Doctor Verena Raschke

Dr Verena Raschke-Cheema completed her PhD in Nutritional Sciences in 2007 at the University of Vienna (Austria). Her doctoral project was the first to investigate the health-related importance of traditional East African food habits from pre-colonization to the present day. It culminated in the development of an online collection, containing qualitative and quantitative data from nutritional surveys and health investigations (1930s-1990s) which now serves as an important research and educational tool for scholars interested in investigating food habits. The project also investigated the colonial and neo-colonial forces underpinning the nutrition transition and related non-communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. The outcomes of Verena's PhD serve as a widely used framework for the nutrition transition and it's contributing factors. Dr Verena's master project (1999-2004) investigated the higher risk profile for coronary heart disease and type II diabetes in adolescent boys with different ethnic backgrounds. This was the first study to examine the relationship between measures of fattness, ethnicity, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) diameter in a cohort of caucasian, South and East Asian adolescent boys. Prior to joining the University of Western Sydney (UWS) in 2010 as a Lecturer in Inter-professional Health Sciences, Dr Verena lectured at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, for a period of three years (2006-2009).

This information has been contributed by Doctor Raschke.