Media Release
15 December 2008
Adjunct professorship for AgResearch scientist
Dr Warren McNabb, Eminent Research Scientist at AgResearch, has been appointed an Adjunct Professor at the Riddet
Institute. The appointment, made by the Vice Chancellor of Massey University, Hon. Steve Maharey, is effective
immediately.
The honorary position will strengthen links between the Riddet Institute, AgResearch and Massey University, which hosts
the Institute, and will allow Dr McNabb to supervise PhD scholars and postdoctoral fellows.
AgResearch is a partner in the Riddet Institute, a government funded Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), and Dr McNabb
is one of the CoRE’s Principal Investigators, leading a major research platform.
Co-director of the Riddet Institute Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan said, “Dr McNabb has an outstanding academic
record and has had a discernable influence on New Zealand science. He is an original scientist who does thorough work.
In particular, he is a strong leader and has supervised over 20 postgraduate students, many of whom have gone on to
achieve recognition in their own right. This is a very justified acknowledgement of Dr McNabb’s international standing
in his field.”
AgResearch CEO Dr Andrew West also endorsed the appointment. “Dr McNabb’s appointment is yet another example of
collaboration between AgResearch and Massey University. It also better links AgResearch to the university’s PhD
programmes,” he said. “This comes on top of significant collaborations announced recently between AgResearch and the
University of Otago and also the University of Auckland.”
Dr McNabb gained his PhD from Massey University in 1990 and has more than 260 publications. His long standing research
interests are in amino acid and protein metabolism and he currently leads a particularly innovative research programme
in digestive physiology and gut microbe genomics. He was a key member of the science team that established New Zealand’s
first nutrigenomics research capability and is currently on the science management team of Nutrigenomics New Zealand.
His position at AgResearch is Section Manager, Food, Metabolism & Microbiology, Food & Textiles Group.
ends