Born in Iran, Behnoush Ahranjani is a PhD student in the final year of her studies at The University of Birmingham. She graduated from a renowned girls’ school in Tehran in 1990, and completed her first degree in Nutritional Sciences in the most prestigious Faculty of Nutritional Sciences and Food Technologies in Iran. Behnoush then worked as junior researcher before completing her second degree in Public Health Nutrition in Tehran University in 1999. Since then, she has worked in the field of obesity epidemiology at the National Nutrition Institute in Tehran, leading to her starting her PhD in Public Health and Epidemiology in 2006 at The University of Birmingham. Behnoush’s thesis is about the prevention of childhood obesity, based on extensive fieldwork undertaken in Iran. Behnoush has published a number of scientific papers and presented findings from her research at various international conferences.
Behnoush has a scholarship from the Healthier Weight Centre to help in evaluating the factors associated with success of gastric banding carried out in the Centre. This work is being undertaken as a project, with some direction from her University supervisor. Behnoush has been working with the Healthier Weight Team since last December and has enjoyed taking her area of work and interest from early prevention to the management and treatment of obesity. She hopes to publish the findings from this project in scientific journals and conferences, to help inform and improve treatment services even further.
