Megan Bridger

As a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Dietitian, Senior Accredited Nutritionist (SENr graduate registrant), and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), I bring both clinical and real-world expertise to my role teaching MSc Dietetics.

My career path has taken me from an NHS Band 5 dietitian in Acute Respiratory, Surgical, and Elderly Care to a Band 6 Community Dietitian managing complex cases such as Malnutrition, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Weight Management. I also have experience in Neurorehabilitation in Community and Care Home settings, where I worked with patients diagnosed with complex diseases such as Huntington's, Parkinson's, Motor Neurone Disease and Dementia. Alongside teaching, I work as a sports nutritionist for a football academy, where athletes continually challenge and inspire me every day.

A myth I come up against time and time again is that dietitians are the "food police," but that’s just not the reality of our profession. Our job is to translate evolving nutritional science into practical, tailored strategies to support health, manage disease, and help all kinds of clients - from critically ill patients to athletes striving for peak performance.

One thing I’m incredibly proud of in my career is the progress made by our first Dietetics cohort who started their course in February 2024. I aim to be approachable for my students, maintaining an open-door policy as I know how challenging it can be to balance studies and day-to-day life. My advice to students is to embrace every opportunity and start networking early - Dietetics is a small, well-connected industry.

Outside of work, I enjoy long dog walks and exploring new places. Something unexpected about me is that I used to be an Irish dancer!