Rate My Professor Roberta Asher

Dr. Roberta Asher is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy in 2024 and a Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2010, both from the University of Newcastle. Before pursuing nutrition and dietetics, she worked for ten years as a trade-qualified chef. Her career encompasses roles as a clinical dietitian, community culinary nutrition educator, research assistant, and postdoctoral researcher. Dr. Asher collaborates in multidisciplinary teams to develop resources for culinary education programs across various settings and target groups, guiding planning, curriculum development, and evaluation.

Dr. Asher's research centers on cooking skill development and nutrition education to enhance diet quality, health, and wellbeing, with particular emphasis on inclusive approaches for people with disabilities through co-design methods. Her PhD investigated culinary nutrition education programs for adults with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability. She has co-authored 14 journal articles and four conference papers, including 'A Systematic Review Identifying Critical Evidence Gaps in Reporting Dietary Change in Randomized Controlled Trials Prescribing Liraglutide, Semaglutide, or Tirzepatide' (Obesity Reviews, 2026), 'Designing the Food and Lifestyle Information Program (FLIP) culinary nutrition intervention for adults with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability' (Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 2024), 'Feasibility and acceptability of a culinary nutrition programme for adults with mild-to-moderate intellectual disability: FLIP Food and Lifestyle Information Programme' (Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 2024), 'Development of the Cook-EdTM Matrix to Guide Food and Cooking Skill Selection in Culinary Education Programs That Target Diet Quality and Health' (Nutrients, 2022), and 'Culinary medicine and culinary nutrition education for individuals with the capacity to influence health related behaviour change: A scoping review' (Nutrition and Dietetics, 2021). As an investigator, she has secured funding totaling $1,459,165 across five grants, such as the No Money No Time Project ($502,039, 2024) and HMRI Colonial Diabetes Alliance Program ($902,290, 2023).