Experienced NHS Dietitian with PhD in Public Health offering academic tutoring in nutrition and research methodology for all healthcare profession degrees

Find out more about Clare

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  Nutrition has fascinated me since school and with my interest in humanitarian work, it was an obvious choice. Private tutoring came along as a way of financing my volunteer work.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  Anything medical. Having worked in the NHS for 30 years, anything that can improve patient care is my passion.
  I really enjoy deciphering an assignment brief with a student. Translating that academic gobbledygook into simple English so that they know where to begin. The relief on their faces is the reward.
  Less interesting but crucial is combing through the marking criteria to work out what they need to do to gain those all-important marks. Then there is thrashing out ideas for dissertation research questions and examining different methodology options. It's great to see their progress.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  Statistics is something that I think every student struggles with, so I was very excited to discover Andy Field when I was studying for my Masters. He is a funny lecturer who presents real-life and entertaining examples, making analyses much clearer. I would also recommend his book Discovering Statistics Using SPSS.

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  Being a good reflective listener. Every student views things from a different perspective so you first need to understand where they are coming from.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  Medicine is continually changing (thankfully) so Continual Professional Development is crucial to keep your practice evidence-based.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  Walking my dog, up hills, in the woods, on a beach.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P)?

  I have done it the hard way - undertaking postgraduate studies as a mature student, at the same time as working, with young children, when the stuff we learnt as undergrads was before the computer era, so you have to start from scratch. This means that I can empathise with many of the challenges that the students coming to me face.