Associate Professor

Bio

Dr. Haroun currently works as an Associate Professor in Nutrition at Zayed University and holds a consultancy post at UNICEF where she coordinates the Programs currently implemented in the UAE.

She has previously worked as a Research Project Manager at the School Food Trust in the UK assessing the nutrient standards of food and drink sold at primary and secondary schools in the UK and investigating children's food and drink choices inside and outside school. Prior to that, she worked as a Nutritionist and Project Coordinator at UCL/ICH & Great Ormond Street Hospital in research relating to children's body composition.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

• Research Nutritionist & Study Coordinator, University College London/Institute of Child Health & Great Ormond Street Hospital (September, 2003 - January, 2009), London, United Kingdom.

• Research Project Manager, School Food Trust (June, 2009 - September, 2010), London, United Kingdom.

Office

Dubai Academic City, Dubai Campus/Abu Dhabi Campus, FF2-1-006

Phone:

+971-4-402-17-24

Email:

Teaching Areas

• Principles of Nutrition (HSC205)
• Nutrition Across the Lifespan (HSC 307)
• Medical Nutrition Therapy (HSC 412)
• Senior Project (HSC 491)

Research and Professional Activities

RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES:

• Research interests: obesity, body composition, child health, HIV/AIDS
• Coordinator of UAE Peer Health Educators (joint initiative between UNICEF & Ministry of Health) to help raise awareness on HIV/AIDS across universities in the UAE.

CONSULTANCY & INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE: 

Public Health and Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF Gulf Area Office (2012- date): working on a number of programs including HIV/AIDS, Child Obesity, Bullying, Disability, Child Friendly Cities, Healthy Life-skills.

MEMBERSHIP OF SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:

Nutrition Society UK, UAE Nutrition Group, Public Health Association UK

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• Haroun, D., ElSaleh, O., Wood, L (2016) Dietary and activity habits in adolescents living in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross sectional Study Arab Journal of Nutrition and Exercise. (In Press)
• Haroun, D., ElSaleh, O., Wood, L., Mechli, R., & AlMarzooqi, N. (2016). Assessing Knowledge of, and Attitudes to, HIV/AIDS among university students in the United Arab Emirates. PLoS ONE, 11, 1-11.
• Wells, J., Haroun, D., Williams, J., Nicholls, D., & Darch, T. (2015). Body composition in young female eating disorder patients with severe weight loss and controls: evidence from the four-component model and evaluation of DXA. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 69, 1330-5.
• Montagnese, C., Williams, J., Haroun, D., Siervo, M., Fewtrell, M., Jonathan Wells (2013). Is a single bioelectrical impedance equation valid for children of wide ranges of age, pubertal status and nutritional status? Evidence from the 4-component model. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 67 (1), 34-9.
• Wells, J. C., Williams, J., Chomtho, S., Darch, T., Grijalvo Eternot, C., Kathy Kenndy, Dalia Haroun, Catherine Wilson, Tim Cole, Mary Fewtrell (2012). Body-composition reference data for simple and reference techniques and a 4-component model: a new UK reference child. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 96 (6), 1316-26.
• Croker, H., Viner, R., Nicholls, D., Haroun, D., Chadwick, P., Caroline Edwards Jonathan Wells Jane Wardle (2012). Family-based behavioural treatment of childhood obesity in a UK national health service setting: randomized controlled trial. Obesity, 36 (1), 16-26.
• Wells, J., Haroun, D., Williams, J., Darch, T., Eaton, S., Russel Viner Mary Fewtrell (2011). Evaluation of lean tissue density for use in air displacement plethysmography in obese children and adolescents. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 65 (10), 1094-101.
• Wells, J., Haroun, D., Levene, D., Darch, T., Williams, J., Mary Fewtrell (2011). Prenatal and postnatal programming of body composition in obese children and adolescents: evidence from anthropometry, DXA and the 4-component model. Obesity, 35 (4),534-40.
• Pearce, J., Harper, C., Haroun, D., Wood, L., & Nelson, M. (2011). Short Communication Key differences between school lunches and packed lunches in primary schools in England in 2009. Public Health Nutrition, 14 (8), 1507-10.
• Haroun, D., Wood, L., Harper, C., & Nelson, M. (2011). Nutrient-based standards for school lunches complement food-based standards and improve pupils' nutrient intake profile. British Journal of Nutrition, 106 (4), 472-4.
• Wells, J. C., Williams, J., Chomtho, S., Darch, T., Grijalva-Eternod, C., Kathy Kennedy, Dalia Haroun, Catherine Wilson, Tim Cole, Mary Fewtrell. (2010). Pediatric reference data for lean tissue properties: density and hydration from age 5 to 20 y. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 91 (3), 610-8.
• Wells, J. C., Haroun, D., Williams, J. E., Wilson, C., Darch, T., Russell Viner Simon Eaton Mary Fewtrell (2010). Evaluation of DXA against the four-component model of body composition in obese children and adolescents aged 5-21 years. Obesity, 34 (4), 649-655.
• Haroun, D., Taylor, S. J., Voner, R. M., Hayward, R. S., Darch, T. S., Simon EatOn, Tim Cole, Jonathan Wells (2010). Validation of Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis in adolescents across different ethnic groups. Obesity, 18 (6), 1252-9.
• Haroun, D., Harper, C., Wood, L., & Nelson, M. (2010). The impact of the food-based and nutrient-based standards on lunchtime food and drink provision and consumption in primary schools in England. Public Health Nutrition, 14 (2), 209-18.
• Haroun, D., Croker, H., Viner, R. M., Williams, J. E., Darch, T., Simon Eaton Jonathan CK Wells (2009). Validation of bio-electrical impedance analysis in obese children and adolescents and re-evaluation in a longitudinal study. Obesity, 17 (12), 2245-50.
• Haroun, D., Wells, J., Lau, C., Hadji-Lucas, E., & Lawson, M. (2006). Assessment of obesity status in outpatients from three disease states. Acta Paediatrica, 95 (8), 970-4.
• Haroun, D., Wells, J., Williams, J., Fuller, N., Fewtrell, M., Margaret Lawson (2005). Composition of the fat-free mass in obese and non-obese children: matched case-control analyses. Obesity, 29 (1), 29-36.