IHS Team

Suzanne Laurie is passionate about furthering the standard for the training and practice of Nutritional Therapy. She graduated from the University of Westminster with a BSc in Health Sciences: Nutritional Therapy. Since qualifying in 2002 she has worked as a therapist and lecturer in Nutritional Therapy at a number of institutes and universities in the UK and Ireland. Suzanne worked on the team at Thames Valley University, successfully developing one of the first degree programmes in Nutritional Therapy in the UK.  

Suzanne regularly contributes articles to magazines, including Natural Health and Wellbeing, My Weekly, Positive Health and Fushi.co.uk. She has been quoted in Cosmopolitan, The Irish Times and The Daily Mail. She also co-presents a twice monthly natural health show on her local radio station, Bay Radio, alongside a Functional Medicine doctor. Suzanne is involved producing a range of nutritional supplements for an international health products retailer, which are currently on sale in throughout Europe.

In 2008 Suzanne reached her goal of combining her passions for complementary therapies and teaching, with her desire to live and advocate a more natural and self-sufficient way of living. She has set up a health retreat, Finca Mariola, in rural Spain with her husband, Laurence, where they deliver practical, hands-on courses in nutrition and cooking for health.

Laurence has always loved food and has always loved cooking. He has visited many countries, and immersed himself in their cuisine, learning local secrets from a diverse range of cookery experts in Morocco, Thailand and Spain. After spending many years in business, Laurence formalised his cooking training at the renowned Ashburton Cookery School, but continues to indulge his love of international cuisine by attending many short courses in different venues around the globe.

Since meeting Suzanne, Laurence has also become interested in the effects of food on health, attending courses and seminars on cooking for health. He is currently creating an extensive vegetable and herb garden, alongside the existing mature fruit orchard, in order to make Finca Mariola as self sufficient as possible.

Moira graduated with a Masters degree in Chemistry from Trinity College Dublin. Following on from that she studied Nutritional Therapy at the Institute of Optimum Nutrition in London. Whilst studying there she was the manager of a complementary clinic with over 50 therapists. She currently works for Biocare, one of the leading supplement companies in the industry, delivering seminars to health professionals. Moira runs a private practice with clinics in Dublin, her special interest is mental health. 

Caroline completed a Diploma in Complementary Therapies before embarking upon a career in Nutritional Therapy. She graduated in 2009 with a Diploma in Nutritional Therapy from IHS.



Caroline has spent 12 years in the health food industry and is a senior advisor and a practicing Nutritional Therapist in one of Corks leading health shops. For 6 years, Caroline was involved with inner city community groups promoting health and well being and  co-ordinated and lectured in complementary therapies in 2 esteemed colleges in Cork city before taking up her position as director of Distance Learning Courses with IHS.

Louise completed a diploma in Electronics and Telecommunications before embarking upon a career in Nutritional Therapy. She graduated from the Institute of Health Sciences in 2011. Louise has worked as an educator speaking to different Adult Learning Groups promoting health and the many benefits of good nutrition.

She is currently beginning to take clients for nutritional therapy consultations.

Stephanie completed a degree in Biology before embarking upon a career in Natural Medicine. She graduated with a degree in Naturopathy from Perth Academy of Natural Therapies, Australia, and is qualified in the fields of Nutrition, Herbal Medicine and Homoeopathy. Her continued desire for knowledge has led to post graduate training including Sports Nutrition and Homoeopathic Clinical Training.

Stephanie worked as a Senior Lecturer Head and Senior Clinic Supervisor on the Naturopathy degree programme at Westminster University, UK, and is the Director of Herbal Medicine at IHS. She has also worked as a Technical Consultant for health supplement distribution companies in the UK and The Netherlands. Stephanie has now realised her ambition to combine naturopathy with orthodox medicine and is studying for her medical degree.

Joan graduated from University of Westminster with a BSc in Nutritional Therapy and Post-graduate Diploma in Herbal Medicine. She is a member of the British Association of Nutritional Therapists, Nutritional Therapists of Ireland, National Institute of Medical Herbalists and Irish Medical Herbalists Organisation.

Joan now runs a busy Natural Health Practice in Dalkey, Co. Dublin and has a particular interest in the areas of stress and adrenal fatigue and other chronic health problems. Joan, a keen gardener, is interested in growing her own food and using foods from the wild and has inspired many IHS students to people to start their own gardens and grow their own foods.

