Senior Lecturer

BSc, SRD, PhD, RPHNutr

Ashley graduated with BSc and State Registration in Dietetics in 1987 and worked until 1989 in the NHS in London. In 1989 she moved to Newcastle and took up a research associate post at University of Newcastle measuring the diets of 11 to 12 year old children; she completed her PhD thesis on the diets of adolescents graduating in 1993. In 1992 Ashley returned to London and worked as a dietitian in both the community and in primary care in Enfield and Haringey areas of London. During this time Ashley was elected chair of Dietitians working in Primary Care and was a member of the British Dietetic Association’s Community Nutrition Group (CNG).  In 1995 Ashley returned to Newcastle to take up post as Lecturer in Nutrition in the then newly formed Human Nutrition Research Centre (HNRC). She was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2005.

In Newcastle Ashley is group lead for Public Health Nutrition in the HNRC. Research in the group focuses principally on nutrition epidemiology and interventions for the promotion of healthy body weight and diet in children and young people. Previous work has included evaluation of brief interventions for obesity in primary care (the BiO project). In Jan 05 Ashley was awarded a Department of Health National Public Health Career Scientist Award for 2005-2010 with a programme of work entitled: ‘Meeting the challenge of the obesity epidemic in children and young adults’.

Ashley has previously served on BDA research committee and Nutrition Society council and is currently serving as a member of the BDA Food First planning committee and Nutrition Society programmes committee. She is a member of the Association of the Study of Obesity.
 
Ten key published articles

1. Adamson, A., Rugg-Gunn, A., Butler, T., Appleton, D. and Hackett, A. (1992). Nutritional Intake, Height and Weight of 11 to 12-year old Northumbrian Children in 1990 compared with information obtained in 1980. British Journal of Nutrition, 68, 543-563.

2. Lamont, D., Parker, L., White, M., Unwin, N., Bennett, S., Cohen, M., Richardson, D., Dickinson, H., Adamson, A.J., Alberti, K., Craft, A. (2000) Risk of cardiovascular disease measured by carotid intima-media thickness at age 49-51: life course study. British Medical Journal 320, 29 273-278.

3. Moore H., Summerbell, C.D., Vail A., Greenwood, D.C., Adamson A.J. (2001). The design features and practicalities of conducting a pragmatic cluster randomised trial of obesity management in primary care. Statistics in Medicine. 20, 331-340.

4. Moynihan. P.J., Butler, T.J., Rugg-Gunn, A. J. and Adamson, A.J. (2001) Dietary intake of folate by adolescents and the potential effect of flour fortification with folic acid. British Journal of Nutrition. 86, 529-534.

5. Adamson, A.J., Foster, E., Butler, T.J., Bennet, S. and Walker, M. (2001) Non-diabetic relatives of type 2 diabetic families: dietary intake contributes to the increased risk of diabetes. Diabetic Medicine. 18, 984-990.

6. Moore, H., Summerbell, C.D., Greenwood, D., Tovey, P., Griffiths, J., Henderson, M., Hesketh, K., Woolgar, Adamson, A.J. (2003). Improving management of obesity in primary care: cluster randomised trial. British Medical Journal. 327, 1085.

7. Fletcher, E.S., Rugg-Gunn, A.J., Matthews, J.N.S., Hackett, A., Moynihan, P.J., Mathers, J.C., Adamson, A.J. (2004). Changes over 20 years in macronutrient intake and BMI in young Northumbrian adolescents.  British Journal of Nutrition. 92, 321-333.

8. Lake, A.A., Rugg-Gunn, A.J., Hyland, R.M., Wood, C.E., Mathers, J.C. & Adamson, A.J. (2004).  Longitudinal dietary change from adolescence to adulthood: perceptions, attributions and evidence. Appetite. 42, 255-263.

9. Adamson, A.J. & Mathers JC (2004). Effecting dietary change. Proceedings of Nutrition Society. 63(4) 537-47.

10. Anderson, A.S., Porteous, L.E.G., Foster, E., Higgins, C., Stead, M., Hetherington, M., Ha, M.-.A. & Adamson, A.J. (2005).The impact of a school-based nutrition education intervention on dietary intake and cognitive and attitudinal variables relating to fruits and vegetables. Public Health Nutrition. In press.