Audrey Cahn

'''Audrey Josephine Cahn''' (17 October 1905 – 1 April 2008) was an Australian microbiologist and nutritionist.<ref name="eas">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Cahn, Audrey Josephine (1905–2008) |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Australian Science |url=http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P004450b.htm}}</ref>

{{Infobox scientist | name = Audrey Josephine Cahn | image = Audrey Cahn.jpg | birth_date = 17 October 1905 | birth_place = Parkville, Victoria, Australia | death_date = 1 April 2008 | death_place = Hughes, Australian Capital Territory, Australia | fields = Microbiologist, dietetics, nutrition | workplaces = University of Melbourne, St. Vincent's Hospital, Royal Perth Hospital, Australian Army Medical Corps | alma_mater = University of Melbourne | signature = Audreysig.jpg | partner = Leslie Cahn (m. 1930) | children = 2 }}

The daughter of Prof. William Alexander Osborne, professor of physiology, biochemistry and histology, and Ethel Elizabeth Goodson, a medical practitioner and industrial hygienist, she was born '''Audrey Josephine Osborne''' at the University of Melbourne, where she also grew up.<ref name="flesch">{{cite journal |url=https://www.unimelb.edu.au/culturalcollections/research/collections11/11_Flesch-GotAway11.pdf |title=The ones that got away |last=Flesch |first=Juliet |journal=University of Melbourne Collections |date=December 2012 |issue=11}}</ref><ref name="age" /> In 1928, she became the first woman to complete a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne,<ref name="age" /> and, later received a diploma in dietetics from the university.<ref>{{Cite web |last=AWHF |date=2011-02-03 |title=Audrey Cahn |url=https://awhf.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/audrey-cahn/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=Australian Women's History Forum |language=en}}</ref> She first worked as a microbiologist and food analyst for Kraft.<ref name="age">{{cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/a-scientist-ahead-of-her-times/2008/05/11/1210444243844.html |title=A scientist ahead of her times |newspaper=The Age |date=12 May 2008}}</ref>

== Life == After her B.Ag.Sc., Cahn completed a Hospital Certificate of Dietetics at the newly opened Dietetics Unit at St. Vincent's Hospital. Before leaving, she rose to the post of Chief Dietician at the hospital. She then took a position at Kraft Walker dairy factory in Drouin as a microbiologist. She was employed as the first Chief Dietician for the Victorian Mental Hygiene Department, before spending a year at the Royal Perth Hospital. During World War II, she enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Women's Service on 11 February 1943. As part of the Australian Army Medical Corps she became Chief Dietician at the Heidelberg Military Hospital. By her discharge on 13 September 1946, Cahn had obtained the rank of Major. From 1947 to 1959, she was a dietetics lecturer at the University of Melbourne; from 1959 until 1968, when she retired, she was chief lecturer in nutrition and applied dietetics at the university.<ref name="eas" />

She was a founding member of the Dietetics Association. Cahn was among the first experts to recommend reducing fat intake and substituting polyunsaturated fatty acids for saturated fats.<ref name="age" /> Due to her significant contributions to medicine, Audrey Cahn Street in the Canberra suburb of Macgregor was named in her honour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/di/2011-27/current/pdf/2011-27.pdf |title=Public Place Names (Macgregor) Determination 2011 |publisher=Australian Capital Territory}}</ref>

The research output of nutritional biochemist Cahn was well respected, having completed many studies in the field, including those undertaken during her time at the University of Melbourne from 1947 to 1968.<ref name="biography">{{Cite web |last=Melbourne |first=National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of |title=Cahn, Audrey Josephine - Woman - The Australian Women's Register |url=https://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0283b.htm#:~:text=Audrey%20Cahn%20was%20the%20first,the%20academic%20field%20of%20dietetics. |access-date=3 November 2022 |website=www.womenaustralia.info |language=en-gb}}</ref> These studies were important in examining the physical properties and energy values of common dietary foods so that calorie tables could be compiled. With colleagues in the anatomy department, she participated in the 17-year longitudinal study entitled "Child Growth in Melbourne (1954-71)". The study found that Australian children weighed more and got less physical activity compared with their peers United States and Britain.<ref name="biography" />

==Personal life== In 1930, she married Leslie Cahn, an architect, they had two children but the marriage ended in divorce.<ref name=flesch/>

Audrey Cahn died in a retirement home in the Canberra suburb of Hughes at the age of 102.<ref name="eas" />

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahn, Audrey}} Category:1905 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Dietitians Category:Australian women centenarians Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of Melbourne Category:20th-century Australian women scientists