In Focus
Profile Elaine Rush: champion of physical activity and nutrition
Published Online April 15, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2213-8587(15)00100-X For more on the nutrition section of the IAEA, see http:// www-naweb.iaea.org/NAHU/ NAHRES/about.html For more on Project Energize, see http://www.waikatodhb. health.nz/public-health-advice/ project-energize/ For more on the Pacific Islanders Family study, see http://www. niphmhr.aut.ac.nz/researchcentres/centre-for-pacific-healthand-development-research/ pacific-islands-families-study For more on collaborations with the Pune Centre, see http:// www.kemdiabetes.org/ Collaborations.html
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In 2014, Elaine Rush was thrilled to accept New Zealand’s most prestigious accolade–Membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit. To those who work with her, it was no surprise. As Professor of Nutrition at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand, she has her finger in many pies, and has been a tireless advocate of good nutrition and increasing physical activity for most of her adult life. Growing up on a farm (near Auckland) certainly helped, and, unusually for a girl from that era, Rush studied sciences in high school. Instead of attending University however, she worked as a technical trainee in the cardiac centre at the renowned Greenlane Hospital (with services since split between Auckland City Hospital and Gleenlane Clinical Centre). “I wanted to be independent”, Rush tells The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. At Greenlane, she learnt many scientific principles that would form the bedrock of her career, including technical aspects of physiological measurements and quality control. Then, while raising two sons with her husband Michael, Rush took up posts at local institutions teaching anatomy and physiology to nurses. This varied experience led to her being headhunted by what is now AUT to set up distance learning courses for biomedical technicians, and at the same time she completed a Master’s degree in exercise and immunity. When a new mass spectrometer arrived at AUT, Rush immediately familiarised herself with its workings, using it to study energy expenditure differences between European and Māori women. Using radioisotope labelling, she measured the relationship between sugar intake and the ratio of exhaled ¹³C. During this time, she also liaised with a team at Cambridge University, UK, on work for her PhD in physiology. All of this experience has seen her act as a regular consultant to the nutrition section of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which works with developing countries on stable isotope technology for peaceful purposes. With this agency, Rush has built strong liaisons in India, Mexico, the Philippines, and most recently Mauritius. In the early 2000s, Rush’s focus was firmly on prevention of diabetes, working with Waikato diabetologist David Simmons on the New Zealand Diabetes Prevention Strategy. The Waikato District Health Board, covering some 10% of New Zealand’s population, was concerned about rising diabetes rates, especially among Māori and Pacific Island peoples. Allied with this project was a new nutrition and physical activity programme for the region’s young people. One initiative that Rush is very proud of came from this collaboration: Project Energize, which began in 2005. Along with a team of dedicated community workers, Rush worked with Sport Waikato to improve nutrition and physical activity across Waikato’s schools. The programme now has all
244 Waikato primary schools and 44 000 children enrolled. “I knew from the start that this really mattered”, recalls Rush. “If we integrate healthy eating and regular physical activity into children while young, it will remain second nature to them as they get older.” Laughing, Rush also remembers one school principal telling her how he knew the project was working. “He told me the thefts of food from school lunchboxes had stopped!” Pilot programmes have begun elsewhere in New Zealand, and new government funding has also supported trials of Energize in 130 preschools. “Energize provides ways for teachers to teach nutrition and physical activity that might not normally be in their comfort zone.” Outside of Energize, Rush is also working on the Pacific Island Families Study, which seeks to understand weight gain and other metabolic issues in families of this ethnicity. She is also collaborating with colleagues, including Chittaranjan Yajnik of the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Pune, India, on studies concerning vitamin B12. She also positively engages with media, trying to “encourage eating a variety of real foods, across the lifecycle, rather than demonising poor choices”. On physical activity, she is leading by example with outdoor pursuits, having completed several part-marathons and a 150 kilometre bicycle trek. “Elaine’s quiet and friendly personality means everyone feels comfortable with her and gets to benefit from her enormous experience and knowledge”, says Yajnik. “She is one of the few researchers to have adopted the ‘life-course’ approach, to ensure that health benefits are passed on to the future generations.” Looking forward, Rush sees potential clashes between population growth, climate, and nutrition that will make regular meat eating unsustainable for the vast majority of the population. “I also think that health funding should be boosted to support healthy behaviours and environments in pregnant women and children as early as possible”, she says. Looking back, she is grateful for the unwavering support from her family in a career that has seen her follow her heart and made her always feel useful. One project she would love to take on is the analysis of supermarket sales data over the past decade to see the differences Project Energize has made. “In project Energize, Elaine has guided us all with her extensive evaluation and research knowledge every step of the way”, says Stephanie McLennan, Project Energize Project Manager at Sport Waikato. “She has written reports, published papers, deals with the media and Ministers, and mentors many lucky people. When the going gets tough, I hear Elaine’s words: ‘we are doing all this because it’s the right thing to do’.”
