Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | N | Nutrition & Dietetics: The Journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia

24th National Dietitians Association of Australia: lecture in honour of Joan Mary Woodhill OBE.

Article Excerpt
INTRODUCTION

Campfire stories, oral histories and cultural narratives are important components of social cohesion and continuity. The lecture in honour serves this purpose by recognising professional leadership, seen through its impact on those that follow. As with all leaders, there are many tributes to Dr Woodhill, but the themes drawn out here relate to observations that influenced my own career in nutrition and dietetics and remain highly relevant today.

A BRILLIANT CAREER

A number of DAA publications (1,2) provided the details that follow on Dr Woodhill's life. Born in Camden NSW in 1912, and raised on the South Coast, Joan Woodhill was early on a trailblazing woman for her time, gaining a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Sydney. She was unemployed at first, but then her mother attended a meeting addressed by Edith Tilton the Dietitian from Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Joan's mother encouraged her to consider dietetics. It is worthwhile noting that on her marriage Edith was required to leave the hospital, so in those days women had to choose between family and career. In 1937 Joan undertook an apprenticeship training course in dietetics at RPA and in 1939 won a Carnegie scholarship for a study tour of England, the USA and Canada, did a short course at Columbia University and joined the American Dietetics Association (ADA). She returned to become secretary of the newly formed Dietetic Association of NSW and in 1942 was appointed to represent the National Council of Women on the NHMRC. By 1944 she was a signatory to the memorandum of the NSW Institute of Dietitians, a quasi-registration body, reflecting her hard work within the Department of Health. Notwithstanding these were the years of World War II, her mark was made on her new found profession.

With the mentoring she received through the ADA Joan Woodhill returned to the USA and undertook an MSc from the University of Minnesota, followed by a DSc in Nutrition and Pregnancy achieved in 1951 from the Harvard School of Public Health. Her counsellors there were Professor Frederick Stare and Dr Bertha Burke, of Diet History fame. (3) These years left her with a strong sense of internationalism, a significant attribute in things to come, not least being her work with the FAO in 1960 training Iraqi women in Baghdad to conduct dietary surveys in the villages. She justly received the Order...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!