Dr Cliona Ni Mhurchu
Programme Leader, Nutrition & Physical Activity

After graduating in human nutrition and dietetics from Trinity College in Ireland, Cliona worked as a clinical Dietitian before undertaking a PhD in public health nutrition at the University of Southampton. Cliona joined the Clinical Trials Research Unit in 1998 and her research since then has focussed on population health, dietary interventions, nutrition labelling, obesity prevention and treatment, food security, and physical activity.

Her current research includes the Supermarket Healthy Options Project (SHOP) trial evaluating the effectiveness of strategies to promote healthier supermarket food purchases, and identification and prioritisation of key environmental influences on food security and physical activity amongst Maori, Pacific, and low-income families. She is Principal Investigator of a six-year HRC-funded research programme "Population Interventions to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity".

Cliona has served on national and regional scientific advisory committees including the 2007/08 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey External Technical Group, the National Heart Foundation's Food and Nutrition Working Group, the Waitemata District Health Boards Healthy Lifestyles Advisory Group, and the Ministry of Health Stakeholders Advisory Group for Food and Beverage Classification System for Schools. In 2008 she chaired the University School of Population Health's Board of Research.

Cliona is author of more than 60 peer-reviewed publications including World Health Organization and Ministry of Health reports on the burden of disease due to obesity and nutrition, and has been an invited speaker at various national and international meetings. She is currently on sabbatical at the MRC Centre for Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge until 2010.