Tony Kirby www.thelancet.com/diabetes-endocrinology Vol 3 May 2015
Profile Elaine Rush: champion of physical activity and nutrition
Published Online April 15, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ S2213-8587(15)00100-X For more on the nutrition section of the IAEA, see http:// www-naweb.iaea.org/NAHU/ NAHRES/about.html For more on Project Energize, see http://www.waikatodhb. health.nz/public-health-advice/ project-energize/ For more on the Pacific Islanders Family study, see http://www. niphmhr.aut.ac.nz/researchcentres/centre-for-pacific-healthand-development-research/ pacific-islands-families-study For more on collaborations with the Pune Centre, see http:// www.kemdiabetes.org/ Collaborations.html
320
In 2014, Elaine Rush was thrilled to accept New Zealand’s most prestigious accolade–Membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit. To those who work with her, it was no surprise. As Professor of Nutrition at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in New Zealand, she has her finger in many pies, and has been a tireless advocate of good nutrition and increasing physical activity for most of her adult life. Growing up on a farm (near Auckland) certainly helped, and, unusually for a girl from that era, Rush studied sciences in high school. Instead of attending University however, she worked as a technical trainee in the cardiac centre at the renowned Greenlane Hospital (with services since split between Auckland City Hospital and Gleenlane Clinical Centre). “I wanted to be independent”, Rush tells The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. At Greenlane, she learnt many scientific principles that would form the bedrock of her career, including technical aspects of physiological measurements and quality control. Then, while raising two sons with her husband Michael, Rush took up posts at local institutions teaching anatomy and physiology to nurses. This varied experience led to her being headhunted by what is now AUT to set up distance learning courses for biomedical technicians, and at the same time she completed a Master’s degree in exercise and immunity. When a new mass spectrometer arrived at AUT, Rush immediately familiarised herself with its workings, using it to study energy expenditure differences between European and Māori women. Using radioisotope labelling, she measured the relationship between sugar intake and the ratio of exhaled ¹³C. During this time, she also liaised with a team at Cambridge University, UK, on work for her PhD in physiology. All of this experience has seen her act as a regular consultant to the nutrition section of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which works with developing countries on stable isotope technology for peaceful purposes. With this agency, Rush has built strong liaisons in India, Mexico, the Philippines, and most recently Mauritius. In the early 2000s, Rush’s focus was firmly on prevention of diabetes, working with Waikato diabetologist David Simmons on the New Zealand Diabetes Prevention Strategy. The Waikato District Health Board, covering some 10% of New Zealand’s population, was concerned about rising diabetes rates, especially among Māori and Pacific Island peoples. Allied with this project was a new nutrition and physical activity programme for the region’s young people. One initiative that Rush is very proud of came from this collaboration: Project Energize, which began in 2005. Along with a team of dedicated community workers, Rush worked with Sport Waikato to improve nutrition and physical activity across Waikato’s schools. The programme now has all
244 Waikato primary schools and 44 000 children enrolled. “I knew from the start that this really mattered”, recalls Rush. “If we integrate healthy eating and regular physical activity into children while young, it will remain second nature to them as they get older.” Laughing, Rush also remembers one school principal telling her how he knew the project was working. “He told me the thefts of food from school lunchboxes had stopped!” Pilot programmes have begun elsewhere in New Zealand, and new government funding has also supported trials of Energize in 130 preschools. “Energize provides ways for teachers to teach nutrition and physical activity that might not normally be in their comfort zone.” Outside of Energize, Rush is also working on the Pacific Island Families Study, which seeks to understand weight gain and other metabolic issues in families of this ethnicity. She is also collaborating with colleagues, including Chittaranjan Yajnik of the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Pune, India, on studies concerning vitamin B12. She also positively engages with media, trying to “encourage eating a variety of real foods, across the lifecycle, rather than demonising poor choices”. On physical activity, she is leading by example with outdoor pursuits, having completed several part-marathons and a 150 kilometre bicycle trek. “Elaine’s quiet and friendly personality means everyone feels comfortable with her and gets to benefit from her enormous experience and knowledge”, says Yajnik. “She is one of the few researchers to have adopted the ‘life-course’ approach, to ensure that health benefits are passed on to the future generations.” Looking forward, Rush sees potential clashes between population growth, climate, and nutrition that will make regular meat eating unsustainable for the vast majority of the population. “I also think that health funding should be boosted to support healthy behaviours and environments in pregnant women and children as early as possible”, she says. Looking back, she is grateful for the unwavering support from her family in a career that has seen her follow her heart and made her always feel useful. One project she would love to take on is the analysis of supermarket sales data over the past decade to see the differences Project Energize has made. “In project Energize, Elaine has guided us all with her extensive evaluation and research knowledge every step of the way”, says Stephanie McLennan, Project Energize Project Manager at Sport Waikato. “She has written reports, published papers, deals with the media and Ministers, and mentors many lucky people. When the going gets tough, I hear Elaine’s words: ‘we are doing all this because it’s the right thing to do’.”
Tony Kirby www.thelancet.com/diabetes-endocrinology Vol 3 May 2015
