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Sandra Capra AM joined the Faculty of Health Sciencesand then the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciencesi 2008 as professor of nutrition. Professor Capra received her BSc(Hons) and Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics from Sydney University, her MSocSc from the University of Birmingham and her PhD from the University of Queensland.

After more than 15 years in professional practice in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and New Zealand Prof Capra entered academia full time. Professor Capra has a strong commitment to allied health professions and has served three terms as President of the Dietitians Association of Australia, has been a member of the Council of Pro Vice Chancellors and Deans of Health Sciences and served on many national policy making committees including the Nutrient Reference Values Steering Committee and the Dietary Guidelines Working Party of the National Health and Medical Research Council. She served sixteen years as Chair of the Board of Directors (President) of the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations from 2004-2016. She was an Independent Director of Health Workforce Australia 2010-2014.

Professor Capra is an expert on allied health in general and nutrition and dietetics curricula and competencies in particular and reviews educational programs both in Australia and overseas. In early 2017 she was appointed Executive Director of the International Commission for Dietetics and Nutrition Education and Accreditation, implementing an international program of competency development and program accreditaion. She is regularly invited to speak on the topic of educational standards, quality and competence. Professor Capra has been recognised for her service to nutrition and dietetics education and research by being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003, a Fellow of the Dietitians Association of Australia (the first appointed) and elected to life membership of the DAA. She was named one of the Westpac/Financial Review "100 Women of Influence" in the global category in 2014.

Professor Capra designed and developed the Master of Dietetics Studies, an innovative and distinctive program within Australia, and sought and achieved accreditation for this novel program as well as more recently its reaccreditation. Graduates are complimented on their skill and employability.

She has acted as a consultant to governments, in the area of foodservices for hospitals, detention centres, custodial facilities as well as serving on numerous governent committees at the state and national level.

Prior to her move to the University of Queensland she was the Head of School, School of Health Sciences and Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Newcastle, NSW. Before that she was at QUT for 15 years.

She was appointed Emeritus Professor in January 2019, and retains an active interest in research and mentoring.

Research Interests

Professor Capra has positioned UQ as a leader in research in nutrition. Her personal research interests focus on nutrition and dietetics practice, food and nutrition policy and quality outcomes for food and nutrition services in a variety of settings. Much of her work focuses on the development of tools to use in practice and developing systems for quality improvements and outcomes measurements of service delivery. Studies include nutrition service delivery models, best practice, tools development, measurement in dietetics and outcomes research in dietetics, staffing and efficacy. This is not limited to clinical fields, but includes other domains of policy and public health and service delivery and alllied health more generally. Professor Capra was a principal investigator on the Department of Health and Ageing “Implementing best practice nutrition and hydration support in Residential aged care” which was part of the national “Encouraging Best Practice in Residential Aged Care” program. She has developed tools now used across Australia such as the Malnutrition Screening Tool, the Meal Assessment Tool, and the Acute Care Patient Satisfaction with Foodservice Questionnaire. many of her former students have proceeded to key leadership roles in Australia and overseas.

Geoffrey Cleghorn is Deputy Head of the School of Medicine, Director International of the School of Medicine and Professor of Paeditrics

Professor Cleghorn is a graduate of the University of Queensland Medical School and undertook postgraduate training in paediatric gastroenterology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto Canada. Following his training he entered academic practice within University of Queensland at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane.

Professor Cleghorn has published more than 90 manuscripts and book chapters and is a seasoned lecturer and public speaker on a number of infant related issues including perinatal and paediatric nutrition. His research interests include the use of energy expenditure and body composition analysis in a number of disease states including chronic liver disease, cystic fibrosis, and general nutritional rehabilitation. He has been the recipient of a number of research grants from national and international granting bodies including the Australian Research Council, the National Health & Medical Research Council from Australia and the National Institutes of Health from the USA.

Professor Cleghorn has developed an extensive network of associations throughout Asia and hence has a very high profile within this region. He is a frequent, invited visitor to countries throughout Asia and has spoken on a number of nutritional and gastrointestinal topics during these visits. This profile has enabled Professor Cleghorn to be formally appointed to the Academic Teaching Staff of the Department of Child Health, University of Indonesia as a visiting Professor, to become involved in several multinational trials in S.E. Asia, and has seen a number of trainees travel to Brisbane to further their paediatric gastrointestinal and nutritional studies with him and his colleagues.

