Rate My Professor Kerith Duncanson

Dr Kerith Duncanson is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle. An Accredited Practising Dietitian holding a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Newcastle, she has over 30 years of experience in nutrition and dietetics across public, private, and academic sectors. Her career history includes serving as Community Nutritionist at Hunter New England Local Health District from 1997 to 2013, focusing on early childhood, schools, Aboriginal health, and community dietetics, and as Rural Research Program Manager for NSW Health. She currently works as a Research Dietitian for the University of Newcastle, manages the Nutrition and Dietetics Postdoctoral Research Fellows in Gastroenterology program, and maintains a private practice with Help Yourself Nutrition and Dietetics.

Duncanson's research specializations include gastrointestinal nutrition, with a focus on the relationships between diet, gut microbiome, immune health, and gastrointestinal disorders; dietary assessment methodologies; application of dietetics practice to research; clinician and researcher development in rural settings; Aboriginal health and nutrition facilitation; and maternal and child nutrition. She has produced over 60 peer-reviewed publications, including key papers such as "Reproducibility and comparative validity of a food frequency questionnaire for Australian adults" (2014, Clinical Nutrition), "The comparative validity and reproducibility of a diet quality index for adults: the Australian Recommended Food Score" (2015, Nutrients), "Food and functional dyspepsia: A systematic review" (2017, Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics), "Influence of grandparents on the dietary intake of their 2–12-year-old grandchildren: A systematic review" (2018), and "Maternal exposures and the infant gut microbiome: a systematic review with meta-analysis" (2021, Gut Microbes). Duncanson supervises PhD students in nutrition and dietetics, immunology, microbiology, and related fields, having completed supervision of eight theses. She has secured grants including NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence funding and received awards such as the 2008 prize for best report in the Rural Research Capacity Building Program and finalist positions in the 2011 and 2014 University of Newcastle 3-minute thesis competitions. She has presented her work on dietary assessment, diet-microbiome associations, and gut-brain interaction disorders nationally and internationally, contributing to translational advancements in digestive health.