Rate My Professor Jenna Hollis

Dr Jenna Hollis is a Conjoint Lecturer in the School of Medicine and Public Health within the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, Australia. A registered dietitian, she earned her Doctor of Philosophy and Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics (Honours I) from the same university. Her professional journey spans various research and teaching roles, including Clinical and Health Services Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Local Health District (HNE LHD) since 2021, where she leads initiatives on gestational weight gain in antenatal care. Previously, she held positions as Research Fellow in Public Health Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen (2014-2015), Endeavour Research Fellow at the University of Southampton (2015-2016), Postdoctoral Researcher at HNE LHD and University of Newcastle (2014-2019), and Project Officer at HNE Population Health (2016-2019). She has also contributed to teaching as a marker in Community Nutrition Practice and Public Health Nutrition at the University of Newcastle (2012-2016), guest lecturer at the University of Aberdeen (2015), and marker in Epidemiology at the University of Canberra (2013).

Dr Hollis's research centers on public health nutrition, particularly improving maternal and child health outcomes through interventions targeting modifiable behaviors during preconception, pregnancy, and infancy, such as dietary intake, physical activity, gestational weight gain, smoking, alcohol consumption, and breastfeeding. She partners with HNE LHD Maternity Services and the University of Southampton on the ‘Healthy Conversation Skills’ training program to overcome health professionals’ barriers to behavior change discussions. Her scholarly output includes 36 peer-reviewed publications, with 17 as lead author, predominantly in Q1 journals, and contributions to books like ‘The double burden of malnutrition’ (2022, Wiley) and ‘A Link Between Maternal and Childhood Obesity’ (2019). Notable journal articles are ‘Evaluating a train-the-trainer model for scaling-up Healthy Conversation Skills training’ (2022, Patient Education and Counseling), ‘Antenatal care addressing gestational weight gain (GWG): a cross-sectional survey’ (2024, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth), and ‘Micronutrient supplementation Supporting a healthy pregnancy and baby’ (2024, Medicine Today). Dr Hollis has supervised the completion of five higher degree research students (PhD, Honours, Masters). She has attracted over $1.3 million in competitive grants and fellowships, including the HMRI Dr Aubrey Crawley Fellowship ($350,000, 2021-2024), NHMRC Partnership Projects ($747,944, 2020-2023), and Endeavour Research Fellowship ($23,000, 2015-2016). Recognized for her contributions, she received the Health Research Partnerships and Innovation Award (2019), IJBNPA Peer Reviewer of the Year (2017), and serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity (since 2017) and as Conference Organising Co-Chair for the HiPPP EMR-C.