Professor Cleghorn has been a member of the well respected, Queensland Liver Transplant Service from its inception in 1985 until the present day. He has been involved in many of the historical and seminal advances in paediatric liver transplantation including the world’s first successful living related donor liver transplant and the development of the liver cut down technique now universally known as the “Brisbane Technique”. Research from the QLTS has highlighted the importance of nutrition in these patients and again is now acknowledged internationally.

Professor Cleghorn has had extensive collaborative experience with all levels of industry from the conduct of commissioned trials for regulatory approval to board room advice. He has been on the medical advisory boards of the peak meat industry body in Australia and Gerber Australasia. He has had extensive experience within the broader Asian region providing advice to the regional medical office for Mead Johnson Nutritionals.

His memberships include the Queensland Paediatric Society, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the North American Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, the European Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition. In addition, he also holds the following positions:

• President – The Asian and Pacific Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition
• President - The Federation of International Societies of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
• Executive Councilor, The International Pediatric Transplantation Association
• Editorial Board, Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
• Editorial Board, Bailiere’s Clinical Gastroenterology
• Visiting Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia

Dr Peter Collins is a Senior Dietitian at Mater Health in Brisbane, where he covers patient caseloads across gastroenterology and general medicine in both the public and private hospitals. Peter is a UK trained Registered Dietitian (RD) and an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) with a PhD in Clinical Nutrition from the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Southampton (June 2013). Peter’s research interests are around the detection and management of disease-related malnutrition, with a specific interest in the nutritional management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Peter is on the editorial board of the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics and was recently awarded an appointment to the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) Faculty as an Early Career member. He is regularly invited to present at international conferences on the topic of malnutrition and nutrition support and has taught as part of the prestigious Life-Long Learning (LLL) international program in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism for health care professionals including doctors, dietitians, nurses and pharmacists.

Dr Cuffe is a systems physiologist focused on understanding the complex changes to maternal physiology that occur during pregnancy and the impact of pregnancy dysfunction of programmed cardiovascular, metabolic and renal disease in offspring. Dr Cuffe has a particular focus on understanding the role of the placenta and its hormones in mediating both maternal and offspring disease. He is most recognised for his research investigating how maternal stress, thyroid dysfunction, hypoxia or altered nutrition affect placental development and program disease in the mother after pregnancy as well as her offspring. Dr Cuffe has an exceptional track record and is excited to take new honours and PhD students into his research laboratory.

Dr Katherine Cullerton is a Research Fellow in the School of Public Health. Katherine joined the School of Public Health in August 2018 after completing postdoctoral research at the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, UK where she investigated whether it’s ever acceptable for nutrition researchers to engage with the food industry and if it is, under what conditions. Her current research involves understanding the barriers to evidence informing public policy and how advocates can better influence policy in Australia with a particular emphasis on the effects of framing and public opinion.

Dr Cullerton is also the academic lead for external engagement for the School of Public Health.

Dr Brooke Devlin is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian (AdvAPD), Advanced Sports Dietitian (AdvSD) and a Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland. Dr Devlin holds qualifications in exercise science (BExSci), nutrition and dietetics (MNutrDiet) and completed a PhD in Sports Nutrition at La Trobe University, Melbourne. Her current research interests include diet and exercise interventions to optimise blood glucose control and metabolic health including chrono-nutrition and time-restricted eating. In addition to this, Dr Devlin continues to have an interest and ongoing research in sports nutrition, focusing on nutrition knowledge and dietary behaviours of athletes.

Professor Mike Gidley is Director of the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences (CNAFS) at the University of Queensland, Australia. The Centre is part of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) in conjunction with the Queensland Government. Prof Gidley’s research is focussed on structure – function relationships in biopolymer assemblies such as starch granules and plant cell walls. This has led to the detailed characterisation of starch and dietary fibre digestion/fermentation in vitro and in vivo, with the understanding generated leading to opportunities for optimising nutritional value of foods and feeds. He is also a Chief Investigator in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls.

