Margaret Ashwell, OBE, PhD
Dr. Margaret Ashwell OBE is the Director and Owner of Ashwell Associates (Europe) Ltd (ashwell.uk.com), a company of independent scientific consultants and disseminators who focus on obesity, heart disease and health claims, among other areas of expertise. She has been a Senior Research Scientist with the Medical Research Council, Principal of the Good Housekeeping Institute, Science Director of the British Nutrition Foundation and served on the UK Government’s Food Advisory Committee. Margaret also acted as Research Coordinator for the Food Standards Agency's Research Programme (FSA) on Nutrient Status and Function from 1994 to 2007. She has undertaken several reviews of FSA funded programmes and has acted as a scientific facilitator and rapporteur on many occasions. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the National Institute for Medical Research in London and was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995 for services to Food. Dr Ashwell devised the Ashwell® Shape Chart, which shows how waist-to-height ratio (a proxy for abdominal obesity) can predict health risk.