Chair: Dr Kalpana Bhaskaran

Dr Kalpana Bhaskaran is currently the Head for the Centre of Applied Nutrition Services and the Glycemic Index Research Unit at Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore. She championed the design, planning and implementation of Singapore and the region’s first accredited Glycemic Index Research Unit (GIRU). She also oversees the Centre’s areas which encompass the Applied Nutrition Research, Food Technology Domain and the Bistro Lab, 120 seated cafeteria and bakery (a Learning Enterprise). She is currently involved as PI and Co-PI in many ongoing research studies in the area of Glycemic Index, Applied Nutrition, efficacy testing, food valorisation and microbiome.
She was awarded the “Inaugural Teaching Excellence Award” for outstanding lecturing in 2009 and pedagogy and was conferred the National Day Honours award for recognition of her work and its impact to diabetes management and education in 2014. In September 2017, her team was awarded the Innergy award by the Ministry of Education. Recently the project led by her, Diabetes and Flu campaign, an initiative done in collaboration with Diabetes Singapore and Sanofi on creating awareness about diabetes and flu vaccination won two Silver awards in two categories under PR Awards Asia 2020.
Dr Kalpana has been appointed as an expert advisor to the government of the Republic of Singapore c/o Ministry of Health (MOH) in relation to the measures to reduce the consumption of sugar from the sugar-sweetened beverages. She was invited to be a part of Ministry of Health’s (MOH) citizen’s jury for War on Diabetes. She is invited to sit on the Singapore Armed Forces Feeding and Institutional Catering advisory panel to offer her expertise in food and nutrition. She is also in the Ministry of Health (MOH) working group on “Patient empowerment” which is one the initiatives by MOH to beat diabetes. She is selected as Skills Future Mentor by Enterprise Singapore to investigate the learning and development needs of SMEs. She regularly acts as a food and nutrition consultant to local and overseas food companies.

Speaker: Ms Jacqueline Joose

Title: Decoding Food Labels – You are what you buy/eat!

Miss Jacqueline Joose is an accredited dietitian (ADS, APD) with the Singapore Nutrition and Dietetics Association (SNDA) and Dietitians Australia, and is a Certified Health Coach, CHC. She has worked across a wide range of clinical wards in major hospitals in Australia, as well as in the areas of private nutrition practice, food service management, community and public health nutrition. Back in Singapore, Jacqueline ventured into the digital health space as a dietitian and honed additional evidence-based health coaching skills in the specialised medical fields of Lifestyle Medicine and Preventive Cardiology.
Jacqueline believes that the best outcomes come through balance, allowing clients to achieve their goals while still enjoying the foods they love. Her favourite part of the job is seeing the “light bulb” switch on when patients make that connection, and the satisfied glow on their faces, brought about by health improvements through diet and lifestyle changes. Jacqueline received her Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics (Honours) from Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and represents SNDA in the Public Relations Subcommittee.

Speaker: Ms Priscilla Darmawirya

Title: Decoding Food Labels – You are what you buy/eat!

Miss Priscilla Darmawirya is a Dietitian currently working at a restructured hospital in Singapore. She completed her Bachelors of Nutrition and Dietetics with Honours from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland. She has exposure in varied clinical areas such as malnutrition in various medical disciplines including oncology, chronic disease management such as diabetes, cardiology and weight management.