Executive Members

Paige van der Pligt is an Associate Professor of Dietetics at Swinburne University of Technology and an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian. Her research targets the link between pregnancy nutrition and maternal and neonatal health and disease, specifically pregnancy complications and cardiometabolic disease. She is involved in research focused on food insecurity screening and management across preconception, pregnancy and the postpartum periods. Her multidisciplinary work explores how improved access to effective nutrition education and antenatal healthcare systems for all women can be achieved.

Vidanka Vasilevski is a Research Fellow in the Deakin University and Western Health partnership. Her research is focussed on maternal and child health and maternity service delivery improvement and has a particular interest in improving the outcomes of socially disadvantaged populations.

Mariana Muelbert is a trained dietitian from Brazil and New Zealand registered nutritionist, currently working as a Research Fellow at the Liggins Institute (University of Auckland). Her research focuses on maternal and infant nutrition, breastmilk composition, breastfeeding and breastmilk donation, particularly understanding barriers to optimal breastfeeding practices and exploring the mechanisms by which early life nutrition promotes lifelong health.

Samantha Dawson is a Research Fellow at Deakin University’s Food & Mood Centre. Her research focusses on Perinatal Nutritional Psychiatry and aims to improve healthy eating during the perinatal period to support mental and brain health outcomes in families.