria Throughout the Surgical Treatment of Oesophagogastric Cancer Surgery' (2026, Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics), and 'A randomised controlled trial of a Mediterranean Dietary Intervention delivered by telehealth for inflammatory arthritis' (2022). Tierney chairs the Cystic Fibrosis Special Interest Group of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, serves on the councils of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society and ESPEN, and is a board member of CORU. Recognized nationally and internationally, her translational research influences clinical practice and aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals on health, education, and responsible consumption.