ELENA GEORGE

Dr. George is an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Senior Research Fellow in Nutrition and Dietetics at Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN). Ranked among the top researchers globally for diet and the #1 Australian Dietitian in fatty liver disease. Her research focuses on the practical application of dietary patterns for preventing and managing chronic diseases such as metabolic liver disease, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Dr. George’s work emphasizes translating research into practice, especially through evidence-based lifestyle management. Her internationally recognized research includes sociocultural adaptations of diets for multicultural groups, pioneering improved dietary interventions for chronic disease prevention and management.

KATE LAMBELL

Dr Kate Lambell has 20 years’ experience working as a clinical dietitian and is currently the Head of Nutrition and Dietetics at Peninsula Health, Victoria. In 2021, Kate completed her PhD which focused on the evaluation of novel bedside techniques for muscle mass assessment in critically ill adults. Kate has research interests in critical care nutrition, body composition analysis, energy expenditure, and malnutrition during hospitalisation. Kate is passionate about both mentoring and learning from others and is excited to build a network of clinical nutrition researchers!

ELIZABETH VINER SMITH

Elizabeth is a Senior Clinical Dietitian at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the lead research dietitian on the ‘PROMOTE – Protein to improve post-ICU recovery’ MRFF funded research program. Elizabeth completed her PhD in 2024 titled ‘Nutrition challenges from the intensive care unit to the hospital ward’ and is keen to support clinicians wanting to dive into the world of research.

ANDREW XIA

Andrew Xia (pronounced 'Se-ah') is the Northern Region Critical Care Allied Health Principal Educator and an Advanced Dietitian at Auckland City Hospital, Health New Zealand. With over ten years of clinical experience spanning acute hospital settings and community care, Andrew has a strong focus on nutrition support for critically ill patients, particularly those with intestinal failure. He is committed to bridging innovative research with practical clinical application and is currently undertaking doctoral research in this field.

LEE-ANNE CHAPPLE

Associate Professor Lee-anne Chapple is the Senior Intensive Care Dietitian at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and leads the highly successful intensive care nutrition research program at through the University of Adelaide in Australia. Her team conducts research on nutrition physiology during critical illness, post-ICU nutrition, and early recovery.
A/Prof Chapple has collaborated on more than 90 research publications, received more than $10 million dollars in research funding, and is ranked in the top 1% worldwide on ExpertScape in the fields “Enteral Nutrition” and “Nutritional Support”. She has contributed broadly to research mentorship within AuSPEN.

MATTHEW SUMMERS

Matt is a Research Dietitian at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and PhD candidate at University of Adelaide. Matt has worked within the Intensive Care Unit Research Department at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for over 15 year and most recently project managed the large, multi-centre, TARGET Protein Trial. Matt commenced his PhD in July 2022 and is anticipated to complete this by the end of 2025. The focus of Matt’s doctoral research is to evaluate enteral protein delivery and protein metabolism in the critically ill. In addition to research experience in ICU, Matt has experience as a clinical dietitian in the outpatient setting as well as performance dietitian experience in the elite team sport environment.

ALICE JAY

Alice is a Clinical Dietitian at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. She completed her Master of Nutrition and Dietetics at Flinders University in 2013, having previously completed a Bachelor of Allied Science (Human Movement) in 2006. She has 10 years clinical experience working within the CALHN Dietetics Department, 8 of which, as the lead dietitian for the RAH Colorectal Surgery Unit. Privately, she is Co-director of 3D Dietetics private practice working closely with the Colorectal and Upper GI surgeons at Adelaide Private Surgeons, as well as providing dietetic consultancy to St Andrew's Private Hospital. She has commenced her PhD last year with the University of Adelaide on the topic of “Optimising nutrition following pelvic exenteration surgery”.

NICOLE KISS

A/Prof Nicole Kiss is a Fellow of Dietitians Australia with more than 25 years’ experience in cancer nutrition including clinical, research and health service management positions. Nicole is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Deakin University and co-leads the Exercise and Nutrition for Cancer research group. She has received more than $15 million in competitive research funding, including $9 million MRFF category one funding.

EKAVI GEORGOUSOPOULOU

Dr Ekavi Georgousopoulou is an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) who pursued further studies in Biostatistics and a PhD in Nutrition Epidemiology. She has been working over ten years in Nutrition Epidemiology and applied Biostatistics and has published more than 130 papers in the last 8 years in the fields of health Research Methodology, Nutrition Epidemiology and Public Health Nutrition. Her vision is to inspire students and colleagues to incorporate research more in their practice.

LAUREN HANNA

Lauren Hanna is an Accredited Practising Dietitian, currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Monash University. She has over 10 years' experience in clinical dietetics, across a range of areas including critical care, oncology and renal disease. Lauren completed her PhD in 2022 which explored the interplay between skeletal muscle stores, malnutrition, quality of life and survival in upper gastrointestinal cancers. She is certified and experienced in CT-derived body composition analysis, and now coordinates the world's first online training program for this technique along with national and international body composition experts. Lauren is currently a project manager for a multi-site randomised controlled trial in pancreatic cancer, and also has experience in observational studies in hospital and community settings. Lauren is passionate about training dietitians in research, and optimising quality of life and the experience of health care across the treatment journey for patients with cancer.  

EMMA RIDLEY

Emma is an Associate Professor, National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leadership Fellow and heads the Nutrition Program at the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. With over 15 years of experience in critical care nutrition research, Emma completed her PhD in 2018. Emma focuses on long-term nutrition interventions for the critically ill and is internationally recognized for her expertise (ranked in the top 1% on Expertscape for multiple critical care and clinical nutrition topics). She has over 125 peer-reviewed publications and has secured over $16.8 million in research funding, including $5.8 million as CIA. Emma is the CI-A on the recently completed INTENT trial and was awarded a $1.49 million MRFF 2022 grant titled "A national platform for improving quality of nutrition care for critically ill adults and children". Emma also practices as a clinical dietitian at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne.

ADRIENNE YOUNG

Adrienne Young is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Health Services Research and Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Her research to date has focused on improving nutrition care for older people admitted to hospital, with increasing attention to co-designing these improvements with patients and their families. She has a keen interest in partnering with consumers to improve healthcare and research outcomes, and has expertise in qualitative and mixed methods studies, implementation science and pragmatic health services research.