Kenny was born and raised in Liverpool.[1] Her grandparents were Irish immigrants who moved to Liverpool during the Great Depression.[1] Her mother was born during the Liverpool Blitz, an attack that killed Kenny's great aunt and her children.[1] Kenny has said that she always wanted to become a doctor.[1] As a teenager, she worked in a café in the Great Homer Street market.[1] She studied medicine at the University of Liverpool, where she initially intended to become a cardiologist.[2] She changed her mind the moment she saw a baby being born.[1] After training as a senior house officer, she started a doctoral research programme at the University of Nottingham funded by the Medical Research Council and WellBeing for Women.[1]
In 2013, Kenny founded the Science Foundation Ireland Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT), which is based at the University College Cork.[3] The centre focusses on improving health outcome for mothers and babies around the world. INFANT is involved with various studies into issues that impact pregnant women, including pre-eclampsia, preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction.[4] At INFANT, Kenny focussed on the identification of biomarkers that may indicate women are at risk of pre-eclampsia.[4] Kenny was involved with overturning the Irish ban on abortion.[1][5][6][7][8]
In 2017, Kenny moved to the University of Liverpool, where she was made Executive Pro Vice Chancellor.[citation needed]Geraldine Boylan was appointed Director of the INFANT upon her departure. At Liverpool, Kenny is part of a research programme that looks to improve the health of children who grow up in Liverpool City.[9]