Adrienne Young

Dr. Adrienne Young is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Services Research, University of Queensland, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences, and also serves as Research Coordinator in Nutrition and Dietetics at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Her research is dedicated to improving nutrition care in hospitals, particularly for older inpatients, to prevent complications and optimize recovery.

• University: University of Queensland
• School: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
• Department: Centre for Health Services Research
• Position: Senior Research Fellow

Dr. Young holds a PhD and Bachelor (Honours) in Nutrition and Dietetics from Queensland University of Technology. Her research program integrates observational, qualitative, and implementation science methodologies to address malnutrition, frailty, delirium prevention, and person-centred care in hospital settings.

Her research interests include implementation science, clinical nutrition, geriatrics, consumer engagement, and knowledge translation. She has developed and evaluated interventions such as the Eat component of the Eat Walk Engage program, which contributed to a 40% reduction in delirium incidence and has been implemented across Queensland hospitals.

Her recent publications (2024–2025) focus on therapeutic mealtimes, person-centred nutrition, consumer engagement, frailty, malnutrition terminology, and digital health applications. These works reflect a strong trend toward patient-centered, system-level interventions supported by qualitative and implementation research.

Scientific awards include:

• Barbara Chester Memorial Award
• Young Achiever Award (Dietitians Association of Australia, 2014)
• New Researcher Award (International Congress of Dietetics, 2012)
• Research in Practice awards at Dietitians Australia conferences

Dr. Young is a passionate supervisor and mentor, having completed 3 PhD supervisions and currently guiding 6 research higher degree candidates, 4 early career fellows, and nearly 40 honours students. She has led major initiatives such as the Allied Health Translating Research into Practice (AH-TRIP) program and co-developed a publicly available co-design framework for Metro North Health. Her research has influenced 6 international guidelines and 12 policy documents, demonstrating significant translational impact.

She is actively involved in labs and teams focused on:

• Centre for Health Services Research (UQ)
• Metro North Health co-design initiatives
• Australian Frailty Network
• Allied Health Translating Research into Practice (AH-TRIP)
• CHERISH trial (delirium prevention)
• Electronic Frailty Index implementation