Course convenors

Amy Leahy
Doctors For Nutrition Education & Project Support Officer

Amy is a degree-qualified nutritionist with over six years of experience in plant-based health education and clinical practice. She holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Nutritional and Dietetic Medicine and a Master of Public Health.

Amy has developed educational content and resources for a range of plant-based health organisations and corporate wellness programs. She is passionate about creating accessible, engaging, and evidence-informed materials for healthcare professionals and the general public and is a firm believer that confidence in our knowledge of plant-based health and diets makes it easier to make the switch – and to sustain it for the long term.

Dr Luke Wilson 
General Practitioner, Doctors For Nutrition Board Director

Dr Luke Wilson is a General Practitioner from Wellington, New Zealand, is board certified by the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine and is a Fellow of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine. In addition to his medical degree (MBChB, Otago University), Luke holds a bachelor’s and a master’s in psychology. In his final year of medical school, Luke studied and worked in Santa Rosa, California, as an intern for Dr John McDougall at the McDougall Health and Medical Center and also alongside Dr Michael Klaper and Dr Alan Goldhamer at the True North Health Center. After graduation, he worked at Gisborne Hospital and subsequently was co-lead researcher and creator of a community-based lifestyle intervention using whole food plant-based nutrition.

Luke founded Two Zesty Bananas with colleague Dr Matthew Hobbs in 2014. Since then he has co-authored The 21st Century Food Course, completed the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition, worked part-time as a general practitioner, and spoken at events in New Zealand, Australia and the USA. He has experience helping hundreds of people transform their lives by adopting a whole foods plant-based lifestyle, particularly through his work on the BROAD Study.

Elena Schaller
Doctors For Nutrition Education Lead, Pharmacist

Elena trained and practised as a pharmacist (PharmD) for 10 years across clinical and community settings in the US, and completed the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition. She has three years’ experience working with values-aligned not-for-profits, with a focus on translating complex research into practical, accessible education. She is passionate about the intersection of health, sustainability and food-system ethics.

At Doctors For Nutrition, Elena leads education initiatives and fundraising efforts to advocate for the role of evidence-based nutrition in disease prevention and long-term health.

Presenters

Dr Anis Ta’eed
Nephrologist, General Physician

Dr Anis Ta’eed is a nephrologist and general physician (FRACP) from Melbourne, working in Fiji since 2020. There he works as the head of Nephrology in the largest public hospital and serves as the director of the Fiji National Kidney Centre, focusing on improving the health care provided to Fijians with kidney disease. He is also a board-certified lifestyle medicine physician (IBLM) and is passionate about the benefits of whole food plant-based diets for kidney health as well as for overall chronic disease management.

Drew Harrisberg
Exercise Physiologist, Diabetes Education and Management

Drew Harrisberg is an Exercise Physiologist with a post-graduate certificate in Diabetes Education and Management, but more importantly, he is a happy and healthy guy thriving with type 1 diabetes.

After being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 22, Drew made it his mission to regain control of his health by making positive changes to the way that he lives, eats, moves, and the mindset with which he approaches life. Drew has not only accepted living with diabetes but has also learned to manage it so that it doesn’t manage him.

Drew’s media appearances include his inspirational TEDx talk which has been well-received by thousands of people living with diabetes worldwide. He has appeared on popular podcasts such as The Rich Roll Podcast and is a frequent guest on Simon Hill’s The Proof Podcast’. He also has numerous TV appearances. Drew has been featured in many print and online publications such as Men’s Health and Women’s Health.

He is also an ambassador for notable diabetes organisations such as Diabetes Australia, The DANII Foundation, and Breakthrough T1D.

Drew is the co-founder of Drew’s Daily Dose Insulin Pen Needles, a government-subsidised pharmaceutical product on the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS).