2022 December COSA Nutrition Group

• Category Marryalyan
• DATE 21 Dec 2022

2022 December COSA Nutrition Group

December is upon us already, the halls are decked with most of asking, “where did another year go?” We appreciate that 2022 has been a difficult year for many around the country and we hope that 2023 brings some much-needed relief from the challenges of the past few years. Still, the COSA Nutrition Group welcomes the opportunity to reflect on the year that was and celebrate the many outstanding achievements where the contributions of our committed members have been recognised and rewarded.

Do you have an interest in how nutritional status impacts cancer care and outcomes? The Nutrition Group welcomes new multidisciplinary members and would love to hear from anyone interested in becoming involved with our projects and about opportunities for collaborating with other groups where nutrition expertise can value-add to their initiatives.

2022 Highlights

COSA ASM

The long-anticipated COSA 2022 ASM in beautiful Brisbane showcased some of our international and national leaders in cancer nutrition. We wish to thank Dr Teresa Brown as the nutrition group representative on the organising committee for contributing to the development of the stellar line-up of speakers. In a powerhouse program packed with high calibre dietetics research, we again welcomed internationally renowned expert Professor Vickie Baracos in two nutrition-focused plenary presentations highlighting the importance of optimal nutrition care of individuals with malnutrition, sarcopenia, cachexia and frailty in order to optimise cancer care and outcomes.

Our home-grown talent was highlighted with invited speakers Professor Marina Reeves, Dr Emily Jeffery, A/Prof Nicole Kiss, Jenelle Loeliger and many more with accepted abstracts in numerous Best of the Best sessions. It was also great to see the up-and-coming researchers and PhD candidates’ research showcased and to have so many dietitians in attendance. Our congratulations go to Elaina Elder-Robinson as the recipient of the 2022 Dietitians Australia External Conference Research Prize for her work on “Health behaviours of Indigenous and non-Indigenous cancer survivors living in regional and remote geographic areas of Australia.”

After lengthy lockdowns, the Nutrition Group were at last able to hold a very successful and well-subscribed Breakfast Session: Cancer-related malnutrition and sarcopenia – From evidence to practice with a focus on implementation of the COSA position statement. With thanks to our multidisciplinary discussion panel A/Prof Dion Forster, A/Prof Nicole Kiss and Dr Carolina Sandler for contributing to this excellent session. With never a moment to rest, planning is already underway for Melbourne 2023 – start planning those abstracts!

Achievements

• Congratulations to Professor Judy Bauer on her appointment as Professor Nutrition, Dietetics and Food at Monash University, Melbourne. Congratulations Judy on this extremely well-deserved recognition of your contribution to the field of nutrition and dietetics over many years, achieving national and international standing for your cancer nutrition research leadership.

PhD Completions

• 2022 Dr Lauren Hanna: ‘Examining the interplay between skeletal muscle stores, nutrition status, quality of life and survival in upper gastrointestinal cancer.’ Monash University.
• 2022 Dr Irene Deftereos: ‘Investigating current evidence and practices for improving the nutritional status and outcomes of patients undergoing resection for upper gastrointestinal cancer.’ Deakin University.

PhD Graduations

• 2022 Clinical A/Prof Merran Findlay: ‘New insights to cancer-related skeletal muscle depletion and malnutrition in patients with head and neck cancer’, The University of Sydney.

Awards & Prizes

• Dr Irene Deftereos, recipient of the 2022 VCCC Alliance Picchi Awards for Excellence in Cancer Research. Read more here.
• Clinical Associate Professor Merran Findlay received the 2022 Dietitians Australia Joan Woodhill Prize for Excellence in Research (Doctoral Prize). Read more here.

• Associate Professor Nicole Kiss has been recognised with a 2022 Victorian Tall Poppy Science Award. Read more here.

• Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Nutrition team led by Jenelle Loeliger and Rebecca McIntosh took out the “Partnering with Consumers” category at the 2022 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards for their iCanEAT project. Read more here.
• Annie Curtis, PhD Candidate, Deakin University received the Best Poster prize at the recent 2022 Australian Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (AUSPEN) conference.

Grants & Fellowships

• Dr Brenton Baguley, Victorian Cancer Agency Early-Career Research Fellowship: ‘The PRO-Health Program: A co-designed remote-delivered PROstate-cancer specific healthy eating and exercise weight loss program for men treated with androgen deprivation therapy.’

Nutrition experts showcased in podcasts, webinars and more

It has been pleasing to see nutrition expertise represented at multidisciplinary online education forums throughout 2022. We have strived to ensure nutrition group members’ participation in these national-level conversations such as the recent COSA Ageism in Cancer Care Online Forum and for education sessions run by other organisations who have sought cancer nutrition expertise. 

For 2023, the group aims to seek opportunities to promote and progress the implementation of the COSA Position Statement on Cancer-Related Malnutrition and Sarcopenia. Another key focus will be ongoing evidence synthesis to progress the update to the COSA evidence-based guidelines for nutritional management of adult patients with head and neck cancer.

Merran Findlay PhD AdvAPD

Chair, COSA Nutrition Group