Hunter Branch Meeting 2024-3

“Are you what you eat?
Discovering the science of personalised nutrition”

Laureate Professor Clare Collins AO

College of Health, Medicine, and Wellbeing
University of Newcastle

Date: Friday, 19 July 2024, 5.30 pm (AEST) for a 6.00 pm Lecture start
Venue:  The University Conservatorium, Laman Street, Cooks Hills, Newcastle, NSW 2302
Registration:  Registration through Membes is required by 5.00 pm on Thursday 18 July 2024. Max: 250 people
Entry:  Society members, $15; Non-members, $25; Students, $5
Enquiries:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to RSNSW Hunter Branch Secretary (Adj. Prof. Robert Whittaker)
Society Members, Fellows, and members of the public are welcome

Please register now

Summary: In this Royal Society of New South Wales Lecture, with the support of the University of Newcastle, Laureate Professor Clare Collins will bust common nutrition and diet myths about what to eat, to feel better and get better.

Rapid developments in nutrition research mean the ability to tailor individual dietary advice to a person’s specific nutrient needs and individual genetics, is now on the horizon. Nutrition needs to change over time based on age, life stage, and health status. A greater understanding of the variation between people in terms of digestion and metabolism is central to developing this field of personalised nutrition. Against the backdrop of cutting-edge food and nutrition science, individuals make conscious and unconscious food choices multiple times a day. This has implications for their own and their family’s health and wellbeing. External factors like advertising, marketing, time, money, and convenience all influence what people do, or do not, choose to put in their supermarket trolley.

We will finish with an “Ask Me Anything” about nutrition to give attendees a chance to have their questions answered.

Clare Collins AO is the Laureate Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics, at the University of Newcastle (UON), and Co-Director of the Food and Nutrition Research Program at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. As an internationally distinguished leader in nutrition and dietetics, her research performance places her in the top 1% of most cited scientists globally.

Professor Collins was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia in 2023 for distinguished service to health research in nutrition and dietetics, scientific organisations, and science communication. In 2024 she was awarded the UON Alumni Medal for outstanding professional excellence. Her research has been supported by more than $33 million in research funding, generating career outputs of more than 550 journal articles, and the supervision of more than 50 Research Higher Degree candidates. A trailblazer in her field, Professor Collins was ranked the highest female Investigator Grant in 2021 for her research in Personalised Nutrition and was awarded the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Elizabeth Blackburn Award for Leadership in Clinical Medicine and Science.