Marlena Kruger
Professor
Nutritional Physiology
School of Food and Nutrition
Massey University
Newzealand
Biography
Marlena is an established academic with over 95 peer reviewed publications. She is a world reknowned expert on lipids and bone health. She is also a consultant to Fonterra Brands Singapore Ltd engaging in research development and planning, strategic planning and execution of nutritional trials. Marlena obtained her PhD from the Medical University of South Africa, followed by post-doctoral training firstly at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany, followed by period at University of Texas at Austin, USA specialising in protein purification and identification. She thereafter was appointed as senior lecturer and later associate professor in Physiology at University of Pretoria, South Africa. She migrated to New Zealand in 2000 and established bone and nutrition research at Massey. She became Division leader for Human Nutrition in 2005, and was awarded a personal Chair in the same year. Her main focus in research include dairy foods, bioactives and lipids in bone health.
Research Interest
Marlena's current research focusses on food for maintaining bone and joint health and mobility. She plays a key role in the National Science Challenge High Value Nutrition and she has several international collaborators around the area of food for health and mobility.