Specialist Spotlights

On this page is a series of #SpecialistSpotlight profiles. We are sharing these across our social media pages; Facebook, Instagram, X and LinkedIn for Feeding Tube Awareness Week to acknowledge their important work and highlight research in the area of tube feeding.
We thank these specialists for their dedication to the tube-feeding community and for helping to raise awareness and understanding about tube feeding among health professionals and the community at large.
Lina Breik - Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian
Children’s Nursing Queensland - Clinical Nurse Consultants and Registered Stomal Therapists
Associate Professor Vincent Ho - Academic Gastroenterologist
Andriana Korai - Accredited Practising Dietitian
Associate Professor Usha Krishnan - Paediatric Gastroenterologist
Dr Sarah Leadley - Registered Psychologist and Behaviour Analyst
Dr Emily Lively - Speech Pathologist
Oral Health Home - Oral Health Therapists
Claire Reilly - Paediatric Dietitian and Researcher
SUCCEED Child Feeding Alliance
Dr Tessa Taylor - Clinical Psychologist and Behaviour Analyst
Carly Veness - Speech Pathologist and IBCLC

Lina Breik

Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian
Lina Breik, an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian, is the Founding Lead of Tube Dietitian, a community-based nutrition care business specialising in home tube feeding. Since its establishment in 2020, Tube Dietitian has been a registered NDIS provider, supporting individuals and their families with expert guidance. Lina is deeply passionate about bridging the gap between hospital and home care for adults with feeding tubes. Her human-centered approach highlights the social and emotional dimensions of tube feeding, prioritising clients' dignity and well-being. Currently pursuing a PhD focused on home tube feeding, Lina is committed to advancing research and practice in this essential area of nutrition. She is also the author of two books on home tube feeding, available on the Tube Dietitian website and on Amazon Australia, offering valuable insights and practical advice for both professionals and clients. Stay informed with the latest tips, news, and resources in the world of home tube feeding from Tube Dietitian by subscribing to the Pump e-Newsletter. Recent published work:

Children’s Nursing Queensland

Clinical Nurse Consultants and Registered Stomal Therapists
Children’s Nursing Queensland was formed in 2022 with the aim to support children with complex needs in the community, and to minimise unnecessary hospital visits. Natalie and Lisa are both clinical nurse consultants and registered stomal therapists, with extensive experience in supporting children with complex needs. Children’s Nursing Queensland offers specialist nursing service to facilitate safety and inclusion for all children. Children’s Nursing Queensland offers care, assessment, and management of:
  • Bowel and bladder stomas including MACEs, chaits and Mitrofanoff’s
  • Complex and chronic wound care including pressure injury management
  • Tube feeding stomas and tubes including gastrostomies, jejunostomies and nasogastric tubes
  • Complex continence needs including assessment, product recommendations and strategies
Natalie Gentile
Lisa Gyselman
After initially completing a Bachelor of Social Science with a major in sociology, Natalie’s passion for social justice closely aligns with her desire to help all patients and families to receive appropriate and compassionate health care. Since commencing her nursing career in 2015, Natalie has worked exclusively in paediatrics, is a registered Stomal Therapist and has extensive experience with surgical, stomal, urological and burns patients.
Lisa started her career in paediatric nursing in 2012 and has worked with children with a variety of complex care needs. Her experience in spinal cord injury, brain injury, complex surgical care and continence nursing leaves her with a holistic approach to caring for children and their families. Lisa holds a Masters in Advance Practice Nursing and has shared her knowledge and skill in paediatric nursing care at the Spinal Injury Nurse Association annual conference on several occasions.
Publications:

Associate Professor Vincent Ho

Academic Gastroenterologist
Associate Professor Vincent Ho is an academic gastroenterologist at the School of Medicine, Western Sydney University with appointments at Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals in Sydney, Australia. Vincent graduated from Medicine in 2002 from the University of New South Wales and went on to specialise in gastroenterology in Queensland before returning to take up a Lecturer in Medicine position at the School of Medicine, Western Sydney University in 2011. He leads a Translational Gastroenterology Research program at the School of Medicine focusing on basic science and clinical research in the gut. Vincent has a strong passion in education of the science of the gut to health discipline audiences as well as the general public. Vincent is the gastroenterology education content convenor for the School of Medicine, has written extensively for The Conversation (over 9.5 million views) and has been interviewed on radio, television and newspapers. He has created a successful gastroenterology YouTube channel titled the GutDr which has over 168,000 subscribers. Vincent has a special interest in the linkage between allergic conditions and the gut, and in 2020 released a book titled “The Healthy Baby Gut Guide” which explores the interaction between kids’ allergies and the gut. His current research interests include eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) and coeliac disease. He is a key contact in Sydney for participants wishing to be part of clinical trials in EoE. Vincent has expertise with gastroparesis and was part of a recent international working group formulating a consensus statement on gastroparesis. Vincent is experienced with enteral feeding and works closely with dietitians to optimise feeding for his patients.

Andriana Korai

Accredited Practising Dietitian
Andriana is an Accredited Practising Dietitian with varied experience spanning clinical and research work across hospital and community dietetics. In 2022 she started a PhD interested in exploring person-centred care in dietetics and the use of patient-reported measures to demonstrate the value of services provided. With a clinical interest in home tube feeding, after learning about the variations in services provided across Australia and the overall scarcity of research on the topic, she decided to focus her work on home tube feeding in adults. Andriana hopes to showcase through her research the adult experience of receiving tube feeding at home and the type of support consumers need from clinicians, while exploring how these findings can inform development of a suitable patient-reported measure that fits within the current Australian healthcare system. A recent article by Andriana was published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition titled “A systematic review and quality appraisal of guidelines and recommendations for home enteral tube feeding in adults”. Andriana is seeking adults who would like to speak about their experience of receiving tube feeding at home in Australia as part of her current research at The University of Sydney. Find out more here.

Associate Professor Usha Krishnan

Paediatric Gastroenterologist
Associate Professor Usha Krishnan is a Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Sydney Children’s Hospital (SCH), Randwick, Sydney, Australia. She is also the Director of Motility Services and the Oesophageal Atresia (OA) services at the hospital. SCH, Randwick, has the only dedicated multidisciplinary clinic for OA patients in Australia. She is also an Associate Professor in the School of Women’s and Children’s Health at University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. She graduated from Madras Medical College, in India and completed her speciality (Paediatrics) and sub-speciality (Paediatric Gastroenterology) training in Sydney, Australia. She is the only Australian on the steering committee of the International Network on Esophageal Atresia (INoEA). She organised the fourth international conference on OA in Sydney in 2016. She was the first author of the international guidelines on the management of gastrointestinal and nutritional complications in children with OA.
She was the lead author in the recently published international consensus guidelines on transition for OA patients. She described the increased prevalence of Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) in children with OA for the first time in literature in 2014, and since then has extensively published on the topic. Awareness and early detection of EoE in this cohort has led to a reduction in stricture incidence and improved symptoms and quality of life of OA patients. She is also on the working group for Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders of the European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN). She has received the ESPGHAN networking grant and is currently involved in an international multicentre study studying EoE in OA patients. She also received a GESA grant to set up an Australian-New Zealand nationwide paediatric EoE/EGID Registry. Dr Krishnan has extensively published in high impact journals and regularly presents in prestigious national and international conferences. She has extensive research experience in motility, aerodigestive and eosinophilic disorders including OA, EoE and GORD. Dr Krishnan was a reviewer of the Medikidz 'Understanding Home Enteral Nutrition' comic book. She was one of the co-editors of an eBook on OA and published a comic book using superheroes explaining the condition for children with OA titled ‘Understanding Oesophageal Atresia’. Recent publications:

Dr Sarah Leadley

Registered Psychologist and Behaviour Analyst
Dr Sarah Leadley is a Registered Psychologist and Behaviour Analyst (BCBA). For over 15 years, she has provided behavioural services in homes and schools for children and young people with and without disabilities. Sarah is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland and supervises students training in psychology (Behaviour analysis). Sarah’s research currently focuses on providing intensive home-based interventions to children with tube dependency (Ready to Eat study), with funding from the NZ Health Research Council. Sarah is also a mother to two young children who keep her super busy!
Connect with Dr Sarah Leadley through All You Can Eat.
Find tube feeding information and resources from KidsHealth here. Publications:

