Magdalena Stepien
Hi, I am Magda. I am a Team Leader of this new exciting alumn-i Team of Bloggers ☺ with Fiona, Kathy, Joanna and Taryn. I completed the ENLP Essentials Programme in 2010, and this was just after I obtained my PhD in Nutrition in Paris. Then I moved to rainy Dublin where I worked as a Postdoc on a vitamin D supplementation study. Since the sun is one of my addictions, I moved south to Lyon and worked for over 6 years in Cancer Epidemiology research in the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Recently, I moved to Ispra, a lovely little town in the lake area of Italy and now I am a Project Officer at the EC Joint Research Centre. This career move was driven by my need to see more and more research projects being implemented. One of my roles now is to facilitate the scaling up of successful Public Health projects.In my free time, I like to actively explore the world and different cultures.
Fiona Malcomson
I’m Fiona and I am currently a Research Associate at Newcastle University, UK. I completed the ENLP Essentials Programme in 2016, where I was a member of the ‘Social’ team and arranged a trip to the casino! I have been a member of the ENLP Blog Team since 2018.
My PhD was in Molecular Nutrition and I also completed this at Newcastle University- I am now an adopted ‘Geordie’! During my PhD, I investigated the effects of a non-digestible carbohydrate dietary intervention on markers of colorectal cancer risk in healthy participants. Since then, I am investigating the effects of nutrition more broadly as well as other lifestyle factors, such as physical activity, on markers of colorectal cancer risk and of healthy ageing in a human longitudinal study.
An interesting fact (or two!) about me is that I am half British, half Peruvian and I am also a twin. In my spare time, I enjoy going to the gym and reading nutrition-related blogs and other social media posts, which drove my desire to be part of the ENLP Blog team. I have also contributed a post on dietary fibre to The Food Medic blog! I try my best to attend the ENLP Local Circle events organised in London and am keen to share details about these with other ENLPers via this blog. My favourite weekend activity is going out for brunch and I am a huge avocado fan!
Kathy Redfern
I’m Kathy, and I’m currently working as a Lecturer in Human Nutrition at the University of Plymouth. I completed my PhD last year, and my research focussed on the impact of lifestyle factors and the timing and composition of weight gain in pregnancy on outcomes for women with obesity. I am still working on some of the outputs from my PhD, and hope to continue working with pregnant women in future research. For now, the focus of my research is on the impact of consuming fruit whole, in a smoothie or as juice on glycaemic response and how this might be improved. I’m also keeping my passion for improving outcomes during pregnancy alive via an Instagram page I created @the_bump_files which provides evidence-based nutrition and lifestyle information for expecting women pre-, during, and post-pregnancy
I participated in the ENLP Essentials Programme in 2018, and was part of the ‘Night Out’ team where we arranged some Luxembourg sight-seeing and a meal. Most of our group is still in touch via regular Whatsapp messages, where we keep each other up to date with milestones in our personal and professional lives. An interesting fact about me is that I’m qualified as a Zumba Instructor!
I’m looking forward to keeping up to date with ENLPers from other years via our blog and social media we’d love it if you tag us in your tweets!
Taryn Smith
I’m Taryn and I am currently a post-doctoral research fellow in the Institute for Global Nutrition, Department of Nutrition at the University of California, Davis. I completed the ENLP Essentials programme in 2017 and have been a member of the ENLP Blog team since 2018.
My research interests include the effects of nutrition on health outcomes in population groups at risk of nutritional deficiencies, particularly infants, children, adolescents and pregnant and lactating women. As part of my post-doctoral research, I moved to hot and sunny (but also very rainy!) Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in northern Laos in 2018 to investigate thiamine deficiency in Laotian infants. The aim of this research is to develop a case definition of thiamine responsive disorders to help more accurately diagnose infantile thiamine deficiency disorders in resource-limited settings.
As well as being passionate about nutrition research, I enjoy travelling, reading, swimming and am a tea and chocolate addict (luxuries unfortunately not easy to come by in Laos – any donations welcome!).