Board of Directors and Executive
Board of Directors
Julie Dundon, President
Julie has been an active member of DAA since she graduated as a dietitian and particularly so since 1990. She has served in various capacities on the DAA (South Australian Branch) Executive, and has held various roles at national level. She has acted as Chairperson of the DAA Quality Assurance Sub-committee, on the Marketing and Public Relations Committee, and was the South Australian Branch Spokesperson in 1999 and 2000.
More recently she has served as a Board member and has been involved in the negotiations with the Federal government regarding Medicare Plus. Julie has shown great leadership and acted as a mentor to others in both a formal and informal manner. She has excelled in many areas of her working career, and has established nutrition and dietetic services in many organisations within South Australia. In recent years Julie has been at the forefront of promotion of dietetic and nutrition services in private hospitals and nursing homes and continues to advocate strongly for dietitians and on nutrition issues in all aspects of her work.
Margaret Allman-Farinelli, Vice-President
Margaret is Associate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Sydney. She teaches in undergraduate and postgraduate dietetic training programs and is active in research into public health aspects of both overnutrition (obesity) and undernutrition (malnutrition in disease and elderly) including surveillance, determinants, economic costs, prevention and management. Margaret is interested in the translation of research into dietetic practice and nutrition policy. Throughout her professional life Margaret has been an active member of DAA with numerous roles over the years. It was during her time as Editor of Nutrition and Dietetics that the journal assumed a new name and more contemporary appearance. Margaret is keen to ensure that dietitians continue to become increasingly acknowledged as the nutrition experts by government sectors. She advocates for appropriate DAA representation in national decision-making.
National directors
Jen Savenake, Director responsible for Finance
Jen has been a DAA Board member since 2004, including roles as Vice President (2009-2010) and Director of Finance (2011-2012). Prior to 2004 Jen was active in the Tasmanian and South Australian branches of DAA. Jen is currently Senior Public Health Nutritionist for the Department of Health and Human Services, Tasmania. In recent years Jen has held a number of senior nutrition positions in the Department. The key focus of Jen’s current work is a public health and equity focus on food policy and regulation. In 2010 Jen worked with Food Standards Australia New Zealand in Canberra on secondment. Jen has previously worked in a variety of public health, health promotion, community and clinical settings in South Australia, Victoria, and ACT. Jen holds a Bachelor of Science, Monash University (1990), Master Nutrition & Dietetics. Deakin University (1992), and a Post Graduate Diploma (Health Promotion), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada (2001)
Danielle Gallegos
Danielle is currently Senior Lecturer in the School of Public Health at QUT. She teaches community and public health nutrition in both the undergraduate and postgraduate programs. She is an active researcher in areas related to social nutrition including food literacy, food security and breastfeeding duration. Danielle completed her PhD at Murdoch University in the area of sociology and is passionate about an interdisciplinary, community participatory approach to nutrition. Her particular area of expertise is working with community groups who are potentially marginalised in particular those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, those who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and those experiencing levels of social disadvantage. Danielle has been a member of DAA since 1988 contributing in a number of different roles at the State and National level. She has worked across the continuum of practice from clinical dietetics through to public health nutrition practice in Queensland and Western Australia.
Roslyn Giglia
Roslyn has worked in a variety of dietetic settings since graduating in 1991 including at a national policy level; in regional positions; and as the Manager of Education and Research for the Cancer Council of Western Australia.
In 1996 she completed her Master in Public Health by research and in 2004 Roslyn was awarded a NHMRC Public Health Postgraduate Scholarship to work on her PhD at Curtin University. The recommendations from her PhD thesis have been included in the NHMRC; ‘Australian Alcohol Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol’ (2009).
Currently Roslyn is a Healthway Health Promotion Research Fellowship and her research is investigating supporting breastfeeding women in rural Western Australia through an Internet intervention.
Roslyn was a Director from 2002 to 2004 and returned to the board in May 2009. She has held a number of positions on the DAA WA Branch executive and at the National level.
Elizabeth Kellett
Liz graduated as a dietitian from the University of Sydney in 1975, having completed a science degree at the University of Adelaide in 1973. Since that time she has worked in a range of organisations and settings in South Australia, including the position of Chief Dietitian Adelaide Children’s Hospital, and roles in community health and private practice. She also worked in public health and nutrition education for 10 years at the Children’s Health Development Foundation, where she was part of the team which developed the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. Her current position is Manager of Dietetics and Nutrition at Flinders Medical Centre. Liz has held various roles in the past on the DAA (SA) executive and PD committees, including chairperson, and chaired the conference organising committee for the 2000 National conference in Adelaide. She was one of the two SA board members on the inaugural DAA (then AAD) board in 1976.
Leigh Reeve
Leigh Reeve is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian and is recognised as an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. She has many years experience across a broad range of practice areas including: clinical nutrition and dietetics; food service; nutrition consulting; public relations and marketing; intersectoral partnerships; teaching; management and governance.
