18 May 2024 BANT Fellows 2024
BANT would like to congratulate Dawn Waldron and Justin Roberts who have been awarded BANT Fellowship and Breda Gajsek, BANT Honorary Fellowship, in recognition of their significant contribution to the nutritional therapy profession and the practise of nutritional therapy. For many years, they have been advocates of the profession, supporting and advancing integrative healthcare and the safe practice of nutrition and lifestyle medicine.
For Dawn, a mid-life cancer diagnosis in 1997 prompted a radical career change. Dawn graduated from ION with distinction in 2004, then joined the ION academic team and since then, there has been no stopping her. Dawn has excelled in her enthusiasm to support students and impart her knowledge in all areas of nutrition but with a specific focus on nutrition and lifestyle interventions linking to breast cancer. In 2009 Dawn delivered ION’s first cancer support workshop, started her first professional blog and in 2012, was the first UK nutritional therapist to publish a book on the benefits of the ketogenic diet, The Dissident Diet.
Dawn has always been in clinical practice and also completed a Post Grad Certificate at CNELM in 2017. Dawn was one of the earliest adapters of the use of nutrigenomics in the context of breast cancer. Her work has been and is still ground breaking, always safe, considered and professional. She has been highly praised by colleagues, students and clients.
Justin is highly experienced nutrition scientist and researcher with over 30 years of experience in this field, complimented with over 20 years of experience in nutritional therapy practice. Starting with Sports Studies, Justin completed MSc in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition, ION Nutritional Therapy Diploma and finally PhD in Applied Exercise Physiology & Nutrition. Justin has lectured extensively and continues to do so, imparting his knowledge and research findings in his role as a Professor at Anglia Rusking University in Cambridge, in many nutritional therapy forums, most recently the NED Science Forum and upcoming BANT Event on Sports Nutrition in November. Justin is also the Nutrition Evidence Database (NED) Editor-in-Chief supporting the NED Editorial board and also has the role of Chair of NTEC.
Breda’s journey in nutritional therapy started in 1993 when she suffered from a debilitating chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) which her doctor labelled as psychosomatic. The event that forever changed Breda’s life happened when a friend invited her to an ION open day. Patrick Holford’s presentation left her captivated. She enrolled on the course, but almost quit after 6 months due to her difficulty in retaining the information being taught. However, her partner urged her to persist. After three years, she graduated from ION with distinction. She joined ION as a tutor and eventually progressed to the position of Head of Education at ION.
Breda left ION in autumn 1999 but her passion for teaching nutrition led to her establishing her own college. BCNH was established in 2000 with the objective of providing a superior nutrition education. Over the years, Breda developed BCNH clinical practice style based on Functional Medicine (FM) and created a fully referenced Mechanisms Database, which is an invaluable tool for students and graduates.
Despite Breda’s enjoyment of teaching nutrition, she was forced to retire early as working long hours resulted in her CFS returning with a vengeance. However, Breda is enthusiastic about the new life that awaits her after BCNH and looks forward to using her skills and tools to manage her CFS.
