Our Team The following are some of the people who contribute to research at the Anchor Institute. Each is committed to bringing the goodness of Anchor to families around the world.

In addition to the Anchor Institute's research team, we also work with Independent Advisors who are based around the world.

Dr Andrew Saunders, BHortSc (Hons), PhD

Andrew Saunders is Senior Research Technologist in the Food Science Technical Team of Fonterra Brands Innovation, a contributing organisation to the Anchor Institute.

Andrew was born in Brighton, England, but grew up in Edgecumbe, Eastern Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. He graduated with a Bachelor of Horticultural Science (Hons) degree from Massey University in 1987 and then completed a PhD in plant physiology at the same department in 1991. Looking for a change from horticulture, Andrew took up an applied food research position in the Food Technology Research Centre, Massey University, in 1990. This work gave Andrew exposure to all parts of the food industry, with a particular focus on dairy and meat-based foods. He developed a wide range of technical interests, including protein functionality, food hydrocolloids, extrusion cooking and sensory-objective texture relationships.

After 10 years at the FTRC, the last three as Research Manager, Andrew moved to the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute in September 2000 as a Senior Research Technologist. In his time there, Andrew has been heavily involved in product development for Fonterra Brands covering a wide range of powdered consumer products. He is now part of Fonterra Brands Innovation, specialising in food component interactions. He is leading R&D to unravel and utilise interactions between food components to improve consumer dairy products.

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Anne Singh, MSc

Anne Singh is Senior Research Technologist at Fonterra Innovation, a contributing organisation to the Anchor Institute.

Anne began her career as Research Officer in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, where she gained expertise in the area of protein separation and purification. She then moved to Fonterra Innovation, bringing her extensive knowledge of milk proteins to the industry, before transferring her skills to product development in 1999.

Anne has led many product development projects specialising in fortifying milk drinks with additional vitamins, minerals or bioactive components.

Anne holds a Master of Science in Dairy and Food Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Dairy and Food Science, both from University College in Cork, Ireland.

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Aaron Lambert BPhEd, BSc, PGDip(Diet)

Aaron Lambert is Health Platform Manager for Anchor at Fonterra Brands. As part of his role, Aaron is concerned with bringing dairy, health and nutrition direct to consumers - bringing science into the real world!

Aaron takes a leading role in setting research directions at the Anchor Institute. He has conducted research programmes to quantify the iron, folate and vitamin D status among women in Asia, the impact of the diet on women's vitamin and mineral status and the impact of dairy products on child health. He is particularly interested in the impact that good nutrition can have in promoting optimal health growth and development as well as reducing the risk of illness among children and families.

Aaron holds a Bachelor of Physical Education, a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Dietetics all from the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

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Rebecca Cannan, MSc

Rebecca Cannan is Nutrition Research Manager for Anchor at Fonterra Brands.

Rebecca is a registered nutritionist (New Zealand) and has a Master of Science, with a major in human nutrition. She has a key interest in the central role of nutrition in promoting the healthy growth and development of children. Her master's thesis centred on this theme, investigating the relationship between bone mineral density and dietary habits of girls with forearm fractures.

With 5 year's experience at Fonterra Brands, Rebecca has been actively involved in many research programmes. She's worked to help prove the health benefits of Nutri-care™ and Anchor 1+ Growing Up Milk Powder for children, to prove that the unique combination of prebiotics and the probiotic DR10 - conveys protection against common childhood sicknesses, and that the whey protein, Imucare- supports immune health.

Rebecca has co-authored over 20 peer reviewed health publications and two book chapters. These works have covered wide ranging topics including the relationship between dietary calcium intake, bone health and the risk of fracture in young girls, the health of indigenous people undergoing nutritional transition, management of severe obesity and active treatments for liver cancer.

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Koo Pei Fern, BSc (Hons)

Ms Koo is Nutrition Manager and Regional Nutrition Coordinator at Fonterra Brands (Malaysia) heading Malaysia's Nutrition Support Center. With 9 years at Fonterra Brands (Malaysia), she is responsible for new product development as well as providing technical nutrition support to the marketing and new product development team and playing a key role in new product launches. She also acts as a first point of contact in handling nutrition and product enquiries from internal staff and consumers.

In addition to her role in heading the nutrition department of Fonterra Brands Malaysia, she is having a regional role in supporting Fonterra Brands business units of Asia-Middle East regional growth by assisting the Regional Nutrition Manager to provide specialist nutrition and health information to the marketing team and the regional nutrition network. She is responsible for the dissemination of nutrition information among regional nutrition networks to support innovation projects.

As part of her role, Ms Koo is also actively involved in community nutrition education. She has implemented many counseling and training programmes as well as planning and presenting nutrition seminars for the medical profession, hospital patients and the general public.

Ms Koo is a member of the Nutrition Society of Malaysia (NSM) and International Life Science Institute (ILSI) Malaysia Country Committee. In this capacity she has played a leading role in organising nutrition-related seminars and workshops in Malaysia. She is also actively involved in the Malaysian nutrition arena, has contributed to numerous newspaper and magazine articles on nutrition and health issues and has made herself available as a guest speaker on nutrition-focused television programmes.

Ms Koo Pei Fern has a Bachelor's Degree in Nutrition and Community Health from University Putra, Malaysia.

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