Alumna a food as medicine advocate

Receives top award for helping us improve our health

Failing a university entrance exam motivated Angela Saunders to work hard. Returning from New Zealand with her family, she enrolled in the secretarial course at Avondale. Making friends “who have enriched my life” and playing piano for the Avondale Symphonic Choir helped restore confidence.

A career change came within a decade as Angela graduated with a Bachelor of Science in nutrition and dietetics from Loma Linda University. Experience as a clinical dietitian at Sydney Adventist Hospital paved the way for managing, over 12 years, the Nutrition and Dietetics Department. Completing a master’s in leadership and management at Avondale helped Angela become better at her job. Now Senior Dietitian—Science and Advocacy at Sanitarium Health Food Company, where she has worked since 2006, Angela has published several book chapters and journal articles on vegetarian nutrition, her specialty area.

Angela has juggled the demands of family, full-time work and further study while supporting husband Bob. His role as a Seventh-day Adventist minister took the couple to Massachusetts in the early 2000s. Angela worked in sales at an Adventist Book Centre and served as organist and choir director for a Uniting Church during this United States spell.

The birth of twin sons has enriched Angela and Bob’s life. “Being mother and now grandmother to Ron and Rod’s children is the greatest blessing I’ve received.”

Avondale Alumni honours Angela Saunders for her commitment and contribution to understanding the role of food as medicine.