About us
To contact any committee member please use the group address [email protected]
Committee members
We are always keen to grow our committee :).
More about us
Vanessa Phillipson - Secretary
I am Vanessa Phillipson, I am based at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, Surrey where I work as the Clinical Lead for Dietetics and clinically as a Transition Diabetes Dietitian.
I am an autism champion for my Trust which covers people living in both Surrey and Sussex. I want to help the Dietetic team and the wider hospital team with improving people’s experiences and listening to our service users.
I am undertaking research as a student at LSBU so life is very busy.
I am the secretary for the sub-group helping the meetings to run smoothly and that everyone has the information they need.
Lisa Martin - Social Media Officer
I joined the autism subgroup committee in 2022 as the PR Officer, now Social Media Officer. I currently work in an adult community eating disorders service and I have long held a passion and drive to transform the care delivered to autistic people. I aim to cascade this passion into action on a greater scale through this subgroup by raising awareness of Autism, and the feeding difficulties autistic people experience, by providing evidence-based information, by developing links with organisations involved in this area, and through working in co-production with those who have lived experience.
Zoe Connor - Resource Officer
I've been involved in the autism group since about 2003 and was previously Chair of the group. I am a community paediatric dietitian by background but also a bit of a generalist across adults and education too. My interest in autism started at uni when I did some volunteering to support a family with an autistic child. When I went on to work in community paediatrics a huge proportion of my workload was autistic children with very restricted diets and that led me to learn more.
I am currently doing a PhD via an NIHR doctoral fellowship. I am employed by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in England and doing my PhD as part of the PEACh (Psychology of Eating in Adults and Children) research group at Aston University. My research is the coproduction of a toolkit for feeding problems in autistic children. I continue to do a small amount of NHS clinical work mostly around feeding problems and developing feeding problems/ARFID services.
I am the chapter author on autism for Clinical Paediatric Dietetics and the upcoming new edition of the Manual of Dietetic Practice. Via my private practice, I have been invited to speak about autism internationally and sold copies of my online Autism for Dietitians Masterclass worldwide too. I'm passionate about social justice and inclusion.
Nicky Walker - Education Officer
I am a dietitian and lecturer and have been involved with dietetic undergraduate education since 2009. Whilst I have previously worked with autistic adults with a learning disability, most of my experience with autism comes from my lived experience in supporting and caring for an autistic family member. This has enabled me to see how limited my knowledge and understanding of autism was as a dietitian and our interactions with services have shown me how poorly understood autism is by other healthcare and education professionals. As an educator I am passionate to promote an accurate understanding of autism and neuroaffirming approaches to dietetic care, to enable our profession to be effective champions of autistic nutritional wellbeing.
Rob Partin (non-dietitian expert-by-experience advisor 2024 to date)
Rob Parton (29) is a remarkable young adult. Diagnosed just before his third birthday. A selective eater with profound sensory and memory issues, and limited language. He has overcome many of his challenges to become a sought-after public speaker.
Alissa Nehrlich - Events Officer
I am Alissa Nehrlich a SENr Sports Nutritionist and I joined the Autism Sub-group committee in 2024 as an Events Officer. I work as a freelance Sports Nutritionist providing education and nutritional support for dancers and other athletes. I shape my practice with accessibility and inclusion at the forefront of all work to ensure everyone can access nutrition support.
Having previously worked within the higher education events sector and organising many events in a freelance capacity I look forward to using my skills to support educational events for the dietetic and nutrition workforce.