Leigh O’Brien

Leigh O’Brien began her career in dietetics as a clinical dietitian at Christchurch Public Hospital. Leigh left there to join a private food safety consultancy company where she wrote food safety programmes, reviewed food labels to ensure they met the standards set out by the Australia and New Zealand Food Standards Code, conducted food safety training and presented tailored nutrition sessions for food industry.

Leigh’s passion for working with older people developed when working as a clinical dietitian for Julian Jensen providing the rest home clinical service. She set up Canterbury Dietitians in 2008 with colleague Liz Beaglehole and since that time she has continued to provide clinical nutrition advice to residential care.

Leigh practices evidence-based nutrition and loves research. She is currently undertaking her PhD investigating chronic diarrhoea in older adults and has been involved in numerous studies investigating the effectiveness and improvements with quality of life for those with IBS.

Maz Black

Maz Black has worked in a variety of clinical settings with a wide range of population groups.  She started her career in Auckland City Hospital before moving to the United Kingdom to work as a registered dietitian specialising in Oncology and Haemotology, Older people’s health, and long term nutrition support.

In 2013 Maz returned home to further establish her area of interest in older people’s health.  Maz has a passion for working with older people with the aim to improve nutritional adequacy and quality of life.  She also enjoys working with people requiring nutrition support and weight management advice.

Maz currently provides clinical dietetic services to a variety of residential care facilities including; rest homes, long term hospitals, community based homes and ACC clients.  Maz also runs dietary consultations at Papanui Medical Centre which clients can self refer or be referred by their GP. As well this, Maz enjoys taking education sessions for corporate wellness and to the general public on a variety of relevant topics.

Arna McLeod

Arna McLeod has worked as a dietitian specialising in food service for over 7 years, and has extensive experience in a number of fields. She sees her role as the link between clinical and foodservice staff, and prides herself on helping to develop practical solutions that meet nutritional requirements,  but more importantly taste great.

Arna’s experience includes working as a food service manager managing staff and suppliers, as well as years of experience with writing menus, auditing, food quality, food safety, therapeutic diets (including IDDSI and allergies), and foodservice software solutions.

Arna is able to offer a wide range of services for reviewing, auditing and writing customized menus for a wide range of facilities including rest homes, hospitals, community homes and residential schools. 

As a trained assessor for NZQA, Arna is able to assess students on related unit standards.  She can offer services with your Food control plan including training, internal auditing, validating processes and problem solving.

As an avid adventure racer and a former representative hockey and rugby player, Arna has a strong interest in nutrition and performance. When she is not working in Foodservice, Arna works alongside athletes to help them reach their performance goals.