New Academic Faculty appointment: Dr. Genelle Lunken (Healey), PhD, RD

Welcome to Dr. Genelle Lunken (Healey), PhD, RD, Assistant Professor with the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition

Dr. Lunken undertook her PhD in Nutritional Science at Massey University in New Zealand. The aim of her PhD research was to determine what influence habitual dietary fibre intake has on host and gut microbiota responses to a prebiotic intervention. In this novel research she demonstrated that individuals with high habitual dietary fibre intakes had a greater improvement in satiety and a more significant shift in their gut microbiota in response to a prebiotic than low habitual dietary fibre consumers.

Before undertaking her PhD coursework, Dr. Lunken worked as a registered Dietitian supporting patients with various diseases including gastrointestinal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), renal disease and diabetes.

In 2017, Dr. Lunken moved to Vancouver to start a postdoctoral fellowship with Drs. Bruce Vallance and Kevan Jacobson at UBC to research the impact nutrition, particularly fibre, has on the gut microbiome and disease outcomes for patients with IBD.

In addition to her new appointment, Dr. Lunken, is registered as a Dietitian in British Columbia and, one day, she aims to establish her own successful translational research program.

Learn more about her work:
https://bcchr.ca/news/covid-19-vaccines-gut-microbiome-dietary-fibre

Welcome to Dr. Lunken!