Professor Gidley was trained in chemistry at the Universities of London (BSc) and Cambridge (PhD), and worked on food-related research for more than twenty years in Unilever’s R+D laboratory at Colworth House in the UK, beginning as a research scientist and culminating as the Group Leader for Plant-based Foods and Ingredients, before joining UQ in 2003.

Professor Gidley’s major research interest is the linking of plant molecular structures to macroscopic properties with relevance to plant-based food properties. In particular, he is interested in investigating polysaccharide assemblies such as plant cell walls and starch granules, particularly the way these structures are assembled in nature and then disassembled during manufacturing and later during digestion. His field of research involves the use of spectroscopic, microscopic and materials analyses of natural materials and model systems. Insights into structure-property relationships are obtained, that can then be used to provide targets for raw materials and processes with enhanced food and nutritional properties.

Dr Daniel Liang-Dar Hwang is a genetic epidemiologist and statistical geneticist by training. His research interests include sensory nutrition, causal modelling, and personalized nutrition. Dr Hwang applies statistical models to big data to understand genetic and environmental factors contributing to individual differences in taste and olfactory perception and their relationship with dietary behaviour and chronic conditions (See his research on taste perception in The Conversation). He develops methods for increasing statistical power for gene discovery, estimating intergenerational causal relationships, and personalized intervention. He also works with clinicians to investigate impaired chemosensory perception in cancer patients and COVID-19.

Daniel has a B.Sc from the National Taiwan University, majoring in Biochemical Science and Technology, and an M.Biotech from the University of Pennsylvania. Following graduation, he worked as a research technician in Danielle Reed's lab at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, where he first developed a keen interest in genetics and chemosensory perception. Later, he was awarded scholarships to complete an M.Sc in Nutrition at the University of Washington, under the supervision of Glen Duncan, and a PhD in Genetic Epidemiology at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, under the supervision of Nicholas Martin and Margaret Wright. He then joined David Evans's group as a postdoc at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute (now the Frazer Institute). Dr Hwang is an ARC DECRA Fellow at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. He is also an Affiliated Scientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Dr Hwang has published more than 40 peer-reviewed publications. His work has been referred to in international health policy guidelines and a WHO report for the intervention of childhood obesity and in a global patent for personalized wine selection. He is on the editorial boards of BMC Medicine and Twin Research and Human Genetics. Dr Hwang is a Leadership Team member of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, a global initiative to understand the relationship between smell loss and COVID-19 and foster the advancement of chemosensory science. He currently drives an international collaborative project to investigate the impact of COVID-19 vaccinations on long-COVID symptoms. Dr Hwang is a member of the National Committee for Nutrition of the Australian Academy of Science. He contributes to implementing the decadal plan for the science of nutrition in Australia.

I am a consultant Accredited Practising Dietitian and Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Online Health. I have a PhD in technology-supported lifestyle interventions and delivering dietary education to improve people’s dietary self-management. My research program focuses on technology-enabled health systems and interventions for improving patient-centred care in chronic disease and simplifying nutrition communication for clinicians and people living with chronic conditions. I work in private practice, primarily providing professional consultancy services for kidney nutrition. I also provide consultation for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. You can learn more about my private practice here - https://www.mynutritionclinic.com.au/renal-dietitian/

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research interests are in 1) Nutrition & Dietetics – primarily diet quality and focusing on methods to improve diet quality in people with chronic kidney disease and other complex chronic conditions; 2) Health Service Delivery & 3) Digital Health – specifically focused on preparing to workforce, codesigning and testing technology-assisted interventions to deliver lifestyle interventions. My current work focuses on technology-enabled health systems and interventions for improving patient-centred care in chronic disease and simplifying nutrition communication for clinicians and people living with chronic conditions.

Sheleigh Lawler is a health psychology expert, with research interests in understanding and intervening on health behaviours, particularly the psychosocial sequelae in relation to disease and intervention outcomes. Her breadth of knowledge across public health, health promotion and health psychology allows for a unique perspective, particularly on understanding the importance of communication. Her work involves multi-disciplinary teams of researchers, industry partners, and government organisations.

