Dr. Darija Vranešić Bender

Associate Professor Darija Vranešić Bender, Ph.D., a clinical nutritionist, graduated from the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology in Zagreb. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2005 in the field of biotechnical sciences. She was appointed as an Associate Professor in 2018 at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology in Zagreb, specializing in the scientific field of nutrition, particularly in the area of diet therapy.

She is the director of Vitaminoteka Ltd., Zagreb, providing consulting services in nutrition, and she is also employed as a nutritionist at the Clinical Hospital Center Zagreb, Department of Clinical Nutrition. Her main area of interest is clinical nutrition and diet therapy for gastrointestinal diseases, as well as the supplementary use of micronutrients and other biologically active compounds found in food. She teaches diet therapy and clinical nutrition at the School of Medicine and the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology at the University of Zagreb. She is the author and co-author of numerous published scientific papers, guidelines, books, and chapters in books, textbooks, and manuals. She has been involved in organizing numerous professional and scientific congresses, conferences, workshops, and courses. She coordinates and leads public health projects focused on nutrition education. She has collaborated as an expert associate on several scientific research projects both domestically and internationally.

She is the President of the Croatian Society of Nutritionists and Dietitians (HDND), and Vice President of the Croatian Society for Clinical Nutrition of the Croatian Medical Association. She is also the head of the Clinical Nutrition Section of the Croatian Gastroenterological Society (HGD) and a member of the Education and Clinical Practice Committee of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition (ESPEN).