Dr Emily Lively

Speech Pathologist
Emily has worked within paediatric Speech Pathology since 2000. Over the last 22 years she has specialised in infant and paediatric feeding difficulties, working at both hospital and community clinic settings in country South Australia, the United Kingdom and metropolitan Adelaide. Emily is the Founding Director of Lively Eaters - a truly interdisciplinary centre that specialises in supporting children with eating, drinking and/or mealtime difficulties and their families. Emily’s clinical area of expertise lies in supporting non-oral children (tube-fed) to learn to eat and drink within their capabilities. Emily has published peer-reviewed papers on international approaches to tube weaning, predictive clinical factors for successful tube weaning and the lived experience of parents as they support their tube-fed child to learn to eat and drink. Emily’s research has led her to develop evidence-based principles for successful tube weaning that are currently being peer-reviewed. In her role as a clinician-researcher, Emily has peer-reviewed many feeding-related research articles. She provides regular training workshops to parents and health professionals, has lectured in Paediatric Feeding at Flinders University and the University of Queensland and has presented at a range of national and international conferences and workshops.
In addition, Emily extensively supports neuro-divergent children, those with developmental delays and complex feeding relationships within the context of holistic, family-centred feeding therapy. Emily and her team of Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists, Dietitians, Infant Mental Health therapists and paediatrician develop functional and enjoyable mealtimes and feeding partnerships for children and their families Australia-wide and internationally via the unique Lively Eaters intensive, residential, family-centred feeding therapy program. Emily strongly believes feeding alone cannot be assessed or addressed without looking at the complex interaction between environment, behaviour, medical, sensory, motor, emotional and developmental skills of a child and their greater family. It is from this family-focused foundation that she continues to be moved by the dedication of the families she works with and the life-changing mealtime improvements that families strive so hard to achieve.
Emily’s clinical expertise and passion led her to co-found WHOLE Enteral – Australia’s first wholefood formulated meal-replacement tube feeding formula. Enrich, was launched into the market in 2022 and over 2024 has undergone packaging improvements and re-formulation to remain at the forefront of allergy standards and regulations. Emily is excited that the new and improved product will be available from mid-2025 as it is so rewarding and fulfilling to improve daily mealtimes for tube-fed adults and children.
Connect with Emily Lively through Lively Eaters. Find out more about WHOLE Enteral here. During FTAW 2022 Virtual Education Program, Dr Emily Lively, presented her research on and experience in weaning children from tube feeding, incorporating international practises, factors influencing success and parents' experiences. You can watch the video recording here. Publications:

Oral Health Home

Oral Health Therapists
Leigh and Carol are two friendly oral health therapists (also known as dental hygienist / therapist) with more than 45 years of clinical experience between them. They are experts in providing early intervention oral care to high-risk families. Oral Health Home is their new allied health service focusing on special needs children and preventing dental diseases. Oral Health Matters for Individuals with Feeding Tubes Maintaining good oral hygiene is still essential even if someone doesn’t eat or drink orally. For individuals with feeding tubes, saliva and bacteria continue to accumulate in the mouth, creating a risk for:
  • Plaque buildup
  • Gum infections like gingivitis
  • Bad breath
  • Aspiration pneumonia, as bacteria from the mouth can travel to the lungs
Caregivers can support oral health by:
  • Daily brushing: Clean teeth, gums, and tongue at least twice a day using a soft-bristled toothbrush.
  • Moisturise the mouth: Use alcohol-free mouth rinses or sprays to prevent dryness.
  • Regular checkups: Schedule dental visits to monitor oral health.
  • Don’t forget the lips: Keep lips hydrated to prevent cracking.
A clean, healthy mouth improves comfort, overall health, and quality of life. Let’s spread awareness and support our loved ones with feeding tubes by prioritizing their oral health. Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact Carol or Leigh directly or through Facebook.
Dr Carol Tran
Carol Tran graduated with a Bachelor of Oral Health at the University of Melbourne and completed her PhD at UQ. She held a Medical/Dental NHM&RC scholarship and was awarded multiple research grants. Carol has worked across public, private, general and specialist health practices in Victoria and Queensland for more than 15 years.
Leigh Harrison-Barry
Leigh has been an oral health therapist for over 30 years working across a variety of settings in both government and non-government organizations. Her experience has included a portfolio of human resource management, public health and health promotion, community engagement and research. Leigh led several studies on high-risk populations and factors associated with dental caries.

