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ASOProf Nicola Heslehurst — no licensed photograph is available, so the academic plate is shown instead.

Academic

Prof Nicola Heslehurst

Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition; President, Association for the Study of Obesity, Association for the Study of Obesity / Newcastle University

Association for the Study of Obesity / Newcastle University is based in Loughborough — the organisation’s base, not a personal address.

Press citations

1

Topic

1

Hospital discharge / bed-blocking

Last quoted

Aug 2026

Prof Nicola Heslehurst: key facts

Kind of voice
Academic
Role
Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition; President, Association for the Study of Obesity
Organisation
Association for the Study of Obesity / Newcastle University
Organisation based in
Loughborough
Quoted on
Hospital discharge / bed-blocking
Tracked press citations
1
Most recently quoted
27 Aug 2026

Who Prof Nicola Heslehurst is

Prof Nicola Heslehurst is Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition at Newcastle University's Population Health Sciences Institute and serves as President of the Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO), the UK's foremost charitable body dedicated to the understanding, prevention and treatment of obesity. Her research focuses on nutritional inequalities across the preconception, pregnancy, postnatal and early childhood periods, with ongoing programmes covering maternal obesity, food insecurity in pregnancy, and pregnancy following bariatric surgery. She has held two NIHR Fellowships: one exploring implementation of pregnancy weight management guidelines in routine practice, and one examining maternal adiposity risk prediction. She was first elected to the ASO Board of Trustees in 2014, led the local organising committee for the UK Congress on Obesity in 2018, and has also served as UK National President for the European Association for the Study of Obesity and World Obesity. In public debate she has called for long-term investment, equitable access to evidence-based obesity treatment, and coordinated action across systems to address the structural drivers of obesity.

“postcode lottery of access to obesity care”

References for this biography

  1. 1.Nicola Heslehurst — REALIFE, KU Leuven speaker profile — Establishes professorial title, research focus, two NIHR Fellowships, and ASO/EASO/World Obesity presidential roles
  2. 2.Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) — World Obesity Federation member page — Confirms Nicola Heslehurst as ASO President
  3. 3.Association for the Study of Obesity — homepage — Confirms Prof Heslehurst as ASO President in current news items
  4. 4.Contact us — Association for the Study of Obesity — Establishes ASO registered office address: 4 Bank Court, Weldon Road, Loughborough, LE11 5RF
  5. 5.Staff Profile — Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University — Establishes institutional affiliation and NIHR fellowship grant details including value and date
  6. 6.New Trustee Chair of Association for the Study of Obesity — Newcastle University Press Office — Confirms first elected to ASO Board of Trustees in 2014; appointment as Chair of Trustees in 2022
  7. 7.ASO's 5th annual UK Congress on Obesity 2018 — NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau — Confirms Heslehurst led UKCO 2018 local organising committee; greatest delegate and abstract numbers to date
  8. 8.OHA Statement – Healthy Food Revolution to Tackle Obesity Epidemic, June 2025 — Evidences Heslehurst quoted in press as ASO President on obesity policy; confirms presidential title in 2025
  9. 9.SHAPES Research Team — Newcastle University — Confirms professorial title, institutional email address, and Twitter handle @NHeslehurst

Notable achievements

  • Secured NIHR Career Development Fellowship worth £867,956 (January 2019) to research adiposity risk prediction in NHS maternity services Source ↗
  • Led the local organising committee for UKCO 2018 (ASO's annual UK Congress on Obesity), hosted at Newcastle University, which attracted the greatest number of delegates and abstract submissions to that date Source ↗
  • Appointed President of the Association for the Study of Obesity, having first been elected to its Board of Trustees in 2014 Source ↗
  • Named UK National President for the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and World Obesity Source ↗

Where Prof Nicola Heslehurst has been quoted

  1. Thousands in England unable to access weight loss jabs via GP, figures revealtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Related media coverage

Recent UK press coverage of their topics — not necessarily citing them directly.

Contact & links

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.

Professors, researchers and think-tank analysts quoted on the strength of their research rather than a clinical role. Citations are counted by an automated scan of UK press coverage and may be incomplete. Roles, biographies and contact details are researched and human-reviewed before they appear here; anything not yet reviewed is simply absent rather than shown unverified. This profile was last updated on 5 Oct 2026. See the methodology for how this page is built, or email contact@bridgeheadcommunications.com to correct anything on it.