Cristina Cleghorn

Christine Liana Cleghorn, known as Cristina Cleghorn, is a New Zealand public health and nutrition researcher, and as of 2023 is an academic at the University of Otago in the Department of Public Health.

Academic career
Cleghorn studied at the University of Otago, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2000, and a Master of Science degree with distinction in human nutrition in 2002.

After a research assistantship at the University of Otago's Department of Human Nutrition, Cleghorn entered a PhD programme at Leeds University's School of Food Science and Nutrition in 2009, graduating with a 2014 thesis titled Relationships between agrobiodiversity, dietary diversity and nutritional status in Tanzania. She then joined the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago as a nutrition researcher.

Cleghorn's research is focussed on the prevention of chronic disease though diet (ideally sustainable diets), exercise, and reducing tobacco use. She has studied the greenhouse gas emissions of New Zealand dietary interventions, and modelled the effect of replacing meat with alternative protein sources. She leads a project on a sustainable diet for New Zealand health and the climate, funded by Healthier Lives National Science Challenge. Her work on the quantification of greenhouse gases began with the Burden of Disease Epidemiology, Equity and Cost-Effectiveness Programme (BODE3), and continued with the Simulation Health Modelling Network (SiHMNet), where she is a senior research fellow.