ADSA Executive Committee
2023-2025
MARIA VAN DER MERWE
President
Directs, manages and guides the Association, oversees all its activities on a strategic level and builds strategic partnerships.
About Me
JESSICA BYRNE
Chief Operating Officer
Supports the President with the management of the Association as a member of the management committee. Coordinates internal communication with members via the weekly email bulletin and quarterly newsletters. Attend meetings on behalf of ADSA and assists all executive portfolios as and when required.
About Me
REON VAN AARDT
Treasury
Responsible for managing ADSA’s budget and overseeing the effective administration of the finances of the Association. Supports the President as member of the management committee.
About Me
JANKE DRAPER
Member Relations
Assists with organisational tasks for the Executive Committee and supports the president as member of the management committee. Manages membership applications and coordinates member benefits. Liaises with members and non-members to establish needs to enhance membership benefits.
About Me
CARLA GERRYTS
Private Practicing Dietitians (PPD)
Manages all professional issues relating private practising dietitians, including liaison with funders, communicating regulatory and other guidance, and provides assistance to dietitians on issues they may experience in private practice.
About Me
PHILNA NEETHLING
Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
Manages the accreditation of CPD events and online activities to create opportunities for continued education and upskilling of dietitians. Acts as liaison between the executive committee and branch chairpersons, supporting the coordination and management of ADSA branches.
About Me
NIRESHNEE REDDY
Public Sector Dietitians (PSD)
Establishes a support network and line of communication between dietitians in the public sector and ADSA, and communicates relevant developments in the public sector to ADSA members.
About Me
Elske Rich
Public Relations
Handles all aspects related to public relations, including planning and implementing nutrition and health-related awareness days. Primary tact person for input into media content, monitoring of nutrition information communicated to the public and creating content to promote the profession in the public space, assisted by a team of spokespeople.
About Me
JANETTA HARBRON
Advocacy and Knowledge Translation
Supports decision making and communication through the collation of high-quality evidence pertaining to the fields of nutrition and dietetics.
Email: advocacy@adsa.org.za
About Me
ESTELLE VENTER
ADSA Learn Manager
Coordinates content and applies learning design for CPD activities for the ADSA Learn platform. Implements and manages all activities on the learner management system. Identifies training needs and requirements of members in collaboration with the CPD portfolio holder. Facilitates training sessions or activities where needed.
Email: adsalearn@adsa.org.za
About Me
Reon qualified at the University of the Free State in 2014. After graduation, he completed his community service year at Rob Ferreira Hospital in Nelspruit, obtaining valuable experience in critical care, internal medicine, paediatrics and surgery. The following year he continued working in a hospital environment and private practice whilst commencing a Master of Science degree in Dietetics, which he finished in 2019 with a research dissertation on professional athletes.
Apart from doing clinical nutrition at the Nelspruit private hospitals, he also does consultations in sport nutrition (being a comrades ultra marathon runner himself), as well as disease specific nutrition and all lifestyle related conditions. Reon served on the Mpumalanga Committee of The Association for Dietetics in South Africa since 2019. Reon has co-authored a published article in the South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2016 – a descriptive cross sectional study which assessed malnutrition in the elderly residing in long-term care facilities. He is currently busy with his second publication.
Maria van der Merwe (M.Nutrition), registered dietitian and nutritionist, is an independent public health and nutrition consultant, with a special interest in health system and policy strengthening. Maria has more than twenty-six years’ experience working in both the public and private health sectors. After serving as provincial manager of the Integrated Nutrition Programme in the Mpumalanga Department of Health for more than a decade, she pursued an independent career focused on her special interests in health policy and system research and strengthening, and a passion for public health nutrition. Maria is an honorary senior researcher within the MRC / Wits Rural Public Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), University of the Witwatersrand and an associate of the Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. In addition to her research work and independent consulting, Maria has a small private dietetics practice in White River in the Mpumalanga Lowveld, affording an opportunity to engage with individual patients, be part of a multi-disciplinary team and keep up to date with development in medical nutrition therapy and private practice management.
I obtained a BSc Dietetics degree at Northwest University (NWU), Potchefstroom Campus in 1992, and a BSc Honours (Dietetics) in 1993; in 1995 I completed the Post-graduate Diploma in Hospital Dietetics at University of Pretoria (UP).
After working as a clinical dietitian in a government hospital in Pretoria for 2 years, I worked for 15 years as a lecturer at the Dietetics department at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU). During this time, I was on and off involved in the ADSA Pretoria branch committee for about 10 years, serving in several portfolios and also as chairlady for 2 terms. Later, I also served on the core ADSA executive committee for 2 terms (2009 – 2011 and 2011 – 2013) in the membership portfolio.
In 2011, I moved to Potchefstroom and started working at the NWU in the Dietetics department, mainly as the internship coordinator of the 4th year Dietetics student, travelling to students at training facilities, evaluating and supporting them and ensuring quality control of the internship training. I also obtained a MSc (Dietetics) in 2014 at the NWU.
From 2010 I also served on the ADSA North West branch committee, on and off for several terms in different portfolios (member relations and treasurer) and also chairlady. I served in the CPD portfolio for the 2019 – 2021 and 2021 – 2023 terms; currently I am the chair lady for ADSA NW branch committee for the 2023 – 2025 term.
I served on the ADSA executive committee in the CPD portfolio for the 2021 – 2023 term. I will continue in this portfolio for the 2023 – 2025 term with added portfolio responsibilities as branch liaison.
