Julie is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition, she has a PhD in Nutrition Epidemiology, a Master’s in Public Health, is a registered nutritionist and is a Dietitian.

Julie started her career in nutrition and dietetics in 1981 as a research nutritionist at the MRC Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the University of Aberdeen on a project measuring the effect of nutrient intake on birthweight. Following this she qualified as a Dietitian and worked in Leeds, London and finally Cambridge, where she worked as a Paediatric Dietitian and in the Liver transplant unit. 

In 1989 she worked overseas for 3 years as a Public Health Nutritionist in Tonga, South Pacific. There she began to develop her expertise in maternal/infant nutrition and food policy, she managed a World Health Organisation funded programme to develop an integrated approach (health/agriculture/planning) to national nutrition and health policy. 

Since returning to Scotland she has worked as an academic, consultant and researcher. Her area of research and skill base is maternal /infant nutrition and childhood obesity as related to global and national health priorities in both developed and developing countries.  She was an author a ground breaking paper linking nutrition and growth patterns early in life to childhood obesity Early risk factors for childhood obesity in contemporary children BMJ 330: 1357.doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38470.670903.E0

Julie's commitment is to improve the nutriitonal health of mothers and babies. As a member of a number of government health, research and development strategy groups over the past 25 years Julie’s research has informed national health policy development. She has made significant contributions to a number of national nutrition policy developments, in particular: Improving Maternal and Infant Nutrition: A Framework for Action http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/01/13095228/0  and pre-school nutrition Nutritional Guidance and Food Standards for pre-school children in Scotland http://www.healthscotland.com/documents/21130.aspx , including policy papers on childhood obesity and Vitamin D status. She has a substantial experience and skill set in translational research.

Key themes:

• Nutritional Epidemiology: maternal, infant, childhood obesity  
• The influence of maternal and infant nutrition on later health and well being
• Public health policy on food and nutrition