July 22, 2025
Episode 8 – Transforming Personalised Nutrition Practice: Pathophysiological Reasoning, Systems Biology, and Clinical Nutrition
A conversation with: Dr. Michelle Barrow • Hosted by: Benjamin Brown
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Description:
Dr. Michelle Barrow is transforming personalised nutrition practice through rigorous academic training and the publication of research at the Centre for Nutrition Education & Lifestyle Management (CNELM), where she is Academic Team Director and Clinical Director. A key area of focus in her work is ‘pathophysiological reasoning,’ which builds on systems biology and functional medicine. Dr. Barrow share her personal story, her research, and why she is so passionate about building a better model for healthcare that is evidence-based and personalised with nutritional therapy and lifestyle medicine at its core.
Guest:
Dr. Michelle Barrow

About our guest:
Dr Michelle Barrow, DProf is the Academic Team Director and Clinical Director at CNELM. Her roles also include BSc (hons) Nutritional Science Programme Leader, Institution Link Tutor, Lecturer, and Research Supervisor. Michelle thoroughly enjoys supporting students to achieve their aspirations and goals. Her passion comes from overcoming her own health issues using nutrition. Michelle strives to develop the evidence base to support personalised nutrition practice through her academic work, research supervision, post-doctoral research, and publication. She completed a Doctorate in Professional Studies (DProf) in 2019, titled “Leading transformation in Personalised Nutrition Practice”. Her doctoral research included the construction of clinical tools to enable the development of a new case-by-case evidence base for personalised nutrition practice in obesity management.
Michelle continues to work on the development of robust translational bioinformatics tools, using pathophysiological reasoning and systems biology approaches, as they are key to achieving evidence based personalised nutrition practice. She is published in numerous scientific journals, including Autoimmunity Reviews, Nutrition Reviews and Current Research in Food and Nutrition. Michelle is a Registered Nutritional Therapist and was awarded fellow membership with the British Association of Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) in 2017 for outstanding contribution to the profession.
Guest website and links:
Selection of our guest’s publications:
- Barrow M, Bell L, Bell C. Transforming personalized nutrition practice. Nutr Rev. 2020 Dec 1;78(12):1046-1051.
- Vázquez B, Barrow M, Neil J, Seidler K. Is there a role for nutritional advice during breastfeeding for infant colic relief? A mixed-method study. Heliyon. 2024 Dec 28;11(1):e41562.
- Crabtree D, Seidler K, Barrow M. Pathophysiological mechanisms of gut dysbiosis and food allergy and an investigation of probiotics as an intervention for atopic disease. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2025 Feb;65:189-204.
- Quinones D, Barrow M, Seidler K. Investigating the Impact of Ashwagandha and Meditation on Stress Induced Obesogenic Eating Behaviours. J Am Nutr Assoc. 2025 Jan;44(1):68-88.
- Swallow J, Seidler K, Barrow M. The mechanistic role of curcumin on matrix metalloproteinases in osteoarthritis. Fitoterapia. 2024 Apr;174:105870.