Dr Hannah Mayr is an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian and works as Principal Research Fellow for the Nutrition and Dietetics Department at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane. She collaborates with diverse teams of allied health and medical clinicians, clinician researchers, academics and consumers.

Dr Mayr has expertise in cardiometabolic disease prevention and management and her work has a focus on evidence-based healthy dietary patterns. In this area her interests and experience include dietary intake assessment and intervention design; randomised controlled and feasibility trials; telehealth and mhealth; qualitative interviews; implementation science and consumer engagement.

Dr Mayr received the Dietitians Australia Early Career Researcher Award in 2018 for her PhD work investigating a Mediterranean diet intervention in people with coronary artery disease and its impact on the Dietary Inflammatory Index. She has recently led a project focused on translating a Mediterranean-style, heart healthy diet approach into routine care for people with type 2 diabetes or heart disease. Dr Mayr has also collaborated on projects focused on improving outcomes for people with kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, liver transplant, and fatty liver disease through nutrition assessment or intervention.

Dr Mayr is an experienced university Lecturer and research supervisor in dietetics practice and research and is committed to research capacity building of dietitians and allied health professionals.

Professor Gita Mishra’s main research area is life course epidemiology and women’s health. She joined the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2010 as the first Professor of Life Course Epidemiology at the School of Public Health. She was subsequently awarded an ARC Future Fellowship (2013-2017), a NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (2017-2021), and is currently an NHMRC Leadership Fellow (Level 3; 2022-26).

At UQ she is founding Director of the Australian Women and Girls’ Health Research (AWaGHR) Centre that has 30 academics, professional staff, and PhD students. Within the centre, she leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Women and Non-Communicable Diseases (CRE WaND) and the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) a national flagship study since 1996 that has collected data on over 57,000 women in four age cohorts. Since 2012 she has also led and developed the International collaboration for a Life course Approach to reproductive health and Chronic disease Events(InterLACE) that combines data from more than 800,000 women in 27 studies in 12 countries and has become a leading global resource for robust evidence on reproductive events, including pregnancy loss and the risk of non-communicable diseases.

Professor Mishra is internationally recognized for her expertise in epidemiology and women’s health across the life course. This is especially regarding her research on the links between reproductive characteristics, from menarche to menopause, and non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Her work from ALSWH and InterLACE have contributed significantly to her career total of over 450 scientific papers, book chapters, and reports to inform government policy. As lead editor, Mishra has recently completed the 2nd edition of A life course approach to women’s health – part of the ground-breaking Life Course Series from Oxford University Press – due for publication in early 2023. As a result of successful grant funding, her current research at AWaGHR includes leading projects on endometriosis, menstrual and pelvic pain, and the healthcare experience of women with multimorbidity.

She is actively engaged in research translation and capacity building. In 2018 Professor Mishra led the evidence review for the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030, and recently she chaired the Future Research session at the 2021 RANZCOGWomen’s Health Summit in Canberra. In 2022 she was co-convenor of the Queensland Women’s Health Forum to support research and policy development in the state. Her research is often featured by national and international media organisations. For example, her team’s recent findings on the links between stillbirth and miscarriage and the risk of stroke led to interviews for Reuters, ABC, and BBC. She has also co-authored eight articles on women’s health for The Conversation that have reached over 130,000 readers.

In addition to mentoring postdoctoral researchers, Professor Mishra currently supervises 9 PhD students, with 21 previously completed. These have typically resulted in five or more papers published alongside each dissertation. Many of her students have then gone on to successful research or scientific careers at world-leading institutions.

In 2017, she was elected as a board member for the European Menopause and Andropause Society; received honorary membership of Sigma International, a global nursing organisation; and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS). In 2022 she received the RANZCOG award for Excellence in Women’s Health.

Dr Miura's research focus is the role of nutrition and dietary intake in prevention of chronic disease, especially skin cancer and cardiovascular disease. Dr Miura is currently leading projects to studying nutritional status and dietary intake among heart transplant recipients. Her research areas also extend to health of airline pilots in relation to radiation exposure.

