Personal Statement
I am a multidisciplinary Nutritional Scientist with broad interests in the molecular mechanisms underpinning the roles of dietary nutrients in health and disease.

Originally from Ireland, I was mentored by the eminent nutritional biochemist Prof Robert J. Cousins, and earned my Ph.D. from the University of Florida in the US. Awarded the prestigious Christine Mirzayan Science Policy fellowship, after my PhD I worked at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC where my interests in science policy and the prevention of obesity were fostered. I subsequently did postdoctoral research first as an intramural fellow at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland and then as a Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge fellow at NUI-Maynooth in Ireland.

I moved to the UK to start my first laboratory at the University of Surrey in 2008 with a focus on what was then termed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), now the most common cause of liver disease affecting an estimated 30% of adults and 10% of children worldwide and termed metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). In 2016 I moved to the University of Leeds where I held multiple leadership positions and was promoted to Professor. I joined the University of Liverpool in September 2024 as Chair in Nutritional Biochemistry.

I am currently a Trustee for the British Nutrition Foundation and have previously held elected positions on the Advisory Councils for both the Nutrition Society and the British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN), as well as been a General Assembly Member of the European Food Information Council (EUFIC). In 2018, I was the recipient of the Nutrition Society Silver Medal for Research Excellence in a Young Investigator.

Research Overview
Early in my career I recognised nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as the hepatic manifestation of obesity and the metabolic syndrome (Moore, 2010), and in 2023 after a global Delphi consensus process NAFLD was renamed to metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Diet and lifestyle are key modifiable risk factors for MASLD and underpin clinical management guidelines.

Collaborating with clinicians and computational biologists, I have led multidisciplinary work that has ranged from examining the roles of dietary nutrients in MASLD, to the development and simulation of novel in silico systems models of liver metabolism, and the characterization of the dysregulation of the enzyme glyoxalase. Much of this research has utilized genomic, proteomic, and systems biology tools, traditionally underemployed in the Nutritional Sciences. I have also led dietary and physical activity assessment and intervention trials in humans; and very practical work exposing the high sugar content of yogurt, which captured the public’s interest and worldwide media attention. Not least of all, recent strands of food policy and food systems work have related to food poverty, childhood obesity, and the triple burden of malnutrition (undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies), in both the UK and low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).

Current work with collaborators in the Human Liver Research Facility and the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Liverpool, is focused on utilizing a combination of ex vivo human 3D culture models (primary hepatocyte spheroids, hepatic organoids and precision cut liver slices) and proteomic and metabolomic approaches towards understanding hepatic nutrient metabolism in MASLD and other liver diseases. Molecular mechanisms underpinning the roles of the micronutrient’s vitamin D and ergothioneine in healthy ageing of particular interest.