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About Salma

Salma Mehar RD

Salma Mehar RD, PGdip is a consultant dietitian working in the field of global nutrition, health and wellbeing. Salma’s passion to improve health through better nutrition and dietary habits and lifestyle are reflected in the many projects she has worked on related to community health and long-term conditions.

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Salma’s experience spans over 20 years working in the NHS and with communities, researchers and health technology companies. Her work has been acknowledged by many organizations in the UK for improving health conditions by Diabetes UK, the British Heart Foundation and the British Dietetic Association.

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Salma has won a number of awards for her ongoing work in developing educational resources to improve diabetes care and reduce health inequalities. These include the HSJ award, QIC award, and the PCD award at the European Diabetes Association.

 

Salma is an international speaker in dietetics and cultural health and has spoken at a number of international conferences. 

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She has written and co-authored a number of publications on diabetes care, Ramadan and digital diabetes and has written a number of resources on diet and Ramadan. She co-authored the nutrition chapter for the DAR- IDF guidelines and is the co-author for the award-winning Carbs&Cals book World Foods (2019), which is the first visual carbohydrate awareness resource developed for ethnic communities.

 

Salma has worked on digital resources with a number of diabetes digital providers, including DigiBete, MyDiabetesMyWay, KnowDiabetes, and Carbs&Cals.

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Salma is currently working with Imperial College London and Public Health England to evaluate the use of low-calorie diets in the remission of type 2 diabetes.

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Her work also extends across the globe. She works with various communities and charities to develop accessible tools and resources. She is currently teaching and working with Meethi Zindagi and the World Diabetes Federation to create the first digital educational platform in Pakistan, which is aimed at improving the lives of children living with type 1 diabetes in local communities.

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Salma's bio

Biography

Qualifications

  • BSc Human Nutrition and Dietetics, London Metropolitan University

  • PGDip Diabetes Care, Warwick University

  • Training as a diabetes educator for DAFNE, Desmond and X-PERT

  • NHS Mary Seacole Leadership programme

 

Projects

  • North West London Diabetes Transformation Programme, REWIND project

This included intensive weight management and achieving remission of type 2 diabetes using evidence from the DiRECT[1] trial. Salma led the operational work, trained healthcare professionals in primary care and developed dietary resources for people living with diabetes and materials for practitioners to increase cultural awareness.

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  • Nutrition Ed

Salma has developed tools and learning resources for schools and families. She has also developed eco-friendly resources for children and families from diverse communities, including healthy eating plates and toothbrushes for children from diverse communities. Resources are provided in Arabic, English, Polish, Somali, Tamil and Urdu.

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Digital resource projects

  • DiGibete

  • MyDiabetesMyWay

  • KnowDiabetes

  • Carbs&Cals

 

​More projects can be found on this here.

 

Awards

  • HSJ award -Diabetes Initiative award 2018 (NWL Diabetes Transformation team)

  • QIC award - Diabetes Initiative Award 2019

  • PCD award at the European Diabetes Association - Best poster presentation 2017

 

Health Advisor roles

  • Expert Advisor for Patient Information Forum (PIF) (UK)

  • Professional committee member for Diabetes UK (UK)

  • Panel member for Diabetes Alliance Ramadan Nutrition Plan (DAR RNP)

  • Board Member, Meethi Zindagi (Pakistan).

  • Pocket Medic, NHS Wales 

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Speaker

Salma is an international speaker in dietetics and cultural health and has spoken at a number of international conferences. 

  • ISPAD 

  • ASPAD European Diabetes Society

  • Diabetes UK Conference

  • DAR - International Hajj and Ramadan Conference

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Authorship and co-authorship

  • Authored a number of resources on diet and Ramadan.

  • Co-author of Carbs&Cals World Foods (2019), which is the first visual carbohydrate awareness resource for ethnic communities

  • Co-author of the nutrition chapter for the DAR- IDF

  • Contributes to articles and blogs

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Media appearances 

  • Islam channel

  • Pendle Community Radio station

  • Awaaz Radio Station 

  • Sunrise Radio

  • ITV News

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