Felice Jacka

Felice Nellie Jacka OAM is an Australian academic, founder and president of the International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research. She is a professor of Nutritional Psychiatry and the director of the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University.^[1]

Jacka focused her research work in the field of nutritional psychiatry, establishing diet as a risk factor and treatment target for common mental disorders. In 2017, she led a trial showing that an improved diet could treat major depression,^[2] finding that healthier eating habits can result in a 30% reduced risk of depression.^[3]

Articles in the Australian press about Jacka's studies include The Guardian,^[4] The Sydney Morning Herald^[5] and ABC News.^[6] With over 260 publications, she is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher for all years between 2020 and 2023,^[7] ranking her in the top 0.1% of publishing scientists worldwide.^[8]

In 2021 Jacka was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her service to nutritional psychiatry research.^[9]

Selected publications

• Challenges and priorities for researching the gut microbiota in individuals living with anorexia nervosa, 2023.^[10]
• Nutrition and bipolar disorder: a systematic review, 2022.^[11]
• Assessing the feasibility of an m-Health intervention for changing diet quality and mood in individuals with depression: the My Food & Mood program, 2021.^[12]
• Nutrition-based interventions for mood disorders, 2020.^[13]
• Fermented foods, the gut and mental health: a mechanistic overview with implications for depression and anxiety, 2020^[14]
• A modified Mediterranean dietary intervention for adults with major depression: Dietary protocol and feasibility data from the SMILES trial, 2018.^[15]
• Dietary recommendations for the prevention of depression, 2015.^[16]