Rate My Professor Jane Scott

Emeritus Professor Jane Scott is a Research Professor in the Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics in the Curtin School of Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University. She holds a PhD in Nutritional Epidemiology, Master of Public Health, Graduate Diploma in Dietetics, and BSc, having graduated as a dietitian from the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University) in 1979. Her career includes clinical dietetics, academic appointments at the University of Glasgow's Human Nutrition Section from 2000 to 2006, Flinders University's Department of Nutrition and Dietetics from 2008 to 2013, and since July 2013 as Research Professor of Public Health Nutrition at Curtin University, now holding emeritus status. Recognized as a Fellow of Dietitians Australia, she has provided sustained leadership in nutrition and dietetics.

Professor Scott's research interests center on public health nutrition and nutritional epidemiology, particularly determinants of early childhood feeding practices, breastfeeding, infant nutrition, maternal and child health, and childhood obesity. She has led prominent cohort studies including the Perth Infant Feeding Studies, Healthy Smiles Healthy Kids, and the SMILE birth cohort study. A key contribution is spearheading the development and trialing of Milk Man, the world's first breastfeeding smartphone app for fathers, as part of the Parent Infant Feeding Initiative in the School of Public Health. Her publication record features over 200 papers, with notable works such as 'Predictors of the early introduction of solid foods in infants' (2009), 'Factors associated with Early Initiation of Breastfeeding in Nepal' (2015), 'Trajectories of child free sugars intake and dental caries' (2023), 'Sources and determinants of free sugars intake by 5-year-old Australian children' (2024), and 'Bottle feeding to sleep beyond 12 months is associated with higher risk of tooth decay' (2025), garnering nearly 10,000 citations. Awards include Life Membership from Dietitians Australia in 2021 for her contributions since 1980 to breastfeeding research, public health nutrition, dietetic education, and the 2012 NHMRC Infant Feeding Guidelines authorship. She has supervised multiple PhD students and served in editorial roles.