Lauren Houston – Volunteer Nutritionist

Lauren joined VSHC in August 2015 for three months as a volunteer Nutritionist from Involvement Volunteers International and completed her time there on October 30th.

Lauren graduated from a Bachelor of Science (Honours) majoring in nutrition in June 2015 and is currently enrolled at the University of Wollongong, Australia in a Doctor of Philosophy, Health Science. As a health advocate, Lauren has a passion for educating and empowering communities to assist in improving their overall health. As a new graduate Lauren has a keen interest to put into practice the skills and knowledge she gained whilst studying to help and support others of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. During her time at VSHC, Lauren has worked towards empowering the staff and community to maintain wellness and prevent disease through healthy eating and physical activity. She has worked alongside the team to develop community public health nutrition educational programs, develop patient information pamphlets, conducted healthy cooking demonstrations and has provided one-on-one nutrition assessment screening with high-risk patients for type II diabetes mellitus, hypertension and obesity at both outreach and clinical programs.