Dr Rachel Boak APD, CEDC-D, PhD
The Social Dietitian
"The Social Dietitian is a way to share and connect with other nutrition and health professionals about how we work to ensure that everyone has a fair go to eat well, without stress and consistent with their values and preferences."
Whether you work in dietetics, nutrition, another health profession, public health, health promotion with communities, or one-on-one with patients or clients in a clinic setting – The Social Dietitian is relevant to your work in nutrition.
Increasingly part of our role as nutrition professionals is to share amongst ourselves, other health professionals and communities exactly how and why we work within these models of care.
Through The Social Dietitian I aim to create opportunities for dietitians and other health professionals to:
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learn or refine the provision of genuinely holistic and person-centred care to help people address eating concerns within a biopsychosocial model of healthcare.
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build capacity to use evidenced based behaviour change models in nutrition care through a health-focused or non-diet lens.
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discover the precise evidence used to understand the unique social, behavioural and biological factors driving eating behaviours.
The Social Dietitian allows me to draw on my own 25+ years of practice as a dietitian with experience in hospitals, community care, education and research, to offer a highly experienced view of the future of personalised nutrition care (you can read a little more about my own current practice here).
Dietitians are champions of the biopsychosocial model of healthcare. It is foundational to how we practice. Dietitians use evidence and knowledge from biological/physical, behavioural/psychological and social sciences to assess nutrition status and plan interventions.
However, a ‘neglect of the social context’ has been identified in other areas of health and it’s likely no different in nutrition. Focusing mostly on the biological and behavioural drivers and solutions to eating problems can be commonplace.
I’ve founded The Social Dietitian to champion how holistic and evidenced-based nutrition care includes social science alongside biological, nutrition and behavioural sciences. My work is dedicated to highlighting: the social science used in nutrition care; where it is most commonly overlooked; and how to use it to strengthen evidence-based nutrition care in practice.
Publications
2025 Publication on the future of the Nutrition & Dietetics Profession
2022 Publication on the future of the Nutrition & Dietetics Profession
2024 Publication on the
Nutrition & Dietetics Workforce
All publications, on social determinants of food choices and health equity
Boak, R., Palermo, C., Beck, E. J., Pelly, F., Wall, C., & Gallegos, D. (2025). Five Actions to Strengthen the Nutrition and Dietetics Profession Into the Future: Perspectives From Australia and New Zealand. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 38(3), e70064
Boak, R., Palermo, C., Beck, E. J., Patch, C., Pelly, F., Wall, C., & Gallegos, D. (2022). A qualitative exploration of the future of nutrition and dietetics in Australia and New Zealand: Implications for the workforce. 79(4), 427-437.
Forsyth, A., Beck, E., Kruger, R., Pelly, F., Wall, C., Boak, R., & Allman‐Farinelli, M. (2024). Public perceptions of dietetics services in Australia and New Zealand. Nutrition & Dietetics, 81(5), 480-496.
Research & Teaching Experience
Rachel's research and teaching work has focused in the areas of: translating nutrition and dietetics evidence into practice and policy; social determinants of health; health equity; future-focused practice; and qualitative and mixed methods research. Her PhD research examined social influences on family infant food choice behaviour, including the impact of public health policy. Her Honours thesis was an analysis of nutrition messages in women's magazines.
Honorary Roles & Memberships
Current Honorary Role
University of Melbourne, Honorary Clinical Fellow, Melbourne Dental School (2023-Current).
Previous Honorary Role
Monash University, Invited Member of the Course Advisory Board for the Bachelor of Nutrition Science, Master of Dietetics and Bachelor of Nutrition (Honours) programs (2021-2024).
Memberships
Dietitians Australia, 1997-current.
Australian and New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders, 2022-2025.
Public Health Association of Australia, Member (2018-2020); Student member (2010-17).
CONTACT
If you're seeking professional supervision, academic collaboration or workshop and education services, The Social Dietitian is here to support your journey.
Reach out to discuss how TSD can help your work in nutrition.
