Researcher in Focus: Dr Amy Mullee

From Westport, Co.Mayo, Dr Amy Mullee has a degree and PhD in human nutrition and is currently an Irish Cancer Society sponsored IARC-Ireland postdoctoral research fellow working with the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sports Science at University College Dublin and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France. The partnership is part of an international effort to decrease cancer rates by improving lifestyle choices through a number of factors, including dietary modifications.

Dietary modification is an important approach for cancer prevention and control as there is a strong link between obesity and many types of cancers including breast, kidney, colorectal, oesophageal and endometrial cancers. Amy’s fellowship aims to strengthen the information and advice on what we can eat to reduce our risk of cancer. In particular, she has worked on the adaption of an international tool for measuring diet in Ireland. With the ultimate goal of providing clearer recommendations to reduce the risk of certain cancers.

While at IARC Amy was a member of the secretariat for the IARC Handbook of cancer prevention on weight control and IARC monograph on red and processed meat. Amy’s research has also looked at the motivations and quality of the diet in those who limit meat in the diet. Amy is also investigating the role of other aspects of the diet that can be modified to improve our health and reduce our risk of cancer.

Amy has attended the IARC summer school on Cancer Epidemiology and the World Cancer Congress. Amy has presented her work at the IARC and the Nutrition Society conferences, and has published in Appetite, Nutrients, Cancer Causes and Control and the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society.