Claire Reilly

Paediatric Dietitian and Researcher
With two decades of clinical experience, Claire is a dedicated paediatric dietitian and researcher specialising in tube feeding. Her PhD research focuses on improving the management of children with feeding tubes, aiming to enhance clinical care and family outcomes. She is the winner of The University of Queensland’s 2024 3MT (three minute thesis) competition and recently received the global U21 Highly Commended award. Committed to driving positive change, Claire regularly presents her research at international conferences and publishes her research in top-tier international journals. Claire is the co-chair of the Australasian Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (AuSPEN) Blended Tube Feeding Committee and is pleased to share these seven new resources that are freely available to use. Recent publications:

SUCCEED Child Feeding Alliance

SUCCEED is a registered national not-for-profit charity run by a Board of parents, clinicians and researchers. SUCCEED has a focus on researching and sharing gold-standard feeding tube practices, to create a world where children with feeding difficulties, especially those who tube feed, thrive.
In 2025-2026 SUCCEED is working to create resources and support especially for the early days of tube feeding, to help that initial transition from hospital to home be as smooth and positive as possible.
Dr Chris Elliot
Dr Chris Elliot is a General and Developmental Paediatrician. He works in a Multidisciplinary Paediatric Feeding Clinic in Sydney and is a co-founder of the SUCCEED Child Feeding Alliance. SUCCEED works with families, clinicians and researchers to create a world where all children who tube feed can thrive.
Publications:
Professor Nick Hopwood
Dr Hopwood is Professor of Education at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) School of International Studies & Education, and Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). He has over a decade of experience researching services that support parents of young children and has been a co-leader of the SUCCEED Study since its inception.
Professor Ann Dadich
Professor Ann Dadich is a registered psychologist and pursues a research program on health service management. In particular, she advances scholarship on knowledge translation – that is, the processes through which different knowledges inform how we feel, think, and behave – as well as brilliant care – that is, care that exceeds expectation. Her expertise is demonstrated by her publishing record; the research grants she has secured; her editorial appointments with academic journals; and the awards she has received. Given her expertise, Professor Dadich is the Deputy Director of the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE) Knowledge Translation Platform; she co-chairs the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Health Management and Organisation (HMO) Conference Stream; and she co-convenes the ANZAM HMO Special Interest Group. Additionally, Prof. Dadich supervises doctoral candidates and teaches undergraduate units on change management, innovation, creativity, and organisational behaviour.