Helen holds an honours psychology degree from Trinity College Dublin, and a first class Masters in health promotion from the National University of Ireland, Galway. Following her passion for natural health alternatives, Helen qualified with a Diploma in Nutritional Therapy from the Institute of Optimum Nutrition.

Helen has an extensive academic background, having previously worked as a health researcher and lecturer in a number of universities, as well as a number of years in health promotion practice. She has a busy nutritional therapy practice in Dublin city centre, as well as working as a lecturer and researcher. She is also a member of the Nutritional Therapists of Ireland (NTOI).

Sally graduated from University College, London with a BSC (Hons) in Physiology and has since qualified as a Nutritional Therapist. She lectures for a number of Irish colleges in physiology, biochemistry and nutritional therapy.

As the founder of Positive Nutrition, Sally runs a busy practice in Dublin as the Irish representative of Dr Marilyn Glenville PhD, the UK’s leading nutritionist for women’s health and fertility.

Sally regularly contributes media articles and speaks on radio on nutrition-related health issues.  Sally has always had a keen interest in the life-enhancing benefits of healthy eating, and continues to explore new recipes and cooking techniques to share with clients and students alike.

Lin Ducker started practising as a Nutritional Therapist after obtaining a BSc (Hons) in Nutritional Therapy from Westminster University in 2002. She also won the Nutri-Clinical Practice award in the same year. Lin also has a degree in Radiography and after working in the NHS in the UK and Switzerland she became a Clinical Tutor in Radiography at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University before returning to the UK to study Nutritional Therapy.

As an experienced clinician, Lin has worked as a clinical supervisor in Nutritional Therapy at Westminster University as well as running her own private practice in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Lin’s special interests are Gut Ecology and the preparing of nutrient dense foods to optimise health.

Dr. Nigel Abraham has more than 20 years experience as an assay development scientist; he has been involved in extensive research in the field of chemical mediators of allergic disease and salivary hormone diagnostics.  He is a graduate in haematology from St. Georges Medical School London and went on to study immunology at the University of Surrey. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science and a chartered scientist.

As co-founder of IWDL Nigel has been a pioneer of functional laboratory testing in the United Kingdom.  He is responsible for the provision of Genova Diagnostics health education program for the United Kingdom and Europe. He is a lecturer for many of the major education centres for nutritionists and complementary therapists as well as regularly holding seminars and presentations as part of continuing professional development for practitioners. He has been involved many research projects and has published a number of scientific papers as well as actively involved in the promotion of functional medicine to the media.

Dr Gill Hart is a PhD Biochemist with over twenty years experience in the development and validation of diagnostic tests. Gill started her career as a Senior Biochemist at the Hammersmith Hospital, and has subsequently worked for many different companies and clients within the diagnostics industry and the related regulatory environment. Dr. Hart joined YorkTest in 2005, and has applied her scientific and regulatory knowledge to all YorkTest services; including putting in measures of ‘self-regulation’ in the under-regulated ‘diagnostic testing services’ industry.

Gill regularly gives talks and lectures on food intolerance at Universities and Colleges around the UK and for the Institute of Health Sciences. She also provides guidance for those choosing diagnostic tests with her ‘What makes a good diagnostic test’ checklist, and has written many articles. Gill is currently Scientific Director at YorkTest Laboratories Ltd.

Sue McGarrigle is a clinical nutritionist and naturopath and has practiced as a Clinical Nutritionist since graduating from ION in 2001. After graduating, she continued her learning with a three year course in Naturopathy at the London College of Naturopathic Medicine (LCNM).

Sue has worked for BioCare as technical advisor and Product Consultant Manager, managing a team of Nutritional Therapists throughout the country, managing and delivering the continuous professional development seminar programme to healthcare professionals throughout the UK. As Technical Manager of BioNutri, Sue has helped to launch a range of innovative products for practitioner use since joining the company in 2008.

As a lecturer to college and university students to Masters level, Sue has trained hundreds of healthcare and medical practitioners in many aspects of nutritional therapy. She has written specialist nutrition articles for magazines and newspapers and made contributions to books including a new book just published entitled Good Gut Bugs.

Sue continues to advise practitioners about products, clinical protocols and drug nutrient problems. She is currently putting together a new seminar programme for practitioners in line with current legislation, research and thinking. She was privileged to be one of the speakers at the ION 25th Anniversary Conference, the 2010 ARCH conference and spoke on the subject of probiotics.