A key member of Liverpool Hope University’s School of Health Sciences is celebrating making it through to the final round of a leading national award.
The Caroline Walker Trust (CWT) is a respected organisation dedicated to the improvement of public health through good food.
It was established in 1989 to continue the work of the famous nutritionist and campaigner Caroline Walker.
And for more than three decades the CWT has held an annual award event to ‘showcase the passion, courage and conviction of those who work to improve the quality of our food and nation’s health, and for those who live in poverty.’
Now Hope’s own Dr Farzad Amirabdollahian, Associate Professor of Nutrition, has not only received a successful nomination, he’s through to the final round - with the winners due to be announced on November 27th.
Dr Amirabdollahian will compete for the ‘Nutritionist of the Year 2020’ prize, while there are four other gongs up for grabs - Charity Food Campaigner of the Year, Food Hero of the Year, Media Food Campaigner of the Year and Freelance Nutritionist of the Year.
And Dr Amirabdollahian is in esteemed company when it comes to the other contenders, with Zoe Griffiths recently being featured on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Holly Roper making headlines having launched a health and nutrition book club.
Meanwhile his award category in 2019 featured none other than world-renowned Public Health England scientist Professor Louis Levy.
In terms of Dr Amirabdollahian’s own nomination, he was praised for his continued work to advance the ‘standards of nutrition education and research’ during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The nomination adds: “He has excelled in supporting his discipline and nutrition professionals and made the adversities less difficult to bear while maintaining and advancing nutrition standards.
“During the pandemic, he has been working for an extraordinary number of hours, supporting his fellow nutritionists, students, graduates and colleagues, communicating the message of hope, and reminding them the ‘value’ of their work, and that as nutritionists, they are more than what they are going through.”
(Dr Farzad Amirabdollahian, pictured above)
Speaking about the accolade, Dr Amirabdollahian added: “I am delighted and honoured to be shortlisted for the ‘Nutritionist of the Year’ Award and to join such an excellent line up of the most inspirational colleagues.
“This means a lot to me to have my work recognised especially by an organisation as distinguished and valued as the CWT.
“The CWT is dedicated to the improvement of public health through good food, and I am passionate about contributing to this mission by maintaining and advancing standards of nutrition education and research within academia.
“I also hope it puts a smile on the faces of some of my students.
“This nomination should give them confidence going forwards in an academic sense, as some of the research they’ll look at has been developed by the CWT.”
A spokesperson for the CWT said: “This year’s awards not only showcase the passion, courage and conviction of those who work so hard to improve the quality of our food and nation’s health during ‘normal times’, but also those who respond to the challenges and adapt during unprecedented times, notably to support the millions who are now living in poverty.
“We were delighted to see such a range of innovative nominees who during pre-Covid dared to challenge the status quo, each demonstrating their excellence by being distinctive and outstanding in their work.
“Equally, we were impressed by those who went out of their way to improve the provision and quality of food during Covid-19 tiers and lockdowns.”
Dr Amirabdollahian is an elected director and member of the Council of the Professional Accreditation body, Association for Nutrition (AfN) and recently appointed to be the Chair of the Certification Committee of AfN - with a mission to safeguard nutrition standards, enhance quality and protect public health at a national level.
He’s also a member of the Nutrition Society, Institute of Food Science and Technology and World Public Health Nutrition Association.
Caroline Walker, who tragically died aged 38 with colon cancer, was a passionate campaigner for better food and who raised awareness about food poverty.
Through her 1984 book The Food Scandal, co-authored with partner Geoffrey Cannon, she was one of the first to blow the whistle on little-known food manufacturing practices, such as adding water to sausages and bacon, using cosmetic food additives to improve colour and flavour, and how mechanically recovered meat was widespread in the British food supply.
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