Annette Kennedy

Annette Kennedy is an Irish nurse and nursing leader who served as the 28th President of the International Council of Nurses, holding the office from 2017 to 2021. She took a degree in nursing studies and a master's degree in public sector analysis, and was later given an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. From 1994 to 2012 she was director of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, where she founded its Education, Research and Resource Centre. She also served as president of the European Federation of Nurses, as vice-president of the International Council of Nurses, as a commissioner on the World Health Organization's Independent High-Level Commission on non-communicable diseases, and on the board of the Nursing Now campaign. In 2021 the WHO Director-General gave her a Global Health Leaders Award, and she has received honorary degrees from Dublin City University and the University of Toronto.