Fionnuala Cooney 2016 Recipient 2019 Certified (Ireland)
Dr. Fionnuala Cooney MB, MRCOG, MSc Epi, FFPHMI, IBCLC.
Area Director of Public Health
Being a Trudi Szallasi scholarship recipient has been a very positive and life-enhancing experience. Indeed, not only did I benefit from having access to a range of excellent materials in preparation for the IBCLE examination, but also my professional status was enhanced and is continuing to be enhanced by being a scholarship recipient. Having the IBCLC qualification has enabled me to provide more authoritative inputs into policy, practice, and research on various aspects of human lactation in my Public Health work. These have included development of a national policy in Healthy Weight for Children, updating policy on vitamin D supplementation for infants, and providing input into the National Medicines Information Centre bulletin on the use of medicines for breastfeeding women. I also have contributed to a position paper on breastfeeding by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and I have been invited to join the editorial board of The International Breastfeeding Journal. As an IBCLC I have recently become a council member of the Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland.
Qualifying as an IBCLC has been a very important part of my professional development and receiving the Trudi Szallasi scholarship was an incredibly positive incentive to me on my journey. It is my firm intention to continue to increase awareness on the public health importance of human lactation and to support actions that promote and protect breastfeeding.