Beatrice is a Postdoctoral Researcher with a special interest in behaviour change and digital health promotion. She has extensive experience in clinical trial management and evaluation. Following on from a Master’s Degree in Medical Science, her PhD was dedicated to the development of a mobile app that targeted adults’ physical activity and sleep health. The body of work she has contributed to has incorporated a wide range of research methods and study designs and her research outputs have added important knowledge to the field of multiple behaviour change and non-clinical sleep interventions. In more recent roles, Beatrice has worked on wide-scale implementation projects targeting the health and wellbeing of young children. Beatrice’s work is about maximising impact, both in the scientific field and out in the community by way of generating high quality data and improving equity of access to evidence-based resources.

Dr Stina Oftedal is an accredited practicing dietitian and postdoctoral research fellow at the Queensland Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation Research Centre (QCPRRC). Stina completed her undergraduate degree at Queensland University of Technology in 2010, and completed her PhD at the University of Queensland in 2016. Stina's PhD explored the association of modifiable health behaviours (diet and physical activity) on growth and body composition in preschool-aged children with cerebral palsy, and this continues to be the focus of her postdoctoral work. She also has an interest in infant feeding and diet quality.

Marina Reeves is a Professor in the School of Public Health and Deputy Associate Dean Research (Researcher Development) in the Faculty of Medicine. She is also an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian and in 2021 was awarded the Dietitians Australia Barbara Chester Award for her leadership in dietetics in Queensland. Her program of research is focused on the role of diet, physical activity, and weight/body composition in improving outcomes and quality of life for women diagnosed with breast cancer. Prof Reeves and her team have recently been awarded a $2M MRFF Rare Cancers Rare Diseases and Unmet Need grant to conduct a Queensland-wide phase III trial of an exercise and dietary intervention to improve the quality of life of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (2022-2027). Her research has been funded by project grant and fellowship funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF), Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). Marina has a particular interest in the use of broad-reach, remotely delivered interventions (e.g. delivered via telephone, video, SMS) to improve population access to interventions.

Prof Reeves has secured approx. $7 million in Category 1 research funding as a chief investigator (>$4 million as CIA), has over 100 peer-reviewed publications, and has presented at national and international conferences and to community groups.

Professor Eugeni Roura is a nutritionist by background with specific research interests in digestive physiology and chemosensory science. He joined the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2010 as a member of the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, where he leads a research team active in the interface between basic and translational research aiming at industrial and societal applications. The main research interests include gut nutrient sensing mechanisms and appetite modulation (including taste and smell) relevant to humans, pigs and poultry. Recently, the research focus has evolved to include transgenerational nutrition studies including foetal development in pigs and “in ovo” applications in chickens. In 2011 he joined the UQ School of Biomedical Sciences as an Affiliated Lecturer.

Professor Roura graduated with a Veterinary Science degree from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) before pursuing post-graduate studies in Nutrition at the University of California (UC Davis). After finishing a Post-Doctoral position at UC Davis, he started a sixteen-year industry career working for the feed and food industries in R&D and market-focused technical services, culminating as Group Deputy R&D Director of Lucta S.A.

He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and he has been invited as keynote speaker to ca 50 scientific meetings. He is currently serving as a member of the National Committee for Nutrition of the Australian Academy of Sciences, International Steering Committee of the Digestive Physiology of pigs, R&D and Education Committee of the Australasian Pork Research Institute Ltd., expert evaluator of 1 international and 2 national research grant programs, and as Editorial Board of two scientific journals ("Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology" and "Animals"). Main past positions include President of the Austral-Asian Chemosensory Society, Vice-Chairperson of the Board Specialty Committee of Mongolian Medicine, Standards Australia FT-022 Committee “Sensory Analysis of Food”, Master of Dietetics Studies Engagement Committee (UQ), AgriFutures Chicken Meat Advisory Panel, and the European Feed Additive Federation (FEFANA) amongst others. In addition, Professor Eugeni Roura has been involved in several national and international conference organizing committees including acting as leading co-Chair of the Digestive Physiology of Pigs 2018.