SHEPLEY woman Susan Jones has been elected as the new honorary chairman of the British Dietetic Association.
Susan Jones, 44, has worked at Rochdale Infirmary since 1988, where she has seen her department grow from four staff to its present 33-strong team.
Her main clinical interests are obesity and diabetes.
In her current role in Rochdale, her focus is on student training.
She has been involved with the British Dietetic Association (BDA) at a local and national level for 16 years, and most recently held the posts of honorary secretary (1994-1998) and chairman of the professional development committee (2000-2003).
Susan was delighted to be nominated for the role of honorary chairman of the Association.
She said: "My previous involvement with the BDA has been very rewarding and, as you can imagine, I am extremely excited about the new post.
"My work with the BDA has given me a greater insight into issues affecting my profession and allied health professionals in general at a national level.
"I am eager to put my key objectives for the next two years into action.
" I hope these will help me to take the Association forward by helping my professional colleagues to build on services for patients in line with the Government's NHS modernisation agenda."
She added: "I am also looking forward to representing the Association, and playing an active part in promoting nutrition and dietetics as a rewarding career."
Susan's key objectives for her new role as honorary chairman of the BDA include:
* Listening to what the profession wants and planning and developing membership services
* Helping members to understand and work with the Government's modernisation agenda to improve patient care
* Making sure the Association continues to work closely with other organisations in the world of nutrition - such as The Nutrition Society
