Can you tell us a little about your background?

I was born and raised in a seaside village in Co. Cork, Ireland. I had an interest in food since becoming vegetarian aged 15 and I enjoyed the sciences at school, so I decided to study Nutritional Sciences for my undergrad at University College Cork. This covered all aspects of nutrition, but I was drawn towards public health nutrition in particular. I studied the MSc Nutrition for Global Health at LSTHM in 2021-22 when we were just coming out of COVID lockdowns. It was strange starting the MSc online, but we were lucky enough to have most of the year in person. After the MSc, I worked as a data analyst with the MARCH Centre, helping to prepare the MARCH Centre Report & Strategy 2023-2027. Since then, I have been working as a Research Assistant within the Nutrition Group at LSHTM.

What is the focus of your work here at LSHTM?

My work focuses on childhood undernutrition, with a view to improve the management of childhood malnutrition by understanding its long-term impacts. I have just started a staff PhD, in which I plan to investigate patterns of growth in small and nutritionally at-risk infants under six months (as part of MAMI research).

You’ve recently published a systematic review, what did this look at and what did you find?

This systematic review and meta-analysis looked at weight gain among children under five with severe malnutrition in therapeutic feeding programmes, which are programmes that provide medical treatment and therapeutic food for rehabilitation of children who are malnourished. The aim was to inform policy and programme discussions around the ideal rate of weight gain in children being treated for severe malnutrition. We included 126 papers in this review. We found that weight gain in outpatient programmes was slower than in inpatient treatment. There has been some concern that too slow a weight gain reflects poor recovery. However, we found the evidence was inconsistent on the association between programme-level weight gain and death. Our results indicate that slower programme-level weight gain can be expected in outpatient (compared to inpatient) programmes and that this is not necessarily cause for concern.

This work was done as part of the MRC CHANGE project – can you tell us more about that project and its aims?

The CHANGE project aims to improve severe malnutrition treatment programmes by better understanding the mechanisms linking infant/child undernutrition to longer-term (adult) health. Towards this, the project objectives are to understand how post-malnutrition weight gain affects risks of developing diseases later in life, such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. We are also looking to identify biomarkers, biological characteristics that can be measured, to predict the likelihood of developing some of these diseases following childhood malnutrition.

The CHANGE team is multi-disciplinary and international, comprising of six partners: the University of the West Indies, Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit (MEIRU), Jimma University, University of Cambridge, University of Southampton, and LSHTM. To understand the long-term impacts of childhood undernutrition, the CHANGE project research follows seven cohorts: one in Jamaica, three in Malawi and three in Ethiopia.

In 2023 the WHO released new guidelines to tackle malnutrition in children under five – what do you think are the most pressing issue in tackling childhood malnutrition and how does your work contribute in address them?

Prevention is key, for both short- and long-term outcomes. However, simultaneous efforts towards the treatment of childhood malnutrition are important as this is a widespread public health problem. We must work towards understanding how best to deliver treatment to support children to survive and thrive. Our work within the CHANGE project highlights the lack of evidence regarding what the ideal level of weight gain post-malnutrition is, and also emphasises the need to prioritise healthy long-term outcomes. Measuring growth is useful but what does this mean for the child’s health outcomes?

What impact do you hope your work will have in future?

I hope to work towards answering this question about what growth patterns mean for health outcomes. Ultimately, I hope that my work within the CHANGE and MAMI projects will inform policies that determine the treatment and management of childhood malnutrition. 

What is your biggest achievement to date, or something you’re most proud of?

This is a hard question! The first thing that comes to mind is running the London Landmarks half marathon last year.

Outside of your professional life, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy in your free time?

My favourite activity is sea swimming, which is not really conducive to living in London! So I go swimming whenever I am back home in Ireland, no matter the time of year. While in London, I love spending time with friends. I also enjoy being creative so I like to unwind by drawing, embroidering, or playing music.