Members Biographies
Professor Alan Jackson (Chair)
Professor of Human Nutrition, School of Medicine at the University of Southampton. Professor Jackson's current work explores the extent to which modest differences in maternal diet and metabolic competence influence foetal development, predisposing to chronic disease in adulthood. Professor Jackson was a member of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA) for ten years and was a Consultant Adviser to the Chief Medical Officer on Nutrition from 1989 to 2002. Professor Jackson is a member of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies.
Professor Peter Aggett
Head of School, Lancashire School of Health and Postgraduate Medicine, Professor of Child Health and Nutrition, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire. Professor Aggett is interested in trace element metabolism in health and disease. He has served on national and international advisory committees relating to clinical nutrition, public health and preventative medicine including nutritional safety and risk assessment, including the EC Scientific Committee on Food, the COT, ACNFP and EVM. He was a member of COMA for 7 years, and is a past chair and secretary of the ESPGHAN Committee on Nutrition and is currently chair of the Standing Committee on Nutrition for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Professor Annie Anderson
Professor of Food Choice at the Centre for Public Health Nutrition Research, Department of Medicine, Ninewells Medical School, University of Dundee. Professor Anderson has represented the International Union against Cancer (UICC) on issues relating to diet and cancer prevention. In addition, she has participated as an expert advisor in a number of Department of Health, Food Standards Agency and Scottish Government Advisory Committees on topics ranging from nutrient standard of school meals to the Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey. Her main research interests are dietary assessment methodologies, nutrition education and theory based, behaviourally focused dietary interventions in children and adults living in disadvantaged communities.
Professor Sheila Bingham
Director of the MRC Centre for Nutrition in Cancer Prevention and Survival at the University of Cambridge and Head of the Diet and Cancer Group of the Medical Research Council's Dunn Human Nutrition Unit. Professor Bingham is recognized for her work in the prevention of cancer through diet. She is a principal investigator of the UK European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) study, which is a European wide collaboration. She was a member of COMA for 9 years and has served on a number of other government sub-committees and working groups including the Food Standards Agency Committee on Toxicity of Chemical's (COT), Working Group on Phytoestrogens.
Mrs Christine Gratus
Mrs Gratus has a background in advertising, marketing and market research. She was a Director and International Vice-President of J Walter Thompson advertising agency until establishing her own Consultancy in 1990. As a qualitative researcher, Mrs Gratus has spent a lifetime listening to consumers talking about every aspect of their lives, with food high on the list and is now involved mainly with health and health research. She is a member of the National Cancer Research Institute's Consumer Liaison Group, and a lay member of both the Herbal Medicines Advisory Committee and the London regional funding committee of the NIHR's Research for Patient Benefit programme.
Dr Paul Haggarty
Dr Paul Haggarty (BSc, PhD) is Head of the Nutrition & Epigenetics Group at the Rowett Research Institute, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Aberdeen University Medical School and Honorary Clinical Scientist in Grampian NHS Trust. His research interest is in the way diet and environment interacts with genes to determine human health. This involves the study of epigenetics in pregnancy, cancer, cognition and cardiovascular disease. He has research experience in B vitamins, lipids and genetics and has an interest in the role of deprivation in the link between nutrition and health. He is a member of the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and the North of Scotland Research Ethics committee.
Professor Timothy Key
Deputy Director, Cancer Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford. Professor Key studied veterinary medicine, nutrition and epidemiology. He has special interests in the interactions between nutrition and hormones, cancer and cardiovascular disease. He is the lead investigator of the Oxford component of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) which is a European-wide collaborative study, and chair of the EPIC Working Group on Nutrition and Prostate Cancer.
Professor Peter Kopelman
Principal, St George's, University of London. Professor Kopelman has considerable experience, from a clinical perspective, in the delivery of diabetes care and the management of obesity to all age groups. He has worked closely with Health Authorities and national organisations in addressing nutritional matters and has chaired a large number of Committees within the university sector, the NHS, Health Authorities and the Royal College of Physicians.
Professor Ian Macdonald
Ian Macdonald is Professor of Metabolic Physiology at the University of Nottingham and Director of Research in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. His research interests are concerned with the nutritional and metabolic aspects of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, with additional interests in nutrition and metabolism in exercise. His research involves studies in healthy subjects and various patient groups, and combines whole body physiological measurements, molecular investigation of tissue samples, and dietary interventions. Ian Macdonald is presently President of the Nutrition Society, Editor to the International Journal of Obesity and Chair of the International Association for the Study of Obesity Finance Committee.
Dr David Mela
Senior Scientist and Expertise Group Leader, Unilever Food and Health Research Institute, The Netherlands. Dr Mela joined Unilever in 1998, following an academic research career in the US and UK. His main interests and publications relate to the biological and behavioural aspects of food choice, eating behaviour and weight control, ranging from consumer research through energy metabolism. In Unilever, he manages a team responsible for identifying and providing clinical substantiation for new ingredients and products. He also contributes to strategic planning and acts as a scientific liaison with external academic and trade organisations.
Dr Ann Prentice
Director, MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge. Dr Prentice's main research interests are nutritional aspects of bone health and osteoporosis; dietary requirements for human growth, pregnancy and lactation, and old age with particular reference to micronutrients. She has published extensive peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reports. Dr Prentice is President of the Nutrition Society (to July 2007) and has served on a number of national and international advisory committees, including COMA's Subgroup on Nutrition and Bone Health.
Dr Anita Thomas
Consultant Physician in acute medicine Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust. Dr Thomas is chair of the CMO's Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Implementation Working Group and CMO's representative on the Human Genetics Commission.She is a Board member and Chair of the Training Committee, Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board(PMETB).Dr Thomas is a lead assessor for the GMC Fitness to Practise Procedures.
Mrs Stella Walsh
Mrs Walsh has a long-standing interest in the subjects of food and nutrition and is an experienced consumer representative having served on several government and industry Committees and replied to consultations on behalf of consumers. She was the Secretary of the National Federation of Consumers (NFC) and has been a representative for the NFC on the Institute of Grocery Distributors, and other FSA and Defra Committees. She has published several refereed articles for academic and professional journals, book chapters and conference papers on consumer issues linked to her role as a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Dr Anthony Williams
Reader in Child Nutrition and Consultant in Neonatal Paediatrics, St George's University of London. Dr Williams was the Chair of COMA's Panel on Child & Maternal Nutrition and a member of COMA. He represented COMA/PCMN on the Welfare Food Review Group. He was a member of the Food Standards Agency's Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals and cross-represented SACN on the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes between 2003 and 2007.