DIETARY INTERVENTIONS INFLUENCING NEUROLOGICAL OUTCOMES
Carolina Blagojevic Castro
Dietician/Nutritionist,
PhD Candidate at Murdoch University, Western Australia &
Research Assistant, Alzheimer’s Research Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Perth, Western Australia | September 2024
With over a decade of experience as a dietitian and nutritionist, Carolina Blagojevic Castro specialises in providing personalised dietary guidance and customised meal planning tailored to meet each client’s unique health needs. She is known for her engaging and educational presentations on topics related to health and nutrition, sharing practical, evidence-based insights with both community groups and professional audiences.
Currently, she works as a Nutritionist and Research Assistant at Alzheimer’s Research Australia, supporting studies on the links between diet and cognitive health. This role deepens her expertise in neurology-related nutrition, allowing her to explore how dietary interventions may influence neurological outcomes. She is also a PhD candidate at the Centre for Healthy Ageing at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, where she merges her hands-on experience with academic research, contributing practical insights to the field of nutritional science. Her research focuses on the interplay between diet and aging, bridging real-world applications and theoretical knowledge to advance the understanding of nutrition’s impact on healthy aging.
In addition to her role at Murdoch University, she holds a postgraduate qualification in Neurological Diseases from Philadelphia University/UniFil in Brazil, further enhancing her capacity to address complex dietary needs. Her commitment to professional development ensures that she stays at the forefront of advancements in nutrition, providing care to her clients and contributing meaningfully to her field.
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Health and economic burden of interstitial lung diseases
Dr Cox’s main research interests focus on respiratory diseases and primarily on the economic burden and economic evaluation of interventions and treatments for their management. She earned her PhD from the University of Tasmania where her doctoral research examined the health and economic burden of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in Australia, one component of the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence for Pulmonary Fibrosis, a national project implemented alongside the Australian IPF Registry and the Lung Foundation Australia. This research provided the first epidemiological profile and first costing estimates of the economic burden of the disease in Australia, providing essential evidence for health service reimbursement policies.
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Stem cell therapies for enteric neuropathies
Dr Stamp is a Group Leader in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Dr Stamp’s PhD research (with Prof Martin Pera, Monash University) focused on the derivation of hepatopancreatic progenitors from human embryonic stem cells. He then joined the lab of Dr Don Newgreen at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute where he began working on development of the enteric nervous system (ENS), before joining Prof Heather Young’s lab at the University of Melbourne, where he focused on developing a stem cell therapy to treat gut motility disorders such as the paediatric enteric neuropathy Hirschprung disease.
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CASE STUDY: Transforming surgical waitlist into a ‘preparation list’
The DIAMONDS initiative aims to transform the surgical waitlist into a “preparation list,” enabling healthcare professionals to optimise patient care in the months leading up to elective surgery starting at pre-admission phase.
Patients are will be able to complete pre-admission forms online, receive timely updates, and access educational resources to ensure thorough preparation. This will allow staff to spend more time with patients.
