Chair – Dr Alison Culkin
Alison is a Consultant Dietitian at St Mark’s hospital, London which is a national reference centre for severe intestinal failure. She is a member of the nutrition team initiating and monitoring patients requiring home parenteral nutrition (HPN). She completed her PhD in 2010 investigating the manipulation of glutamine and taurine in
HPN on patient outcomes as well as patient knowledge and behaviour change. In addition, she investigated the immune status of patients on HPN specifically their dendritic cell and gut homing lymphocyte function. She has published chapters for textbooks, papers and abstracts and lectures nationally and internationally. She is the course lead for the PENG clinical update course and represents dietitians on the British Intestinal failure Alliance (BIFA) of BAPEN and previously the ESPEN education and clinical practice committee. In 2017, Alison became the first dietitian to qualify as a non-medical prescriber and received the Ibex award from the BDA.
Treasurer - Dr Nicky Wyer
Nicky is the lead dietitian for the nutrition team in Coventry where she has worked for 20 years supporting patients with intestinal failure both in hospital and at home. She was the first Dietitian at the trust to qualify as a supplementary prescriber. Nicky is passionate about developing research within dietetics, having completed her doctorate in 2015 which focused on patient experiences of receiving parenteral nutrition. She is currently leading on several research studies and runs the department research group. She is also research officer for the PENG committee.
Secretary (Joint role) - Marie Labaquere
After graduating from RGU in 2004, Marie initially worked in nutrition support in acute and community settings, developing advanced skills and knowledge in home enteral feeding, colorectal surgery, short bowel, and parenteral nutrition. She passed her MSc in Advanced Dietetic Practice in 2011 (UCLAN) and started specialising in HPB (Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary) in 2014. Soon realising that HPB patients needed easier access to pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy, became a non-medical prescriber in 2019. Marie said the course was excellent and made her a safer and more holistic practitioner but prescribing in a supplementary capacity remained challenging in practice.
She is now the clinical team lead for Dietetics in GI medicine and surgery at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MFT) and knows that following completion of the course, their senior specialist dietitians are best placed to safely prescribe a range of nutrition related medications. Helping the profession gain independent prescribing rights is an essential step to having Dietitians’ unique knowledge and skills recognised for the benefit of patients nationwide.
Secretary (Joint role) - Rosie Campbell
Rosie has been a renal dietitian at Manchester Foundation Trust for nearly 20 years, with extensive direct patient experience in renal medicine and surgery. She manages patients dietetic care in advanced CKD clinics, dialysis units, medical and surgical wards, and is skilled in renal parenteral nutrition and encapsulating sclerosing peritonitis (EPS). As a supplementary prescriber she manages patients bone medications and parenteral nutrition, including intradialytic. She has previously presented and published work in EPS including the UK Kidney Association encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis guidelines, and renal-specific oral nutritional supplements. She has peer-reviewed journal articles for PDI and abstracts for UKKW.
Research Officer – Nicki Ruddock
Nicki qualified as a dietitian in 1993 and has worked in Leicester as a renal dietitian since 1995. She completed her non-medical prescribing qualification in 2018 and started by prescribing phosphate binders. Her prescribing role has gradually broadened, and she is now working as Dietetic Advanced Clinical Practitioner. She is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate and her research aims to explore how dietitian prescribing for those with CKD aligns with person-centred care.
Events Officer - Elaine Jennings
Elaine is an Advanced Clinical Practice dietitian working in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. Qualified 30 years, Elaine has worked across primary care and secondary care and in tertiary oncology and eating disorder services over her career. She has worked in specialist diabetes for 15 years and is currently working in primary care as a NMP for diabetes and developing multi-professional care pathways for diabetes. Elaine has authored several peer reviewed papers, and presented at Diabetes UK APC several times, and over 10 posters presentations.
Resource Officer - Sejal Pandya
Sejal has been a dietitian for 30 years and for 24 years of my career has worked with adults with cystic fibrosis in Liverpool. She qualified at a prescribing dietitian in 2019. Sejal also undertook a Masters in Diabetes and since April 2023 works as the Clinical Lead Diabetes Dietitian at the Countess of Chester. She is passionate about advancing the dietetic profession and is delighted to be part of this new sub-group.
Social Media Officer - Nicola Vernon
Nicola is a dietitian at St Marks hospital, a national reference centre for intestinal failure where she has worked since 2017. As a member of the nutrition team, she initiates and monitors patients requiring parenteral nutrition both short term post-surgery, and longer term at home. In 2019 she qualified as a non-medical prescriber and in 2022 completed an abstract titled ‘The prescribing practices of intestinal failure dietitians; what are the barriers,’ for which she received an award in the supplementary prescribing stream, at the BDA research symposium.
Ordinary Member – Christiana Pavlides
Christiana is an Advanced Diabetes Dietitian and Clinical Lead, working in diabetes for nearly 20 years. Christiana holds an MSc in Nutritional medicine and qualified as a non-medical prescriber in 2019. Christiana works with patients, predominately with Type 1 Diabetes and complex Type 2 Diabetes, in secondary care outpatients. Her main interest and passion is in supporting patients with diabetes technology and using her prescribing skills in insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). Bringing this skill set into daily practice has allowed greater autonomy in managing patients, resulting in improved patient care and MDT working. Christiana is happy to be part of this group, in its objective to work towards independent prescribing and showcasing the brilliant extended work dietitians do.
Ordinary Member – Pascale Varley
Pascale is a Paediatric Dietitian and Advanced Clinical Practitioner. She has worked in paediatrics for 8 years and became a non-medical prescriber in November 2022. She is currently clinical paediatric dietetic lead in a general district hospital. Her main interest lies in supporting the Paediatric Allergy service and providing independent Dietitian-led clinics capacity to the service, as well as improving allergy education and service development. She is passionate about lobbying for dietitians to become independent prescribers, so that they can fully expand their autonomy in areas of clinical expertise.
