Member Spotlight: Katrina Kissock
Dr Katrina Kissock is a Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health, New South Wales. As an early career researcher, Katrina’s passion for the relationship between nutrition and health – particularly in the context of cardiovascular disease – has driven her career as a dietitian and researcher. Katrina has a PhD and has worked closely with patients managing chronic conditions, including hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and became deeply invested in finding practical and sustainable dietary solutions to reduce risk and improve health outcomes.
What inspired your interest in Hypertension?
I have always been interested in how the food we eat has different impacts on our health, specifically those related to cardiovascular disease. Working as a dietitian, I saw many patients in the chronic disease space who had cardiovascular disease, including hypertension, or the risk factors that lead to cardiovascular disease, and have always been passionate about helping patients reduce their risk through feasible and tailored dietary and lifestyle interventions.
My research interest in hypertension began during my PhD through exploring the associations of whole-grain intake with cardiovascular risk factors, but my research has since shifted focus to sodium reduction for blood pressure management, specifically through the use of potassium-enriched salt. I find it fascinating that small actionable changes such as a switch from regular salt to potassium-enriched salt and other dietary interventions can have a large impact on someone’s blood pressure and overall health. Hypertension is such a prevalent issue, and I believe we can make a large difference in the lives of many Australians through our research and practice.
Tell us about your research or initiatives focused on preventing, detecting, and managing high blood pressure and its complications.
In Australia, 1 in 3 adults have high blood pressure, a key risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Excess dietary sodium and inadequate potassium intakes both contribute to increased blood pressure. Potassium-enriched salt, where a proportion of sodium chloride is replaced with potassium chloride, is a proven solution to reducing sodium and increasing potassium consumption with clear health benefits in reducing blood pressure and the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease. The challenge now is switching to potassium-enriched salt at the population-level in Australia and across the globe where a number of barriers have been identified. Therefore, our team’s program of work focuses on global research and activities that address these barriers and aims to increase awareness of potassium-enriched salt and its benefits, and ensure that it is affordable, available and acceptable.
My program of work has a specific focus on 1) the nutrition, health and cost impacts of switching regular salt to potassium-enriched salt in Australia including in packaged foods, and 2) healthcare professionals recommending a switch to potassium-enriched salt for the management of high blood pressure in Australia. The latter involves understanding the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of healthcare professionals in relation to potassium-enriched salt and its recommendation and co-developing and testing strategies to support healthcare professionals recommend the switch for hypertension management. I have also contributed to other pieces of research relevant to switching the world’s salt supply to potassium-enriched salt including investigation into the global and Australian salt supply chains to support the switch, building the evidence around potassium-enriched salt use and various health outcomes, exploring consumer, industry and civil society perceptions, and exploring technological feasibility for use in the food industry. Together, this work will ensure future implementation of appropriate and feasible strategies to scale the switch to potassium-enriched salt, leading to greater success of reducing population sodium intake, blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Have you received any awards, grants, or publications for your work related to Hypertension?
GRANTS
- National Heart Foundation of Australia Postdoctoral Fellowship (CIA – Awarded 2024, commenced 2025)
- University of New South Wales (UNSW) Cardiac, Vascular and Metabolic Medicine (CVMM) Collaborative Grant (CIA – Awarded 2024, commenced 2025)
- NSW Health Cardiovascular Research Capacity Program Collaborative Grant (CIG – Awarded 2023, commenced 2023)
AWARDS
- National Heart Foundation of Australia, New South Wales (NSW) Cardiovascular Research Network (CVRN) Professional Development Award (2023)
- University of New South Wales (UNSW) Cardiac, Vascular and Metabolic Medicine (CVMM) EMCR Conference Award (2024)
PUBLICATIONS
- KR Kissock, GS Garrett, P Mkambula, JD Bullen, K Trieu, LJ Fisher, E Paige, MS Gary, B Neal. Perspective: Switching the world’s salt supply – learning from iodization to achieve potassium enrichment. Adv Nutr 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2023.100148
- J Bullen, K Kissock, X Yin, P Mkambula, K Trieu, B Hastings, B Neal, E Paige. The potential for current sodium and potassium production to support a global switch to the use of potassium-enriched salt: a desktop research study. Public Health Nutr 2024. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980024000922
- F Wang, Y Pi, Y Zhao, Y Zhang, B Zhou, Z Li, J Sun, Y Yu, M Tian, M Yang, L Huang, H Song, B Neal, KR Kissock. Effect of salt substitution on fracture—a secondary analysis of the Salt Substitute and Stroke Study (SSaSS). BMC Medicine 2024. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03586-7
- J Bullen, X Yin, K Kissock, L Fisher, B Neal, B, K Trieu. Health claims, product features and instructions for use on the labels of potassium-enriched salt products: a content analysis. Curr Dev Nutr 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104473
- KR Kissock, E Warensjö Lemming, C Axelsson, EP Neale, EJ Beck. Defining whole-grain foods – Does it change estimations of intakes and associations with CVD risk factors: An Australian and Swedish perspective. Br J Nutr 202. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114521000453
- EJ Price, KR Kissock, EM Barrett, MJ Batterham, EJ Beck. Whole grain modified Nova ultra-processed food (UPF) definitions: a cross-sectional analysis of the impact on cardiometabolic risk measures when excluding high whole-grain foods from the UPF category in Australia. Br J Nutr 2024. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114524002952
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I’m a very sporty and active person who enjoys playing soccer and Oz tag, running and Pilates. I am also an avid reader with particular interest in crime/thriller fiction and a goal of reading 30 books this year.
Do you have any travel adventures or bucket list destinations you're hoping to experience?
Where to begin? There are so many places I would like to visit but at the top of my list is: New Zealand, Japan and Canada (all for adventuring, sightseeing and skiing).
What's the last great book you read, movie you saw, or show you watched?
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides or The Housemaid by Freida McFadden.