28th National Dietitians Association of Australia: Lecture in Honour of Audrey Cahn

摘要

Although I was not fortunate enough to know Audrey Cahn as she retired in 1968 before I arrived in Australia, the process of investigating her life and career for this lecture has led to me develop a firm liking for Audrey. We are fortunate that good records of her life and achievements have been maintained. In the process of researching her life and career, I have developed respect and fondness for Audrey. I have come to appreciate the progression she made in a number of areas, under difficult circumstances. Audrey was always a proponent of the idea that nutrition should be used as pre-ventative medicine. She said that the field of nutrition suffers from the fact that it evolved as a hospital-based discipline aimed at therapeutic intervention. Audrey taught nutrition as a 'wholistic' rather than a 'reductionist' discipline and was clearly ahead of her times. In the latter part of her career she was a vocal advocate for the appropriate training of dietitians at the university level. Throughout her career she continued