Susan Whiting, PhD
Distinguished Professor Emerita, Nutrition
College of Pharmacy and Nutrition
University of Saskatchewan

Dr. Susan Whiting is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, where she taught in the Nutrition & Dietetics program (1988-2019) and continues to do outreach and scholarly work. She obtained a BSc and MSc in Biology before completing a PhD in Nutrition from the University of Guelph in 1980. After a postdoctoral fellowship at UBC she began her academic career at Mount Saint Vincent University in 1982 before moving to the new Division of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Saskatchewan.  At both universities, Susan was motivated by her undergraduate and graduate students to provide thorough evidence-based lectures and laboratories that combined theory and practice for nutrition and dietetics.
Susan’s research spans dietary influences on bone health of children and adults, effectiveness and safety of calcium and vitamin D supplements, and food security at local, institutional and international levels.Throughout her career she moved from bench-top research to nutritional epidemiology. A lifetime of research on bone health with a focus on calcium has led to providing the values used to set the 2011 Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for calcium for adolescents which subsequently has become the RDA that is now on every Nutrition Facts label in Canada and the USA as the DV.  Working with the Canadian Health Measures Survey data on vitamin D helped show the need for increased fortification in Canada which will be implemented soon. In the last decade she has also done research and graduate supervision in Ethiopia, securing a Grand Challenges grant to pilot the use of eggshell as a calcium source and working with a team who is improving pulse crop production from field to fork.
Susan has contributed to knowledge translation and outreach. She is a member of Scientific Advisory Board of Osteoporosis Canada where she led development of the 2002 Nutrition Guidelines. She is Associate/Deputy Editor on several international journals and has served on international advisory boards related to bone health, dietary supplements, vitamin D, and nutrient requirements including DRIs. Susan has also been active with CIHR Peer Review, starting as a member of the first review committee for “NUT” in 2002, and serving as Scientific Officer from 2018 to 2021. Her involvement in CNS started as a student member of CSN in the late 1970s, serving as a Councillor through many terms then President of CSNS (2002-2004), and she remains an active member of CNS.  Susan received the Earle Willard McHenry Award from CNS in 2012. She is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and a Member Emeritus of Dietitians of Canada.