Your Dietitian
Dr Jen Carroll PhD RD FHEA
Founder and Consultant Ketogenic Dietitian, Honorary Research Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at University of Plymouth, UK.
HCPC & CORU Registered and a member of the British Dietetic Association and Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute.
I am a registered dietitian with a BSc (Hons) in Nutritional Sciences, PgCert in Behaviour Change and Communication Skills, MSc in Dietetics, and PhD in Ketogenic Diet Therapy Outcomes.
Since graduating from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh in 2008, I have worked with ketogenic diet therapies throughout my career in both a clinical and research capacity. Firstly, in acute hospitals specialising in paediatric dietetics and ketogenic diet therapies and then academia, as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Nottingham and the University of Plymouth.
As a senior specialist paediatric ketogenic dietitian at the University Hospitals of Leicester, I redesigned and led the KD service, providing a bespoke service for children with drug resistant epilepsy and metabolic disorders. Now, I support both children and adults to undertake ketogenic diet therapy in my private practice.
Just as important as my credentials…I care about you and your family.
I am particularly passionate about supporting patients and families to undertake KD therapy confidently and helping them to achieve the best possible outcomes. We go on this keto journey together!
It is vital that we measure outcomes relating to seizure control and side effects to monitor the success and safety of KD therapy. However, parents often report that: ‘they have got their child back’ through improvements in cognition, behaviour, overall well-being, and quality of life, which leads to positive outcomes for the wider family. These functional health outcomes are important to families but rarely explored in published studies. This motivated me to undertake a PhD exploring the outcomes of importance to families and health professionals in childhood epilepsy, entitled ‘Core Outcomes for Refractory childhood Epilepsy treated with Ketogenic Diet Therapy’ (The CORE-KDT study).
A core outcome set for childhood epilepsy treated with KD therapy has been developed, incorporating the views of international parents and professionals. Implementation in research and keto clinics will help to standardise outcomes and ensure the measured outcomes are relevant to parents, their child, researchers and health professionals. I have published many papers and articles sharing the outcomes of the study which you can read here.
I support nutrition and health related brands to achieve their company goals informed by evidence-based research together with industry and clinical practice trends. I teach and mentor undergraduate dietetic students and clinical keto colleagues through a range of programmes.
I also collaborate on various research projects with colleagues in the Ketogenic Dietitians Research Network where I served as a co-publicist for a number of years. I am a serving member of the Matthew’s Friends International Medical Advisory Board and the Research Officer for the Paediatric Specialist Group of the British Dietetic Association.