Leigh is currently Director of the Australian Breakfast Cereal Manufacturers Forum of the Australian Food and Grocery Council and also consults to healthcare, food industry and corporate clients.
Leigh is Director responsible for the DAA Conference Management Committee and a member of the International Congress of Dietetics 2012 Marketing Committee. Leigh was previously employed as DAA Communications and Marketing Director and successfully established and developed DAA marketing programs and corporate partnerships.
Lisa Yates
Lisa Yates, an Adv APD, graduated in 1996 with a Masters Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Sydney. With a varied career she has experience in private practice, nutrition communications, strategy development and implementation, event management, marketing and public relations. She is currently the Program Manager and Dietitian to Nuts for Life – a health education initiative of the Australian Tree Nut Industry, where she manages daily operations and provides advice on key influencer communications, science interpretation, labelling, public relations and issues management. Lisa also consults privately to Horticulture Australia, Avocados Australia, Grocery Corporation (St Dalfour fruit spreads and Sunsweet Prunes) and GB Commtrade and has a monthly nutrition column in Medical Observer. Lisa has been an active member of the DAA since 1999 and is currently co-chair of the International Congress of Dietetics 2012 Marketing Committee and a member of the ICD 2012 Social Committee. Lisa also retired from the DAA Complaints Committee in October 2011. She is now the Director responsible for the Marketing and Social Marketing Advisory Committees.
Executive Team
Claire Hewat, Chief Executive Officer
Claire holds a BSc (Hons 1) and a Dip Nutr & Diet (Syd). In 2004 Claire was the first Accredited Practising Dietitian to be appointed to the position of Executive Director of DAA. Prior to this she had been a Director on the DAA Board for four years and a member of the NSW Branch Exec for seven years as well as undertaking a number of other voluntary roles in DAA.
Claire’s role is overall management of the association’s three divisions of Administration, Professional Services and Communications and Marketing as well as policy development, environmental scans, representation and media spokesperson.
Claire has had many years of experience as a practising Dietitian in the areas of clinical, food service, community and public health nutrition, diabetes education and private practice and in various aspects of health service management. Her previous position was as the director of the Division of Community and Allied Health at Wingecarribee Health Service with over 100 staff and 17 different departments. Prior to that Claire was in rural practice and managed the nutrition and dietetic departments at Bowral, Shoalhaven Hospitals Group, Macarthur Area Health Service and the NSW Central Western Region. She is the DAA voting delegate to the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations and Australian representative on the council of the Asian Federation of Dietetic Associations. Claire is currently Chair of the National Primary Health Care Partnership and on the management group of Allied Health Professions Australia.
Annette Byron, Professional Services Manager
Annette entered the profession in 1983 with a postgraduate Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics from Flinders University. During her career she has had a number of roles including clinician, educator, and manager in rural and remote areas and major metropolitan hospitals around Australia. She has worked in the public and private health sectors providing services to adults and children, and also in the tertiary education sector. Postgraduate studies have included a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Public Health. Annette has been an active participant in DAA committees at branch and national level, and was Vice President in 2003-2004. She joined the staff at DAA in 2007. Her current role of Professional Services Manager involves the management of the APD program and a range of other professional services.
Eleanor Beck, Accreditation, Recognition and Education Services Manager
Eleanor graduated from Nutrition and Dietetics at Queensland University of Technology in 1991, after completing a BSc (Hons) at the University of Queensland. Eleanor worked primarily in hospitals before commencing a conjoint clinical educator role between the University of Wollongong and the Area Health Service in 1997. Eleanor commenced a full-time PhD in 2006 on her thesis titled, “Evidence for effects of oat beta-glucan on satiety and weight control”, which was then awarded in December 2009. In addition to these roles, Eleanor was a member of the Membership and Reinstatement Advisory Committee for almost 10 years and on the Accredited Practising Dietitian Advisory Committee of DAA for five years prior to commencing on DAA staff in February 2010 as Manager of ARES Services. Eleanor holds an Advanced APD credential and maintains research interests in nutrition innovation through an Honorary Senior Fellow position at the University of Wollongong.
Jodie McHenery, Communications and Marketing Manager
Jodie has been a member of DAA during the past 13 years. She has a Bachelor of Science (Nut & Diet), MBA and is a qualified Sports Dietitian.
Jodie is a skilled nutrition marketer, with more than eight years experience working for companies such as Kellogg, Roche Vitamins, Nestle and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. She also has a wealth of clinical experience working for Hunter New England Health as Senior Surgical and Mental Health Dietitian. She has worked as a Private Practice Dietitian in Australia for Medicare and the Paralympics and also practiced dietetics in Ireland. Her Community Dietetic experience includes working in Chronic health and Brain Injury. Jodie has lectured part-time at Newcastle University 1993-2009, teaching for the School of Health Science and also the Graduate School of Business.
Jodie has published a paper entitled: Impact evaluation of a folate education campaign with and without the use of a health claim.