Clare is currently a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Newcastle. She was awarded her PhD in 1999 for research examining appetite and nutritional status in young people with cystic fibrosis. Currently her main research activity is in examining food intake in children today and how it contributes to the obesity epidemic. She lectures in Research Methods & Statistics and Paediatric Nutrition and Dietetics and supervises many undergraduate projects and research higher degree students.
She is an active member of the Dietitians Association of Australia and chaired the development of the Best Practice Dietetic Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity for Adults. She has also been a Council member for the Australasian Society for the Study of Obesity for the past 4 years. She has co- authored a book on weight loss for adults; Worthington J, Fletcher A, Collins C, The Doona Diet – Sleep yourself Slim, Penguin Books Australia, 2005 and with fellow Accredited Practicing Dietitians has developed a patented portion control tool, the TEMplate Systemä, for weight loss. Clare is also well known around Australia and within DAA as a media spokesperson and commentator on nutrition.