Rate My Professor Megan Jensen

Dr Megan Jensen is a Senior Research Fellow and Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietitian in the School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She earned her PhD in 2013 and Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics (Honours) from the University of Newcastle. Her research specializes in randomised controlled nutritional interventions and nutritional assessment in maternal and childhood asthma, with a focus on obesity and body composition, including dietary-induced weight loss trials in children with asthma, and the characterisation of paediatric obese asthma phenotypes. She also investigates the impact of nutritional factors on maternal and infant health, encompassing dietary intake, nutritional status, and breastfeeding patterns in women with asthma during pregnancy and their associations with offspring respiratory outcomes.

In her career, Jensen served as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Hospital Sainte-Justine Pediatrics, Canada (2013-2015), and Casual Academic at the School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle. She has received major awards including the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand Nutrition Special Interest Group Award (2023), TSANZ ASM Travel Award (2023), Dietitians Association of Australia Healthcare Professional Program Travel Grant (2023), Nutrition Society of Australia ANTF Mid-Career Development and Travel Award (2022), Hunter Children’s Research Foundation Early Career Research Fellowship (2017-2023), Priority Research Centre Grow Up Well Best Project (2018), 2016 Paper of the Year from the School of Medicine & Public Health, and multiple travel awards from TSANZ and others. Jensen co-established the Nutrition Special Interest Group of TSANZ, serving as Deputy Convenor (2018-2022), and was National Convenor for Research Discussion Group and Paediatric and Maternal Health Discussion Group of the Dietitians Association of Australia (2015-2018), as well as Chair of the Student Mentor Committee for the Nutrition Society of Australia (2015-2017).

Her key publications include 'Vitamin A, C and/or E Intake During Pregnancy and Offspring Respiratory Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis' (2025), 'Asthma, Gestational Diabetes, and Adverse Perinatal Outcomes: A Population-Based Obstetrics Records Analysis' (2025), 'Adverse neonatal outcomes in pregnant women with asthma: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis' (2024), 'Longitudinal Changes in Upper and Lower Airway Function in Pregnancy' (2023), and 'Diet and Asthma: Is It Time to Adapt Our Message?' (2017). Her research has over 3,300 citations across 134 publications.