Scientific Director

Shirin Panahi, PhD

Dr. Shirin Panahi is the Scientific Director at the Canadian Nutrition Society (CNS) where she provides scientific leadership and guidance for programs and educational initiatives offered by CNS. Shirin oversees and supports the Trainee Leadership and Education Committees and also serves on the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group. She is also involved in directing trainee programs, trainee recruitment and supervision and the development and supervision of knowledge translation work.
 

In addition to her work at CNS, she is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval. Her research is primarily focused on exploring the effects of diet and its components on appetite control, metabolic health and lifestyle factors in the prevention and management of obesity. Recently, she has developed an interest in the promotion of healthy lifestyles through university health promotion programs and knowledge translation work.
 

She is a past recipient of postdoctoral fellowships from Diabetes Canada and Mitacs Accelerate at Université Laval and received her BSc, MSc and PhD in nutritional sciences from the University of Toronto. Shirin was also the recipient of the CNS Gordon F. Mutch Young Investigator Award in Diabetes Research (2013) and CIHR-INMD/CNS Postdoctoral Partnership Prize (2017). Her work has led to over 40 publications (Google Scholar), various book chapters, more than 45 abstracts and presentations and knowledge translation work including the development of infographics and resource documents (e.g. Protein Foods Resources) at CNS.