Otago graduates win dietetics awards

University of Otago graduates who developed a successful health promotion and assessed a screening tool to identify chemotherapy patients at risk of malnutrition have won national dietetics awards.

Krystal Somner, of Christchurch, received the Nestle healthcare nutrition young achiever award at the annual Dietitians New Zealand awards ceremony, in Dunedin, for her health promotion work.

This award, which includes $2000, is presented to a dietitian who has excelled in dietetic practice in the first five years of their career.

Ms Somner works as a health promotion diet-itian at both the Canterbury-West Coast Cancer Society and the Canterbury Community Primary Health Organisation.

Last night's ceremony took place during the Dietitians New Zealand annual conference, being held at the University of Otago's St David lecture complex.

Dietitians New Zealand executive director Jan Milne, of Wellington, said Ms Somner was an innovative and capable dietitian who had run a successful health promotion programme in an area with a high Maori and Pacific population.

She had also produced nutrition resources, delivered a radio programme and developed recipes for the Cancer Society.

Another Otago graduate, Alana Baker, of Auckland, received the Nestle top student award for the top academic dietetic student.

The award includes $750.

Ms Baker works as a clinical dietitian at Auckland City Hospital and has undertaken postgraduate research in the hospital's oncology outpatients department.

She had assessed the feasibility of using a malnutrition screening tool that allowed nurses to identify at-risk chemotherapy patients who should then be seen by a dietitian.

Other national awards were: Bernice Kelly Award and Paper Presentation, Emma Jeffs; Education Trust Award, Meg Thorsen and Lisa Clark; Neige Todhunter Award, Varsha Asrani; Nutricia AuSPEN Award, Marianne Hindley; Nutricia Paediatric Award, Catherine Wheeler; Baxter Healthcare Award, Christina Heere.