Rate My Professor Minako Kataoka

Minako Kataoka is a New Zealand Registered Dietitian currently serving as a Dietitian at University of Otago Student Health Services since April 2021. She joined the University of Otago over 14 years ago and has held roles within the Department of Human Nutrition, listed as academic staff in the 2019 University Calendar with qualifications MSc and PGDipDiet (Otago), Registered Dietitian. She is Monash FODMAP-trained and possesses expertise in dietary prevention and management for chronic diseases. Kataoka earned her Master of Science in Human Nutrition from the University of Otago in 2012, with a thesis entitled 'Glycaemic response and glycaemic index to five varieties of dried dates in healthy individuals'. She also holds a Diploma in Public Health.

Currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago since May 2022, her doctoral research investigates 'New Zealand oral health professionals and nutrition care: needs, competence and barriers', supervised by Rachael McLean, Lee Adam, and Lauren Ball. Her academic interests encompass nutrition education in oral health curricula, diabetes nutritional management, glycaemic index testing, and innovative teaching methods like flipped learning in dietetics education. Notable publications include 'Nutrition Education and Practice in University Dental and Oral Health Programmes and Curricula: A Scoping Review' (2024, European Journal of Dental Education), 'Nutritional intervention in patients with type 2 diabetes who will fast during Ramadan' (2010, BMJ), 'Developing Dietetic Students' Confidence in Multicultural Communication through Flipped Learning' (2021, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior), 'Shifting from Lecturing to Flipped Learning - Unpacking Teachers’ Sensemaking during a Pandemic' (2022, New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies), and 'The use of different reference foods in determining the glycemic index of starchy and non-starchy test foods' (2014, Nutrition Journal). Her scholarly work has garnered over 500 citations on Google Scholar, reflecting impact in nutrition and public health fields.