She strongly feels that dietitians are currently treated as “second class” non-medical prescribers because their roles are often not understood by leaders and policy-makers. She is a strong advocate for dietetics unique skillsets to be recognised further and valued. She is keen to work on increasing the visibility of the extended role of dietitians in the field of allergies, where more autonomy in dietetic practice would allow for better access to care and improve safety and quality of life for allergy patients and their families.
Ordinary Member - Rebecca Gasche
Rebecca qualified as a NMP in 2020 while she was working in a secondary care gastroenterology service. In 2021 she made the transition to Primary care where she qualified as a First Contact Dietitian in 2022 and is now a trainee ACP alongside this role.
Ordinary Member - Laura Triano
Laura is Community Clinical Lead and Prescribing Support Dietitian for NHS Forth Valley. She has been a dietitian for 20 years and was one of the first Scottish dietitians to gain access to a Non-Medical Prescribing course in 2018. Her clinical areas of interest are GI, especially supporting IBD patients with functional symptoms, and working alongside pharmacy to support prescribing efficiencies and formulary development within out board. Laura is very passionate in promoting prescribing with the dietetic profession and supporting our progress to independent prescribing status.
She is currently co-chair of the Scottish Dietetic IBD group, chair the Scottish Dietetic NMP Network and sits as a committee member on the Association of Prescribers. Since moving to Forth Valley Laura has supported six dietitians to train as prescribers by taking on the Practice Supervisor role under the DPP framework.
Ordinary Member - Zoe Simpson
Zoe is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner (ACP) at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) working in the epilepsy and neurology service. She has worked in epilepsy and ketogenic diet for nearly 10 years at different centres. She is the dietetic service lead for the neurosciences at GOSH which includes neurology, neurosurgery, neuromuscular and epilepsy services, providing dietary support to children between 0 to 18 years of age. She mainly works within a multidisciplinary team providing the ketogenic diet to paediatric patients who have complex epilepsy and GLUT1 deficiency.
Her advanced clinical practitioner role allows her to provide a holistic service to patients and carers throughout their ketogenic diet journey. She works hard to support families to optimise nutrition and achieve appropriate dietary outcomes. She is actively involved in the ketogenic dietitian’s research network (KDRN) and KETOPAG and is a member of British Dietetic Association Professional Committee.
Web Editor - Claire Whittingham
Claire has been a qualified dietitian for 17 years. For the last 9 years she has worked at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals Trust as the Dietetic clinical lead and part of the nutritional support team, meeting individuals parenteral nutrition and complex enteral feeding needs within the trust. She qualified as the trusts first Dietetic supplementary prescriber in 2018, which meant changing policies and procedures to reflect this change in practice. Claire is enthusiastic about progressing our profession in new and interesting areas of practice.
Ordinary Member - Sonal Patel
Sonal qualified as a Dietitian in 1993 from King's College and has been working in Leicester since April 1994 in both the community and acute care. She has over 15 years’ experience of working in a Dietetic Team Leader role and specialist clinical experience of working in both Paediatric Intensive Care (cardiac surgery) and Adult Intensive care (cardiac surgery, ECMO, respiratory, vascular surgery and since 2022 in HPB and renal). Sonal completed the Non-medial Prescribing course from Coventry in 2018 and has been prescribing for adult patients requiring Parenteral Nutrition on Adult ITU and some non -ITU wards since 2019.
Sponsorship Officer - Sharon Huish
Sharon is the service lead for the kidney dietetic service at Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Qualifying in 2010 Sharon started her career in Birmingham before moving to the Coventry in 2011 and then joining Exeter in 2018. Sharon’s interests include research; she completed her PhD in 2021 (investigating vitamin D supplementation and metabolism in haemodialysis patients). Sharon chairs the UK Chronic Kidney Disease related Mineral Bone Disorders Clinical Study Group and co-leads the rare disease group for calciphylaxis. Sharon is passionate about raising the profile of dietetics within the wider multi-professional team (MPT). Her research leadership has been recognised at a national level; she is a recipient of the UK Kidney Association’s Donna Lamping MPT Researcher award. Sharon has an enthusiasm for evidencing the value of dietetic prescribing and promoting advanced practice roles for dietitians; as such she is excited to be part of this passionate sub-group.
Ordinary member and Northern Ireland representative - Christine McColgan
Christine qualified as a Dietitian in 2015 where she began her dietetic career in Macclesfield District General Hospital and went on to take up a rotational band 5 post in 2016 at Aintree University Hospital then went on to specialise in 2019 in a Band 7 Gastroenterology and Critical Care role. Her interest in Gastroenterology developed from working in both the acute and outpatient setting – taking a particular interest in IBD, IBS and liver disease management. During her time at Aintree, Christine successfully set up the IBS outpatient service before she went to take up a post as an Advanced Practice Gastroenterology Dietitian in 2020 in the Ulster Hospital based in Belfast. She now continues her passion for working in Gastroenterology being the lead Dietitian in their Gastroenterology Ambulatory hub service. Christine has implemented several improvements in the service including improvements of catering provision to medical day case unit and contributing to updating guidelines, policies and procedures. She takes great joy in assisting in the learning and development needs of others and has recently set up an acute in-service training to enhance staff continual professional development. Christine daily demonstrates a love for her job, her patients and colleagues by striving to provide the highest standard of care through evidence-based practice. Christine has recently qualified as a non-medical supplementary prescriber in University of Ulster 2024 and alongside her current role she sits on the British Dietetic Association Northern Ireland branch as treasurer.