Dr Tessa Taylor

Clinical Psychologist and Behaviour Analyst
After completing her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine/Kennedy Krieger Institute, Dr. Tessa Taylor (clin psyc) remained on as a faculty in the Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program. This programme is the original and largest, and one of the few interdisciplinary behaviour-analytic programmes of its kind; serving the most severe and complex children from all over the world. She also interned on the Neurobehavioral Inpatient Unit (NBU-IP) for severe problem behaviour (e.g., pica, self-injury). Dr. Taylor’s (clin psyc) highly unique training and expertise in paediatric feeding disorders and severe problem behaviour grants her the ability to support the full spectrum of complexity and severity of feeding difficulties. She founded Paediatric Feeding International in 2015. Dr. Taylor (clin psyc) is a Doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D). She obtained her Master’s degree in 2001 from Southeastern Louisiana University and her PhD in clinical psychology in 2010 from Louisiana State University, USA. She is a registered clinical psychologist in Australia and a former licensed clinical psychologist in the USA. She is a board approved supervisor for both behaviour analysis and psychology, and a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society (MAPS) College of Clinical Psychologists (FCCLP).
She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed research publications and 3 book chapters, and has nearly 70 professional presentations and posters internationally (USA, Australia, Japan, Italy, France, Greece, Maldives, Ireland, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Bali Indonesia, Puerto Rico). In the past, she served as the Consortium Initiative Coordinator for the Association for Behavior Analysis International’s (ABAI) Pediatric Feeding Disorders Special Interest Group and was the President of the Association for Behaviour Analysis Australia (ABA Australia). She is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the University of Canterbury | Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Christchurch, New Zealand in the Department of Psychology, Speech & Hearing | Te Kura Mahi ā-Hirikapo and School of Health Sciences | Te Kura Mātai Hauora. Dr. Taylor (clin psyc) has 25 years of experience spanning a variety of ages (from toddlers to older adults), settings (homes, schools, group homes, developmental centres, hospitals, outpatient clinics), conditions (e.g., complex neurological, medical, and genetic conditions), and interdisciplinary team coordination areas (psychiatry, paediatrics, gastroenterology, allergy, dietetics, social work, speech therapy, occupational therapy, child life, education). For over 5 years, Dr. Taylor worked solely on intensive (e.g., 8 week hospitalisations) applied behaviour-analytic feeding treatment in a hospital setting with children ages 1 to 12 with a wide variety of complex developmental and medical diagnoses and concerns (e.g., autism, cerebral palsy, allergies, prematurity, Down syndrome, glycogen storage disease, tube dependence). She also provided services in the developmental playroom for outside of meal concerns (e.g., sleep, toileting, compliance, rumination, pica, aggression) and increasing adaptive skills (communication, social skills), and ran a caregiver behavioural support group. Dr. Taylor supervised therapists, master’s level behaviour analysis students, predoctoral interns, postdoctoral fellows, and provisional psychologists, and conducted both group and single-subject research. She has exceptionally strong research skills, particularly in methodology and statistical design and analysis, and in both group and single-case experimental designs and has provided consulting on statistics and grants for physicians and behaviour analysts. Publications:

Carly Veness

Speech Pathologist and IBCLC
As a Speech Pathologist, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and a parent, Carly Veness has spent most of the 20+ years of her practice walking alongside children, families and therapists navigating complex feeding challenges.
Carly has a postgraduate qualification in infant mental health and extensive clinical experience, from NICU, paediatric hospital, early intervention, disability, through to private practice. Carly also currently holds a public appointment at the Royal Women’s Hospital in the Neonatal Intensive and Special Care Unit.
In 2014, Carly founded the private practice, Babble & Munch Feeding Therapy, in order to develop a coordinated service focusing on the specific and underserviced area of infant and paediatric feeding and swallowing difficulties. Through this practice and her own personal experiences as a parent, Carly developed a particular interest in supporting babies and children with gastrointestinal conditions and discomfort leading to feed refusal and aversions, swallowing difficulties, growth faltering, tube feeding, and the resulting impact on the feeding relationship and parent-child interactions.
Carly and her team include various approaches in their therapy for infants and children with feeding difficulties, including responsive feeding therapy, infant mental health frameworks, trauma-informed practice and oral sensory motor therapies. Developing and supporting positive, trust-based relationships around feeding, for both oral and tube feeding, is at the centre of Carly's focus.
Carly is active in teaching, training and mentoring other health professionals and has been an invited speaker at conferences and training programs for medical, allied health and dental professionals. Carly is also founder of Babble & Munch Learning and the Circles to Feeding™ Approach, an international training and professional support program to empower therapists to guide children and families on transformative journeys to Feeding Freedom.
In 2021, Carly gave a talk for ausEE and the Free From and Allergy Virtual Show on Feeding Difficulties in Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders that can be viewed here.
If you are looking for more support in infant or paediatric feeding, either as a parent or a health professional, you can connect with Carly and the Babble & Munch team here. Babble & Munch also have a handout on how feeding therapy can support your tube fed child: Download here.

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Feeding Tube Awareness Week is an awareness raising campaign of ausEE Inc., a registered Australian charity. The content of this site is not influenced by its supporters or partners and a link to a site, external contact, story, resource or group from this site does not imply that it is endorsed by ausEE Inc.
​Feeding Tube Awareness Week® was first created by the Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation, a United States of America 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, to increase awareness of feeding tubes and enteral feeding. In Australia, ausEE Inc. hosts Feeding Tube Awareness Week, each year nationally to raise awareness for those living with feeding tubes.
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Site last updated: 26 March 2025