I have a special interest in adult and paediatric anthropometry and malnutrition and critical illness. I am passionate about my profession and very grateful to be able to contribute to the training of future colleagues in Dietetics.
Janke Draper has a Master’s degree in dietetics from the University of the Free State and she is a Certified Lactation Consultant in South Africa. She has been practicing as a dietitian since 2013. She completed her community service year at Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital. She is currently employed by the Mpumalanga Department of Health at Standerton Hospital where she mostly works in the paediatric, ante-natal and post-natal ward. She has a special interest in optimal nutrition during the first 1000 days, thus focussing on the pregnant woman and the new-born baby. She is passionate about incorporating science-based principles into a simplified food-based language and supporting her clients towards a healthy relationship with food and how to make lifelong sustainable lifestyle changes.
Estelle is a registered dietitian with a PhD in Dietetics, with a focus on micronutrients during early life. Estelle has a unique skill set and experience as international coordinator of a multi-national collaboration between academic institutions and professional associations, focussed on facilitating continued professional development and strengthening relations between higher education and the wider economic and social environment through the development of an innovative, evidence-based, blended learning programme for health care professionals, with the focus on the first 1000 days of life. She also co-developed an e-learning module, “Optimising micronutrients during the first 1000 days of life”, for this project.
Janetta is a dietitian and graduated with a BSc Dietetics, MSc Nutrition Sciences and PhD degree from Stellenbosch University. She is currently a permanent senior lecturer and member of the Health through Physical Activity and Lifestyle (HPALS) research centre at the University of Cape Town. She has 20 years of teaching, research and leadership experience in the tertiary education sector. Prior to joining UCT in 2009, she lectured in a part-time capacity for 7 years, first at Stellenbosch University and then at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. During her post-graduate studies, she also owned a part-time private practice in Stellenbosch with a focus on sports nutrition, diabetes and gastro-intestinal tract diseases.
At UCT, she lectured and convened the clinical/therapeutic nutrition courses of the Dietetics programme until 2019. She is currently lecturing nutrition to students in medicine and allied health programmes in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT, convenes undergraduate and postgraduate courses and is supervising Masters and PhD students in Nutrition or Dietetics. She regularly acts as external examiner for undergraduate therapeutic nutrition courses and Masters/PhD theses for other universities. Janetta has conducted several research studies with international collaborators, has published over 30 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals and regularly reviews articles for international journals, as well as local grant and ethics applications. She has supervised over 40 Honours, Masters and PhD student research theses to graduation. Her teaching and research focus areas include adolescent health, obesity, diabetes and gestational diabetes, pregnancy nutrition, HIV, sports nutrition and dietary methodology.
Nireshnee is a registered dietitian with a special interest in public health nutrition, dietetics and nutrition advocacy and children’s rights. She completed a BSc. Dietetics degree (UKZN) in 2005 and Master’s in Medical Science (public health) in 2019 (UKZN) and has just over fifteen years’ experience working in both the public health and nutrition industry sectors in the country. After serving as a nutrition liaison officer at the South African Sugar Association for 6 years, she joined the KZN Department of Health in 2013 where she currently serves as the Assistant Director Nutrition. Nireshnee has been the recipient of the ADSA Flora Award in 2010 for contribution to the dietetics profession; and The Wimpfheimer-Guggenheim Fund for International Exchange in Nutrition, Dietetics and Management in 2012. She is passionate about advocating for innovation and diversity in nutrition and dietetics with the objectives of improving nutrition outcomes in the community. She is also currently on the board of directors for the Pietermaritzburg Childrens’ Home in KZN.
Jessica Byrne is a registered dietitian with a Masters degree in Therapeutic Nutrition from Stellenbosch University. Jessica completed her community service year in 2010, working largely in a clinical setting, and has further volunteered her dietetic services in the public sector. Before joining ADSA in the role of Chief Operating Officer, Jessica spent three and a half years at the Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa in the Science and Programme Development department. She has vast experience in public relations and communication, providing up-to-date scientific content for media as well as public awareness and education campaigns, and has worked with the food industry and on local government projects. In her current private practice, Jessica is the dietitian at a step-down physical rehabilitation hospital, assisting patients with feeding, supplementation and appropriate diets to manage their long-term recovery. Jessica has also worked in the ICU and surgical and medical wards of a large private hospital, being responsible for the nutritional management of critically ill patients.
Elske Rich is a private practicing dietitian and part-time lecturer in Bloemfontein. After obtaining her BSc. Dietetics degree at the University of the Free State in 2019, she completed her community service year in the small town of Trompsburg. Here she further developed her love for community nutrition and is currently completing her Masters degree in this field.
Elske is passionate about breaking down complex scientific medical nutrition therapy into everyday guidelines for all individuals. She is currently a lecturer at the University of the Free State and Qualitas Career Academy. Finding herself interested in many fields, she enjoys working with rehab patients, all lifestyle diseases and psychiatric conditions.
She aims to serve ADSA in the Public Relations portfolio with lots of passion and purpose.
Carla Gerryts is part of Petri Fourie Dietitians, a private practice located in Garsfontein, Pretoria. She enjoys working with clients struggling with eating disorders and disordered eating habits promoting gentle nutrition, IBS patients and has a big interest in nutrigenomics and mental health. She has been practicing as a dietitian since 2014.