Meet our Applied Human Nutrition faculty members
Dr. Daphne Lordly, DEd, Professor, Department Chair
daphne.lordly@msvu.ca
Research interests: Dietetic education and the socialization of dietetic students and practitioners, and how gender is implicated in these processes; arts-informed research and pedagogy. Read more »
Dr. Patricia Williams, PhD, Professor
patty.williams@msvu.ca
Research interests: Participatory research processes into social and policy change necessary to build food security. Read more »
Dr. Bohdan Luhovyy, PhD, Professor*
bohdan.luhovyy@msvu.ca
*On sabbatical until December 31, 2024
Research interests: Functional foods and food-derived bioactivities; mechanisms of adaptive responses to chronic dietary exposures, the role of food-born substances in physiologic and metabolic regulations. Read more »
Linda Mann, MBA, PDt, Associate Professor
linda.mann@msvu.ca
Research interests: Impacts of parenting styles on healthy eating and physical activity behaviours of young adults, evaluation of food and nutrition standards (particularly for child care centres), and innovative and entrepreneurial aspects of nutrition and dietetic practice. Read more »
Dr. Shannan Grant, PDt, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Graduate Program Coordinator
shannan.grant2@msvu.ca
Research interests: As a Scientist and Registered Dietitian (RD), a focus of my research program is the use of clinical trials to answer community-based questions. I am interested in assessment of nutrition education/ intervention from both the perspective of the patient/ client and the health care professional. Read more »
Dr. Kyly Whitfield, PhD, Associate Professor*
*On sabbatical until June 30, 2025
Research interests: Dr. Whitfield is passionate about international nutrition, with interests in identifying and combating micronutrient deficiencies during ‘the first thousand days’ window, from conception through 2 years. Read More »
Dr. Phillip Joy, PhD, Assistant Professor
phillip.joy@msvu.ca
Research interests: I am a registered dietitian with the Nova Scotia Dietetic Association (NSDA). My research interests are driven from my own experiences as part of the LGBTQQIP2SAA community. A community that is often silenced through heteronormative social and cultural discourses. Read More »
Dr. Irene Ogada, PhD, RD, Assistant Professor
irene.ogada1@msvu.ca
Research interests: Maternal and Child Nutrition, Social Determinants of Health, Intersectionality in Nutrition and Health, Community Nutrition Programming. Read More »
Jillian Ruhl, MScAHN, PDt, Lab Instructor and Faculty Supervising Dietitian
jillian.ruhl@msvu.ca
As the Faculty Supervising Dietitian for the Internship Education Program, I serve as an educational liaison between dietetic interns and sponsors/preceptors at sponsoring organizations of our program. Read more »
Adjunct Faculty
Dr. Matt McSweeney. PhD, Adjunct Professor
Matthew.mcsweeney@acadiau.ca
Matt joined the Acadia University faculty in 2013 after completing both his BSc and PhD in Food Science at the University of Guelph. Matt primarily studies sensory science. Read More »
Dr. Priya Kathirvel, PhD, Adjunct Professor
priya.kathirvel@msvu.ca
Dr. Kathirvel has a background in food science and her primary research interests have been in the areas of food chemistry & analysis and functional food product development. Her earlier research focused on the extraction, isolation and characterization of polyphenolic compounds from fruits and studying their antioxidative potential and mechanisms of inhibition of lipid oxidation in various food systems. Read more »
Dr.Sukhinder Cheema, PhD, Adjunct Professor
Dr. Cheema has a background in biochemistry, nutrition and molecular biology. She combines her multidisciplinary expertise to investigate the regulation of metabolic pathways, at the molecular and cellular level, by nutrients. Her research focuses on maternal nutrition during pregnancy, its impact on pregnancy outcome, and the regulation of offspring metabolism. Read More »